After producer Stoupe the Enemy of Mankind (of the group Jedi Mind Tricks) produced the track "Liberal Arts" from Canibus' fourth album MiClub: The Curriculum (2002), Babygrande Records CEO Chuck Wilson raised the possibility of Stoupe producing an entire album for Canibus. Before enlisting in the U.S. Army, Canibus recorded his vocals before any production and then sent the acappellas to Stoupe.  Canibus claimed that he wrote the lyrics on a "stained dinner table in Hell's Kitchen".  In 2003, he stated that the album consisted of his most complex rhymes to date and it "describes our civilization through the eyes of a modern day lyricist/poet". Although he released future albums, Rip the Jacker was intended to be his last.  As a concept album, the record represents the third "personality" of the rapper: "Prof. Emeritus Rip The Jacker", the others being "Dr. PhD Canibus" and "Germaine Williams" (his real name). 

The album received favorable reviews from music critics. Allmusic's Andy Kellman considered the album to have the "best set of productions Canibus has had to work with." C. Brown of AllHipHop wrote that Canibus provides "incredibly sharp lyricism" and "has adopted a more technical approach to his rhyming since the 1990s."  HipHopDX called Rip the Jacker Canibus' best album and praised the "lyrical dexterity" which can be "matched by very few."  Entertainment Weekly's Jonah Weiner described the rhymes as "high-flown and delivered with gruff scorn -- but inane." URB magazine writer Steve Juon of RapReviews.com ranked it the best album of 2003 and said it may be Canibus' "first album of perfection".

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