After dropping an album so bad that his fans scrambled to declare it satire (also known as The Weezer Effect), Canibus' reputation was at a career low. 3 mediocre-to-bad albums in a row dropped him from the public eye and had many doubting if he could ever release a solid album. While he worked on his new album, he launched a new website, MicClub.net. Don't bother going, it's been taken down now. Luckily, we have the Wayback Machine on our side.
Here's the flash page from 2002, when it first went up.
Here's how it looked in 2005.
And here's what it was like right before it shut down in 2007/2008.
Quite frankly, none of that is helpful. I decided to join Canibus Central, a Canibus-related messageboard, to find out more. Here are some of the responses:
Noctournal88: "When he says just 'Mic Club' he's referring to the record label he was on, Mic Club Music, which was his record label, a subsidiary of Babygrande I believe." Noctournal88's right about that; Mic Club: The Curriculum was indeed released on the Mic Club Music label. Babygrande owns Mic Club Music and also the rights to all of Canibus' albums from C: True Hollywood Stories to For Whom the Beat Tolls.
TranquilBeast: "He had planned on having that site with exclusive clips,songs,etc. as well as having fans/artist's battle or post tracks. If you think about it, Spitboss is kinda what MicClub.net would have been." Spitboss? Spitboss.
Barcs: "Micclub.net was basically a site with Canibus merchandise and music."
dc: "I remember micclub.net quite well, right from its debut.
It was a very ambitious project from Canibus and his manager Lou, whom he later had a serious falling out with, the guy was stealing and had corrupt business practice. It was launched at the same time as the curriculum album.
I think it was intended as Canibus' home page, and as a spot to sell his music and merchandise. When it launched, he even had a kind of contest where rappers would send in their music and he would approve of it and kinda promote it. I don't think this lasted long.
From micclub.net you could order The Curriculum album and, before long, the now rare mixtapes Brainstream and My Name Is Nobody. This is where the problems (presumably Lou's problems) began. You could also order autographed copies of CTHS and Micclub (and RTJ? anyone remember?).
Someone on the management team dropped the ball on shipping, presumably Lou, and not everybody got their merchandise. This can only lead to bad things and damage an artist who is in a critical post-major label phase of his career. They tried to correct the problem but some were still without merch. (I never received my 2 copies of brainstream for example, but after a complaint I did get MNIN, but I understand and am forgiving about it). The shipping problem became well known, and I suspect people tried to email in for free stuff, creating a clusterfuck of people saying they never got their orders when they never even ordered in the first place! This speculation has to be the explanation for why they ran out of Brainstreams and I couldn't even repurchase.
The shipping problems eventually dissolved but micclub never developed into its full potential, and eventually Canibus and Lou parted ways. Canibus planned to release a Curriculum 2 album, but that got transmuted mostly into Melatonin Magik as I understand it."
So there you have it. TranquilBeast's commentary is particularly helpful, as the site depicted in Canibus' descriptions of MicClub.net is, in fact, quite Spitboss-ian. For example, here's the intro track to Mic Club: The Curriculum:
Enter the Mic Club. This is where it all starts
Emcees defend they honor at all costs.
Cycle of winners, this ain't for beginners.
I'm the sinner. State your name, rank, and business.
When I pass you the mic, you better burn it.
Don't be squirmish. You want respect, you gotta earn it.
This is where we define purpose, how much heart lies beneath the surface,
what's hidden behind the curtain?
Besides tight verses, nothing in life is certain.
If you live as long as your words, you make life worth it.
Writing rhymes gives me a buzz, I do this for the love.
Welcome to the Mic Club.
In this context, Mic Club obviously means the record itself, but Bis is also welcoming his listeners to the concept of Mic Club as a Spitbossian entity; a world in which MCs enter, state their "name, rank, and business," and compete with one another on the basis of lyrics alone. For Bis, a rapper who has been frank about his distaste for the music industry's de-prioritizing of talent, Mic Club is a true MC's utopia. That it apparently never materialized on the site MicClub.net (from what I can tell) does not tarnish the Bis' beautiful (though idealistic) vision of a world where everyone is given an equal chance to be on top and success is tied solely to one's skills on the mic.
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