VIBE MAG’S NEW SHIT :
Busta Rhymes is releasing a new album. No, really, he is. After leaving Interscope Records in September 2008 after a near two-year battle with the label over the delay of his unreleased project Blessed, Trevor “Busta Rhymes” Smith, 37, is finally set to unleash the retitled and reconfigured Back On My B.S. (Universal Motown), an album literally three years in the making. But the platinum hip hop wildman behind some of rap’s most uproarious anthems (1996’s “Woo Ha!! Got You All In Check,” 1997’s “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See,” 1998’s “Gimme Some More, and 2002’s “Make It Clap”) is not complaining. He’s ready to put in work.
WAIT THERE IS MORE!!
VIBE: Part of the story behind Back On My B.S. is your battle with Interscope over its release. Were you worried about how the public would accept a new album from Busta Rhymes given the long period of time between projects?
Busta Rhymes: Well, after I got with Aftermath it took me three years to put out my last album [the 2006 release The Big Bang]. So much has transpired in the way hip hop has evolved since then. I feel like I know what the game needs musically. When I would walk down the street people would be like, “Yo, Busta, we miss what you were all about.” After a while I was like, Damn, the people really do miss that boom bap. They miss that golden age era of hip hop.
How hard is it to balance what your older fans expect versus making music for a newer generation?
The thing is, I’m about making the kind of hip hop that doesn’t sound like the golden era, but feels like it. I’m not trying to do the same things I did 20 years ago because I don’t want to sound like I’m still living in the past. But I always want my music to feel like that era because that feeling doesn’t exist no more. So let me give you what y’all are missing.
You are also back with [Universal Motown President] Sylvia Rhone, who played a pivotal role in helping you become a platinum artist during the ’90s. Talk about your relationship.
Sylvia is the queen to me as far as executives in this business. There is not a female executive in this business that has done it like her. She trusts her artists and supports them to the fullest. It’s beautiful for me to know that I can get back with Sylvia and from the first record I put out with her my momentum in the streets has been unstoppable. We put out “Arab Money” and we shut everything down. Same with “Respect My Conglomerate.” And Sylvia is loyal as a motherfucker. I left her after the Anarchy album in 2000, [and] I came back when I did my new deal with Motown in September 2008, and there are so many people that were still on her staff that were there back in ’96 and ’97. That’s unheard of.
What do you love most about hip hop today?
I love the aspect of the competition. My testosterone is high. [Laughs] In hip hop we compete aggressively with our lyrics; we battle with microphones and onstage. We even battle on who has the flashiest jewelry and cars. So from performing live to giving it to my women thoroughly in the bed, I love to perform. To me that’s hip hop. I was groomed to do this.
A lot of artists talk about how they feel invincible while performing onstage. Can you describe that feeling?
It’s the most godly thing to be able to command such a respect from thousands of people. To get love from folks to the point that they are just riding out with you ’til the wheels fall off…the live performance was always my first love.
Who are your top five producers right now?
For me it’s Kanye [West], Ron Browz, Needlz, Drumma Boy, and Just Blaze. Blaze, who did T.I.’s “Live Your Life,” is still killing them. That was a monster single. And I think Needlz makes stupid, dope shit. I love what he did for Jadakiss on that “Letter to B.I.G.” joint. And I love what he did for me on my new album, a joint called “We Miss You.” I’m putting Mavado on that joint this week. The shit is so crazy.
Needlz is really under the radar, right?
Yeah, he’s very underrated. His stuff always sounds hip hop to me whether he’s down [in] the South or the East.
Your all-star video for “Respect My Conglomerate” recently dropped. Are you trying to go toe-to-toe with Jamie Foxx to see who can pull off the most cameos in one video?
[Laughs] I’m not fucking with these niggas. Now we have Weezy on it. I have actors like Tyrese from Transformers, Xzibit on his movie shit, Idris Elba and Raekwon acting on some movie shit. This video is going to blow folks to smithereens. I’m just blessed to still be in this game. This year, December 12, I’m going to be celebrating my 20-year anniversary of professionally recording. So I’m bugging the fuck out that I can still bust niggas asses after all these years.
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