Wyclef Jean recently shared an interesting behind-the-scenes story of the first time Busta Rhymes heard Eminem. Apparently, it was a very expensive experience!
Clef was talking to Knowledge Tha God of “HipHopIsReal” about battling in the early days of his career and his experience of Eminem.
“Busta Rhymes will tell you, when he came on my tour bus, he literally broke my tour bus!” Then Wyclef explained how Jimmy Iovine had sent him a cassette tape of Eminem’s “My Name Is” which he played for Busta.
Whatever reaction Clef had hoped for, this was probably not the reaction he was expecting. “He trashed my tour bus,” he said before saying Busta never paid for any of the damages. ”You know Bus, you still owe me for my tour bus!”
Busta isn’t a man to be played with and so he gently backtracked saying, “But you know Busta’s a giant. Like, what are you going to tell him? He can literally take you apart with one hand!”
It wasn’t clear exactly whether Busta Rhymes wrecked the bus because he liked or hated the song so Knowledge asked him to clarify. “Yeah, he went crazy.” He said as the room exploded into hysterical laughter. “Until today I have nightmares of this thing. I mean Busta trashed my beautiful tour bus after listening to this Eminem song.”
Wyclef on Emimem and Canibus
Wyclef also shared his thoughts about the longstanding beef between Eminem and Canibus.
“My whole dream was to get Canibus with Eminem,” he recalled. “That was my dream. I so wanted that to happen and I know that Eminem had so much love for Canibus. Like, still to today.”
He continued explaining that he wishes things were handled differently and, if they had been, who knows what the outcome would have been. “In my heart of souls that was the whole thing, I felt like if Canibus had embraced Eminem at the time…who knows?”
He then used Benny Blanco as the example for why “you got to be real careful with people who are fans of yours and that really look up to you. You’ve got to give them that time.”
Wyclef concluded by saying he would love to see the pair squash their differences. “Canibus and Eminem are like two of my favorite emcees of all time so if that connectivity ever happened, that’s one of those things that you look back on. Eminem’s a complete genius and so is Canibus in his space.”
Watch the full interview on HipHopIsReal below.
