Busta Rhymes: The AllHipHop Interview, Pt. 1AllHipHop.com: How much of Blessed is going to be carried over to B.O.M.B.?
Busta Rhymes: Probably about 20% ,when I got my
new situation with Sylvia, the queen, I was so inspired to make new heat for
her, and for myself because I was just so inspired. The new situation was sexy,
the deal was sexy, the money was sexy. The whole spirit of the situation felt
good I was living in that studio like I had no family to come home to. And a
lot of great things came out of that energy and there was no reason to not
display it on this project. Especially if she is the one responsible for this project being
able to happen. So I wanted
to make sure that I put my best foot forward for Sylvia Rhone cause she was the
one who was making this all become a reality.
AllHipHop.com: Now “Arab Money” is becoming another big Busta Rhymes hit but it’s not the most politically correct
title. Have you felt any type of backlash from that at all?
Busta Rhymes: Nah I mean I been hearing little salt and pepper sprinkles
about concern for some people. But
obviously that concern is not stopping the growth of the record. And I really only respect the concern
of the Arab culture. You know I ain’t really trying to pay no
attention to people in these positions of political positions, and executive
positions that ain’t Arab culture oriented
people. Because, a lot of the
times you know, What are you really showing all this
concern for? Is it concern for the people or concern for your job? A lot of
people feel like, something, things that may be risqué in their opinion, is in
these times not the thing to be doing. Because the most
irrelevant thing can be justified as a reason to fire somebody nowadays.
Nobody is safe, this recession has f**ked the whole game up and everybody is on
they eggshells when they walk around. So I just feel like that’s really more so
what it’s about than anything and until I get some direct awareness of the Arab culture having an issue, we’re going
to continue to move forward with our campaign.
Busta Rhymes “I Got Bass” Video
AllHipHop.com: There aren’t many top notch
producers that you haven’t worked with. Are there any two or three that you
wish you have or are looking forward to work with?
Busta Rhymes: Premo, never worked with him. Always
wanted to work with Primo. I just recently
got some beats from Premo that I’m starting to really
feel after waiting for years to just get a beat from Premo
‘cause Premo’s book was always so locked in with
projects that he was working on that he would schedule you months down the
line. And by the time he’s ready
for you if you ain’t sitting
around and waiting your project is done by the time he’s available. So that has
happened with me and him for like the last four albums.
I never worked with Kanye he never produced a track
for me I always liked Kanye’s production. I think
that’s it, for right now.
AllHipHop.com: Of those you have worked with who
were the most special?
Busta Rhymes: J Dilla, Dr. Dre,
Nottz, Dj Scratch, Pharrell, Cool & Dre.
AllHipHop.com: What was working with Dilla
like?
Busta Rhymes: Dilla was just…perfection to me
cause he always made s**t that you knew you needed without telling him what you
needed. He knew what I needed and he just knew how to do it. And then if he ever asked me what I
needed I couldn’t tell him cause the words couldn’t describe what he gave me. I
wish I could tell somebody what he gave me so I could try to get it from
somebody else. But I couldn’t even tell him and he still knew what I needed;
gave it to me every time. That’s why he’s been on every solo album I’ve ever
made from day one. I never
finished an album without Dilla. So you know, he’s “one” on my list of
favorite producers of all time.
AllHipHop.com: Now looking at the Busta
Rhymes catalogue and looking at the discography of what you’ve done, whenever
there is a top five discussion your name should be in there. But at times your
name doesn’t come up. How do you feel about that?
Busta Rhymes: I don’t feel anything about it. I never really concerned
myself with s**t like that cause, what you gonna do?
All I know how to do is what I been doing, and at the end of the day,
that’s smashing mothaf**kas
in every way across the board. A n***a could never
really say he bust my ass on a record.
N***a can never say you bust my ass in a stage show. So as far as I’m concerned I don’t need
to say anything about any of these things when the fact of the truth is
undisputed. ‘Cause people may not put me in they top five but whenever you ask
them who’s nicer than me?
When it comes to the records
that be rhymed on together if you hear me on “Flava
in Ya Ear (Remix),” or “Scenario” or whatever
records you want to pull up and see me collaborate with mothaf**kas. How many
times you hearing a mothaf**ka really saying, “Yo Bust got his ass whooped on this record.”? I don’t think you ever heard that in your life. And when it comes to these stage shows
whoever you gonna hear say, “Yo
this n***a bust Busta Rhymes and them n****s on the
stage.” I don’t think you ever heard
that neither.
I really think at the end of
the day, a lot of the peoples top five are the people that they are told on a
regular basis are top five. It’s
kind of like a symptom out of sight of mind. So if you hearing Jay-Z, Nas, Biggie all the time, that’s what’s going to come out
of everybody’s mouth just like you hear a record on the radio all the time, it
don’t matter if it’s not hot, it becomes a hit. So it becomes
conditioning. How your train of
thought has been conditioned to function and over the years that’s what you
hear.
Even nowadays, as hard as
Wayne has been going in for four or five years, how many times do you hear him
in n****s top 5’s? That’s some
recent s**t now that you’re starting to hear him in n****s top 5’s. I wasn’t hearing this three years ago and
he was going just as crazy three years ago. For the last three years he’s actually been putting in more
work than anybody as far producing material from mixtapes
to cameos to features. But again it’s like you gotta condition these people. How you campaign, that
helps to change the dynamic of what you hear out of people’s mouths. I never made it my business to campaign
being in n****s top 5’s. I never
felt that I needed to and that’s just the kinda
cloth that I was cut from. We
don’t’ self proclaim our hotness.
You let the people do that. You put the work in and let the people do
that.
Leaders of the New School “The International Zone Coaster” Video
AllHipHop.com:
You got your first deal at 17. You’re still here, an elder
statesmen doing his thing. If you wrote a manual how would
you explain to these up and coming MCs how not to fall off?
Busta Rhymes: By having they concept,
lyrics, music, attitude and performance together, and that’s it in a
nutshell. I was taught that by
Chuck D, the acronym is C.L.A.M.P.
If you got a clamp on your package as a well-rounded artist you gon’ have a clamp and a lock on the game. So I always
applied that to my own s**t. Concepts,
that’s why from the first album with Leaders of The New School, you look at the
back [of the album] and you see the first couple tracks is “homeroom” and the
next couple songs is “lunchroom.” Lunchtime and the last couple songs was “afterschool.”
We had to draw the whole album package on notebook paper and come to the label
like, “This is what we want to do, Leaders of The New School is the name, and
we want to do this school s**t.” You know the afterschool fights so we would
have “Show Me a Hero” which is me beefing with a bully in school and songs like
that. Lunchroom would be “Sounds
of the Zeekers” with of all of the f**kin’ n****s we
had on the record, because in the lunch room you and all your boys was in there
beat boxin’ and freestylin’
and snapping on each other and just bugging out.
Lyrics
is always important because nothing was more important to garnish your
respect in being a MC. As a lyricist your attitude
got to be right because if you’re an a###### mothaf**kas won’t want to f**k with you. Your appearance got to be right cause when you walk in a room
you got to light the room up without even talking. You got to be able to look like a star and be the star when
you ain’t got the
microphone. Your music of course,
production always got to be the super dope hot s**t. And you performance at the end of the day is
the end all says all. N****s come out spending
they money to see you when they could be doing something else. You want to make
sure they getting their money’s worth.
Leaders of the New School “Case of the P.T.A.” Video
AllHipHop.com: Damn, that mantra you described
could be used by a gang of today’s newer artists. Even
some of the older ones.
Busta Rhymes: That was the grooming that we was
blessed to be around though.
That’s the Public Enemy they was a direct, influence on everything we
did. They were our standard of approval. If we didn’t meet their standard of
approval it wasn’t gonna
happen. So we had to work to
garnish our respect in the immediate circle before the people even had a chance
to be exposed to it.
AllHipHop.com:
So what’s good with the acting man?
Busta Rhymes: I just did a movie called Order of Redemption with Tom Beringer and Armand Asante. It’s coming out next year like
April/May. I ain’t
playin’ with [acting]. I mean I stopped doing that
for a second trying to focus on this music while I was over at Aftermath trying
to get a whole other level success acquired. That didn’t happen based on the way things played out. But we nose diving headfirst into the
movie world and getting it poppin’. We just knocked down Order of Redemption and we got two more
lined up.
AllHipHop.com: Who is your greatest MC, and who is your favorite MC?
Busta Rhymes: Hmm…greatest MC and favorite MC…
AllHipHop.com: Got you on that one huh?
Busta Rhymes: Yeah that’s a hard one, my greatest MC I would have to say
it’s several of them, it’s not one.
[Big Daddy] Kane was one of ‘em,
Rakim was another one of ‘em. Nas, BIG,
Eminem, those are my favorite MCs.
Greatest MC, I would probably
have to say, between Nas and BIG. LL Cool Jwas one of favorites too. But I say Nas and BIG because they
was lyrically crazy…wait, I can’t forget Sick Rick yo. Slick Rick is in the favorite MC category too. I mean greatest MC category too. Because, he did s**t
with words and told stories at the same time. Because sometimes a mothaf**ka be a dope story teller
but it would compromise how ill they were lyrically. Then it’ll be a ill lyrical mothaf**ka but wasn’t as crazy with the stories, but to
have the dynamic of both. I would say [it] is Nas and
Big and Slick Rick.
AllHipHop.com: When listen to a Busta
Rhymes record it kind of reminds me of KRS-1 always harping on real MCs having
many styles. The way you deliver on one record may be complete different from
the flow on the next one. What you you attribute that
too?
Busta Rhymes: That just came about as a result of trying to marry with
whatever the beat was that I rhymed on. I never felt that it would make sense
to try and sound the same on beats. Unless you rhyming on the same type of
beat, beats vary sonically in so many ways that if you can marry with whatever
direction the beat is going sonically it’s gonna
automatically bring about just the many different styles that ultimately are
brought about. I don’t really
think about how I’m gonna
get on a beat I just let the beat dictate it. Following the music usually is
the best way to allow the style to transition or to change or to give birth to themselves. Following the beat just helps make the rhyme
sound iller to me. You know it’s like you play dodgeball
with the kicks and the snares and, you find pockets in the beat that your
regular cliché flow rhyme pattern ain’t gon’ maximize if you rhymes the same way on every beat. So
why won’t you adjust your s**t to fit with what the beat is doing so that you
can maximize the way your going to sound on this beat? That’s what I always thought was the
smartest thing to do.
Busta Rhymes “Gimme Some More” Video
AllHipHop.com: Do you always have the beat first or do you ever
have concepts for songs beforehand?
Busta Rhymes: I have concepts for songs before the beat, but I won’t
write to it until I get the right beat to go with the concept. You feel what I’m saying? If I write a
certain joint or one to a beat prior to getting the beat, the way it might come
across could compromise you appreciating the concept if it ain’t being said right. If the flow ain’t right, if the way you
articulating your s**t at certain parts of what the beat is doing it’ll
compromise how you appreciate the concept. Like the grave digging joint
[“Legend of the Fall Offs”] on Big Bang,
I couldn’t rhyme how I did on “Touch It” on that beat because you wouldn’t
appreciate it in the same way. Just like with “Touch it”. You see how the beat changes? I had to write my rhyme to the way the
beat was changing so you could appreciate the… “TURN IT UP!!!!” and then the
drums change and s**t “GET LOW BUST!!!” (beatboxes
the track). All of that is just following what the beat is doing. It helps you appreciate the concept
better if you going with the beat and marrying that beat the way you should.
AllHipHop.com: Are
you still doing business at all with Papoose and Kay Slay?
Busta Rhymes: Nah we’re not in business
together but you know me and Slay we’re always gonna
be peoples cause we just got a respect level with each other. Slay is a good
dude and smart dude and we just always been cool. And like every relationship everybody go through they little
differences, and you know we wasn’t able to really get it poppin’
on the whole business level together but outside of that, we good.
Busta Rhymes “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See” Video
AllHipHop.com: From what you told me, and correct me if I’m wrong,
but it seems like your time with Aftermath slowed you up and affected all your
other ventures, no?
Busta Rhymes: Indirectly, because that was a choice thing. It wasn’t
really like Aftermath caused that. I personally wanted to give my undivided
attention to the Aftermath situation so I chose to not be as active in the
films. Which probably wasn’t the smartest choice at the time but that’s just
where my heart was. I wanted to
make sure that the dedication that I needed meet the standard, in that establishment;
it had to be focus one. I made choice and that was my choice. Like, “Just put your all into this
album over here.” In the house with the big doctor and when he come to the
table with his s**t that’s gon’ be crazy, you want to
be able to come to the table with your s**t that’s gon
be crazy. I didn’t want anybody to
get in the way of me being able to deliver the crazy that was expected of
me.
AllHipHop.com: Last question. B.O.M.B.,
what can people expect?
Busta Rhymes: The most phenomenal body of work that you’ve ever gotten
from Busta Rhymes. The beauty about Busta Rhymes is I’m as great as my latest. And if this is my latest project it got
to supersede everything that’s been done prior so you’re gonna get the most phenomenal body of work to date
that you can get from me. And last
but not least it’s gon be that vintage Busta Rhymes feeling that people have always known to grow
and love without us trying to re-create that sonically. So we aint
going to got try and re-create “Put Ya Hands (Where
my Eyes Can See),” and we aint trying to re-create
“Woo Haa.”
There’s so much new s**t with the music going on with this project that people
need to be introduced to because I constantly like to grow and take to another
standard level sonically. But I definitely made sure that even thought there’s a newness with the sound, the element that you’ve known to
grow and love me for is at an abundance as far as the feeling in this album. Busta Rhymes “Don’t Touch Me (Throw Da Water On ‘Em)” Video