Busta Rhymes new album
The Big Bang
hit stores on June 14 and after two days on the shelves, reportsstated the rapper’s 7th solo album is on pace to debut at #1 on Billboard’s
Top 200 album chart next week.
The album, which
critics are hailing as Rhymes’ best work to date is on pace to sell over 250,000
copies during its first week on the shelves.
The Big Bang
features collaborations with Raekwon, Marsha Ambrosius of Floetry, Q-Tip, Missy
Elliott and musical icons Stevie Wonder and the late Rick James.
Busta has attributed
the album’s success to the creative freedom has was afforded on his new label,
Aftermath/Interscope Records.
"[I was] able
to talk about s**t I aint never been able to talk about and do it with somebody
[Dr. Dre] who really knows how to bring the best out of the s**t that I wanted
to talk about," Busta Rhymes told AllHipHop.com. "I aint never really
been on a label where I can just do that. I was always on labels where I could
make records that was easier for them to get radio spins instead of making albums
that was special."
In addition to
Dr. Dre, The Big Bang also features production by Timbaland, G-Unit’s
Sha Money XL, will.I.am, Green Lantern, Jay Dilla and Swizz Beatz, who produced
the album’s first single "Touch It," which rocketed to #1 on Billboard’s
Hip-Hop/R&B Singles chart.
"I would try
to put that type of s### in those albums, but they [former labels] couldn’t
do nothing with it, so people got to know me only for the things they were capable
of doing things with, the high energy party records, the wild out records, the
animated records," Rhymes continued. "If it wasn’t them kind of songs,
they didn’t get no love. It stagnated the kind of records people were able to
hear from me."
The second single,
"I Love My Chick" featuring Kelis, will be featured in two separate
commercials for Verizon Wireless that will air later this month.
The spots will
promote and market mobile music products such as full album downloads and ringbacks.
In related news,
Rhymes recently filmed the video for "New York S**t" which features
Slick Rick, Wu-Tang Clan, Big Daddy Kane, and Rakim.
The video will
also highlight excerpts from Rhymes recent performance at Hot 97’s Summer Jam.
Rhymes is currently
planning The Big Bang Tour, which is scheduled to kick off later this summer.
