Following the success of Mr. Smith, LL enlisted Puff Daddy to executive produce his seventh album, Phenomenon. LL received some criticism for working with Puffy during what became known as the “jiggy” era, but the album achieved platinum status with production The Hitmen, Trackmasters, and Erick Sermon. “Father,” “Candy” with Ricky Bell and Ralph Tresvant, “Phenomenon” were released as singles. Another single from the album, the Erick Sermon-produced “4, 3, 2, 1” featuring Redman, Method Man, and DMX created a bit of controversy. Canibus was also originally featured on the track but he was removed after one of his lines referenced borrowing LL’s mic tattoo off his arm, which LL referenced in his re-written verse that was subliminally aimed at Canibus. Canibus, sans the “offending” line, was added to a remix version along with Master P, with both being added into the original music video. This situation led to Canibus releasing the diss track “Second Round K.O.” and LL responding with “The Ripper Strikes Back.”