Cannibal Ox is an American

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

duo from

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, United States. It consists of

Vast Aire Theodore Arrington II (born February 5, 1978), better known by his stage name Vast Aire, is an American rapper from New York City. He is one half of the New York hip hop duo Cannibal Ox, which consists of him and fellow rapper Vordul Mega. He is ...

and

Vordul Mega Shamar Gardner (born March 24, 1979), better known by his stage name Vordul Mega (a.k.a. Vordul Megallah), is an American rapper from New York. He is formerly one half of underground hip hop duo Cannibal Ox and a member of the hip hop group Atom ...

, often accompanied by DJ Cip-One.

History

The members of Cannibal Ox, Vast Aire and Vordul Mega, met each other as high school students in

. They began performing in the New York underground hip hop scene in the 1990s, leading them to meet

El-P Jaime Stuart Meline (born March 2, 1975), better known by the stage name El-P (shortened from his previous stage name El Producto), is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Starting his career as a member of Company Flow, he has ...

and become among the first members of his record label

Definitive Jux Definitive Jux was a record label based in New York City. It was co-founded in 1999 by El-P and Amaechi Uzoigwe. History Definitive Jux was initially known as Def Jux. However, popular hip hop label Def Jam Recordings sued Def Jux over the name ...

. In 2001, Cannibal Ox released their debut studio album, '' The Cold Vein''. It was the first full-length studio album released by Definitive Jux, and was fully produced by El-P. ''The Cold Vein'' received positive reviews from critics and put the duo in the underground hip hop spotlight, and it has been highlighted as one of underground hip hop's best albums by outlets such as ''

Fact A fact is a truth, true data, datum about one or more aspects of a circumstance. Standard reference works are often used to Fact-checking, check facts. Science, Scientific facts are verified by repeatable careful observation or measurement by ...

'' and ''

HipHopDX ''HipHopDX'' is an online magazine of Hip hop music, hip hop music criticism and news. ''HipHopDX'' has over 3.5M monthly readers, the website encompassing hip hop news, interviews, music, and reviews. The website's founder and CEO is Sharath C ...

''. However, the duo did not release any further projects until the 2005 live album '' Return of the Ox: Live at CMJ''. The liner notes of ''Return of the Ox'' hinted that a Cannibal Ox LP would be released in 2006, though the duo ultimately released no music that year. In March 2007, El-P stated that he "really doubt d that a second Cannibal Ox album would be released in the near future. Later that year, Vast Aire confirmed that he was no longer working with Definitive Jux, and that plans for a new Cannibal Ox LP had been scrapped. He cited creative and financial differences with El-P and Definitive Jux, as well as Vordul's alleged clinical depression. Though the group's members did not collaborate under the Cannibal Ox name in the late 2000s, Vast Aire made a guest appearance on Vordul's 2008 album '' Megagraphitti'', and Vordul appeared on Vast Aire's albums '' Dueces Wild'' (2008) and '' OX 2010: A Street Odyssey'' (2010). In May 2011, El-P stated on his Facebook page that "there wont ever be a can ibalox album produced by me again and thats a fact." On April 16, 2013, Cannibal Ox released a single titled "Gotham", produced by Bill Cosmiq. The duo's next project was '' Blade of the Ronin'', their second studio album, which was released through iHipHop Distribution on March 3, 2015. ''Blade of the Ronin'' was produced by Bill Cosmiq and Black Milk.

Discography

;Studio albums * '' The Cold Vein'' (2001) * '' Blade of the Ronin'' (2015) * ''Live from the Aireport'' (2023) * ''Aireplane'' (2025) ;Compilations * ''Gotham (Deluxe LP Edition)'' (2013) ;Live albums * ''Return of the Ox: Live at CMJ'' (2005) ;Singles * "Iron Galaxy / DPA (As Seen on T.V.)" (2000) (with

Company Flow Company Flow was an American hip hop trio from Brooklyn, New York City, consisting of Bigg Jus, El-P and Mr. Len. The group was at one time associated with the independent record label Rawkus Records. Rapper/ producer El-P and DJ/producer ...

) * "Vein / A B-Boy's Alpha" (2001) * "The F Word" (2001) * "Cosmos / Streets Be Testin' You" (2003) (with Invisible) * "Gotham" (2013) * "Metal Ox" (2021) * "Raspberry Jelly" (2021) (with Double A.B.) * "Da Supafriendz" (2022) (with MF DOOM)

References

External links

Official website
* {{Authority control African-American musical duos Definitive Jux artists American hip-hop duos Hip-hop groups from New York City Musical duos from New York (state) Underground hip-hop groups 1998 establishments in New York City