Mind Control (Canibus album)

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Canibus chronology
Mind Control

Studio album by Canibus
Released	June 21, 2005
Recorded	2001
Genre	Rap
Length	46:39
Label	Gladiator Music
Producer(s)	Mark Sparks
Rip the Jacker (2003)	Mind Control (2005)	Def Con Zero (2005)

Mind Control, released on June 21, 2005, is the sixth full-length Canibus album and was put out through Gladiator Music and Tommy Boy Records.

The album was originally recorded in 2001 before C True Hollywood Stories and was released to complete a contractual agreement Bis had with Gladiator Music. The album is entirely produced by Mark Sparks and features two guest appearances: one from longtime associate Kurupt, the other from former hype man Pak-Man.

1 Track listing
2 Summary on the album’s history
3 Initial Reaction
4 External links

[edit] Track listing

"33 3's"
"Canibus Man"
"Atlanta"
"Gybaotic"
"In the Rain"
"Mind Control"
"Last Laugh"
"Not 4 Play"
"Stupid Producers"
"Talk the Talk"
"Nobody"

[edit] Summary on the album’s history

Before the album's release, various reports had conflicted what material will be on the album. AllHipHop.com had said that the album would contain material that would have Bis speaking on his experiences in the U.S. Army (2nd of external links section). This rumor turned out to be totally false. In reality, the 11-track album contained material that most Canibus fans had heard already: three of the songs - "33 3's", "Canibus Man" (originally titled "U Can't Fuck wit the Canibus Man") and "Last Laugh" were leaked in 2001, four of the songs - "Atlanta" (originally titled "My Home Atlanta") "Gybaotc" (stands for 'Get Your Broke Ass Out The Club'; originally titled "Broke Ass"), "Stupid Producers", and "Nobody" (the intro of MNIN) - were released prematurely on his mixtape EP My Name is Nobody, and one - "Not 4 Play" (originally titled "Scrolls") - had been released on the Horseman Project EP released by Killah Priest's people. The rest of the album was made up of three unreleased songs ("Mind Control", "In the Rain", and "Talk the Talk"). The truth is the album was originally recorded in 2001 before C True Hollywood Stories and contractually came out by chance in 2005, pushing back the release of his official 2005 album, Hip-Hop for Sale. Mind Control was released on Gladiator Music, the label that Canibus formed in 2001 with Ricky Lee, the executive producer of his sophomore effort, 2000 B.C..

On October 25th, the day of the release of Def Con Zero, the album Bis recorded as part of Cloak & Dagga on Head Trauma Records, there was an exclusive interview conducted by the webmaster of the HTR website with Canibus, Phoenix Orion, and Dewey Cooper. After Bis and PXO left, the webmaster spoke on the whole Mind Control situation. According to the webmaster, Bis had an agreement with Ricky Lee and Gladiator. The tracks on the album were selected in 2001 right before Canibus joined the US army. The deal was, if Bis would die during his army period, Gladiator could make a huge profit of that deal by releasing these 'rare' recordings. Nothing bad happened to Canibus during his army time but Gladiator still decided to release the album.

Because it was released years after its completion due to an agreement, "Mind Control" isn't considered an 'official' Canibus release by the majority of the public.

[edit] Initial Reaction

While the album was praised by a few critics, the initial reaction to Mind Control was heavily negative. Some had called it Canibus' worst release since C True Hollywood Stories. On the bonus DVD that came with Def Con Zero, there was a Canibus interview in the Special Features section. In this interview, the rapper spoke on various subjects, including the heavy criticism of Mind Control:

Interviewer: Can you explain why "Mind Control" is your least popular release?

Canibus: "Mind Control" was recorded in 2001 and released nationally in 2005. My fans and the Canibus brotherhood have become too advanced to accept exceptionally mediocre material. I understand and so do they. Thank you.