Even dressed down in black t-shirt and black jeans, Busta Rhymes is still the centre of attention. Partly that's down to the accoutrements and accessories - a chain with a diamond-studded "B" pendant swings from his neck, he has rings on each pinky and on his left wrist an ostentatious, ma**ive-faced wristwatch catches the light every time he moves his arm. He's called for refreshments, and as a label minion enters the studio with gallon bottles of gin, vodka and Scotch, Busta lights the first Newport from an airport-size carton. But it's in his bearing, the way his personality fills a room - you get the feeling that even if no-one was watching, he'd still act every inch the superstar.
As he plays his new album, he'll talk through the tracks, sketching in some stories, illuminating the process. Here's his track-by-track guide to Back on My B.S.
Wheel of Fortune
Produced by DJ Scratch
Busta: "Scratch has been with me pretty much every album, like J Dilla. This is vintage Bus-a-bus, '96-'97."
What They Askin' For
Produced by Ron Browz
Busta: "This is some shake ya a** shit - enjoy yourself music!"
Respect My Conglomerate
Produced by Focus
Featuring Lil' Wayne and Jadakiss
Busta: "The original is with Weezy; the version that's playing a lot these days is with Jeezy. I haven't released this version yet because... I just haven't decided to release it yet! We're shootin the video for this version with Weezy and I'm gonna release it at the same time."
Shoot for the Moon
Produced by Danja
Busta: "That's another one o' those feel-good, enjoy yourself, have-a-good-time records. My grandmother always used to tell me to shoot for the moon and that way even if I miss I'd land on the stars - do shit that exceeds my expectations so I'll accomplish my own. I always liked that saying. That's why I'd always do shit to make me stand out. That's why I said "Rarr rarr!" on the record with Tribe: it was like, 'OK then - out-do that!'"
Hustler's Anthem '09
Produced by Ty Fyffe
Featuring T-Pain
Busta: "This record was made to inspire the common man to keep hustlin', even though it's difficult to survive out there right now. None of us are spared the struggle with this economic travesty. There was a time when I would listen to music to escape the bullshit. Music was my drug - apart from weed, but I haven't smoked any of that since March. I only smoke these [cigarettes] now, and I probably won't be doin' that much longer with them costing so much."
Kill Them
Produced by Pharrell Williams
Featuring Pharrell and Tosh
Busta: "This is one o' the two tracks that were originally done when I was signed to Aftermath - the other was Don't Believe 'Em. The rest of the album was re-done when I did the deal with Sylvia. The beat here was inspired by Shame on a Nigga, from ODB. The guest on it is a lady called Tosh, a Jamaican Mariah Carey-type singer, but I wanted her to give me that raw Jamaican patois on this record, and cos of my Jamaican descent I did the same thing. And everybody take notice: Pharrell's new album is incredible. He played it to me in the studio and that shit made me cry, just like with Midnight Marauders when I first heard it. This isn't Rebel Child Soldier [Pharrell's rumoured supergroup with Kanye West and Lupe Fiasco], this is Pharrell by his self! Yo, the shit that he does on this album, he has never given it to anyone, ever. And it's no cameos on it! He has no-one with him on his album at all - it's just him by his self. This shit is the most incredible f***in' album I've heard since Midnight Marauders. In f---in' tears, cryin' hysterically in the studio! Un f---in' believeable! And the entire album is about the suffering in the urban community. But this album is so crazy, that right now I think a movie is coming with the album, with some big f---in' super-producer in Hollywood. They heard the album and they couldn't believe it so they wanted to write a script for a movie that goes with the entire album. And the movie is gonna be based on the topics that he talks about in his songs. The movie provided the script. Yo, this shit is so f---ing crazy! So crazy!"
Arab Money
Produced by Ron Browz
Featuring Ron Browz
Busta: "This was a big, big record in the clubs, and like alot o' the rest o' the album, it make you feel good. Hope y'all know the dance!"
I'mma Go and Get Mine
Produced by DJ Scratch
Featuring Mike Epps
Busta: "I love this 'cos it's conceptual. Hip hop albums today to me miss conceptual records. You only get 'em if you're listening to a Nas or Jay-Z album. An example: Story to Tell on Biggie's Life After Death - it was just one verse of a very dope story. It had that creative approach that we could all identify with the situation, but nobody woulda thought of it to do it. The story behind I'mma Go and Get Mine is we was in Miami at a South Beach club called Privee. They had a long VIP area, and at the end there's a DJ booth and a long row of tables on either side. By the DJ booth is where the people who spend the most money are put, because it's away from all the people who're walking past. It's a little darker, cool, sexy. They had some guys who looked like stockbrokers, and, long story short, there was this young guy, 24, 25, with a real clean suit on, looked like they brokered a great deal and were in there celebratin'. A couple thugs came through the VIP section and wanted to sit at the table, but this guy wasn't movin' - he came early and was spendin' money. The thug started makin' a scene, and he was disruptin' the energy - everybody was having a good time before he came and the whole VIP had a problem with the kid. And five minutes in, the 24-year-old dude twisted this guy like a Rubik's Cube configuration - I guess he knew some martial arts shit. His boys had to help him up. The bottom line is the guy who didn't look dangerous was the most dangerous. Anyway, the thug gets up and he's like, 'I'mma sue this club! Where my earring at?' And as he's leavin' he says, 'I'mma go get my gun!' But he ain't come back. So I made this song for all the bigmouths."
We Want In
Produced by King Karnov
Featuring Ron Browz, Spliff Star and Show Money
Busta: "The point of this song is, if it's a worthwhile situation to be involved with, I want in. And for those who don't know, look out for King Karnov - he's got a track on Detox. We've changed the face of the Flipmode Movement. I learned over time you can't put on all the homies from the hood. This shit is a business - we have to shave unnecessary expense. And we have to develop the ones that are worthy because they're diamonds in the rough. Now there's just Show Money and Spliff Star. We are such in a good space, and this song's an example. The boom-bap is being reimplimented in this rap shit. Remember when we would listen to Midnight Marauders and the drums would knock your head off, the ba** would rattle the car? I wanna bring all o' that back - that cla**ic golden era hip hop shit. I hope y'all appreciate it as much as I do."
We Miss You
Produced by Needlz
Featuring DeMarco and Jelly Roll
Busta: "I called this record We Miss You because I felt that I am missed. I feel like golden era hip hop is missed, and I feel like the song speaks for a lot of us who want that shit still - not the old shit, but the cla**ic feeling in the old way. We're not tryin' to live in the past, but hear that cla**ic values in the new shit."
Sugar
Produced by Jelly Roll
Featuring Jelly Roll
Busta: "When I realised the Mariah Carey record did so well, I thought, 'I may not be the sexier motherf---er, but chicks like me!' I think you all will play this record when you're with your loved one, and taste their sugar. Ain't no dark shit that's gonna make you sad or upset or make you wanna hurt somebody."
Don't Believe 'Em
Produced by Cool & Dre
Featuring Akon and T.I.
Busta: "This was inspired by all our experiences legally. We all said. 'Let's get together as legal-pending-issue friends and make a song'! It got recorded as a result of us bein' pointed at so much it was like our lives were over, but we decided it ain't over 'til we say it's over. When you goin' through so much shit mof***ers won't touch you with a 10 foot pole. I wanted to have this as the theme song for the Superbowl. You know that Rocky shit, where he's jumpin' round on the top of the stairs with the kids? This is my Rocky shit."
Decision
Produced by Mr Porter (aka Kon Artis)
Featuring Mary J Blige, Jamie Foxx, John Legend and Common
Busta: "Again, this is a very inspirational record, a feel-good record. This record was originally written with Mary J Blige in mind, because I wrote the song thankin' Mary for makin' the decision to be my friend when I was goin' through a time o' crisis. I wrote the song to thank her, and sent her the record to get on it. She heard the record, loved it, got on it. I loved it so much I played it to everyone. Then I went to a cookout at Jamie Foxx's crib in LA, he loved it, so he got on it. 'Cos o my West Indian dialect, when I did Kill Them, Pharrell produced a record on John Legend's album that got Buju [Banton] on it, but I eventually spit on it too. Pharrell invited me to John Legend's session, and he wanted me to do the patois thing. And when I got there, I played the record for John Legend, and he ended up on it! So now the record was Busta Rhymes featuring Mary J Blige, Jamie Foxx and John Legend. Derek Dudley, who's Common's manager, ended up hearin' about the song, so then Common ended up on the record. It doesn't matter what f---in' album you're gonna buy this year, you're not gonna get that on anyone else's album. If you walk to the end of the earth to find this on someone else's project, you're not gonna get it. This record is based on the concept of us all bein' in situations where we needed friends, and those friends are always there when things are sexy and good, but when it's crisis and hard, are they still around? Those few who stick around are the ones you choose to keep around. That's my motherf---in' Grammy! Mark my word on this day: if I get an opportunity to perform it at the Grammys, I'll get John Legend at a piano, Stevie Wonder at a piano, fit them together like a puzzle. No band. Four stools. Busta Rhymes, Jamie Foxx, Mary and Common. When the person is singin' their lyric, the spotlight is on them, everyone else is in the dark, and when we get to the end of the song you see the church choir. There's raindrops fallin'. There's a standin' ovation, everybody's cryin' but they happy. This song just means so much to me - there's no dirty version, this is the only version. I don't use profane language, the N word, nothing. I didn't even do that consciously, it just happened - I didn't realise until after the fact. The beauty of the content allowed it to come together in that way. And what I love about it is you don't even miss it. The object of the whole shit I'm tryin' to do is about feelin' good and feelin' right. What feels right doesn't have to incorporate the ingredients we usually think it has to. The truth always feels good, even if it's brutal."
If You Don't Know, Now You Know
Produced by Focus
Featuring Big Tigger
Busta: "The title is the famous Biggie slogan. I did this with Big Tigger from BET. He has this thing he does callled The Blueprint, one-on-one in-depth interviews with the biggest artists, where they answer all the questions they never normally answer. And I thought I'd do a song like that, so I speak on everything from when I got all muscled-up for the Big Bang album and the allegations of steroid use; whether I was f---in' Delicious from Flavor of Love; why did I cut my dreads; why the original members of Flipmode aren't around; Miss Jones and her f--- relationship. And all the questions are rhymes, and all the answers are rhymes. I dare someone to do this on their album after me!"
[Editor's note: some versions of the Back on My B.S. track listing omit this track and replace it with We Made It, featuring Linkin Park. At the time this piece is published, HIPHOP.COM has been unable to confirm which track will appear on the final version of the album.]
World Go Round
Produced by Jelly Roll
Featuring Estelle
Busta: "I tested this record when I was overseas in a couple o' clubs. I always walk around with my music and when I go in clubs I ask the DJs to try it. This song got three or four spinbacks in various clubs: it's one o' those real dance records."
Busta: "I'm proud of this album - and I hope you're all proud o' me. I ain't never loved anything more than my own children... let me correct that - I never loved anything as much as my family or my kids, my mom, my pops, my brother, my children, my beautiful woman - like this music. Everything I give my family I get back, and everything I give to this music I get back. Even the bad moments are like training - like boot camp you have to go through before you receive your medals. I feel, today, this album is my most phenomenal body of work, as far as the balance: I got my boom-bap shit for the street, I got big records for pop radio without compromising who I am, I got inspirational records and records that make you laugh, have fun and wanna enjoy your life. There's no dark point on my album - even when I had to address issues I didn't wanna address in the past I made it feel like it's fun to do that. A lot of your fans grow with you, and I really value that personal connection, even if I don't know them directly - we are a family, and I acknowledge that and appreciate and respect that, 'specially these days when the fans are so fickle and they're trained to take you away from the thing you're focused on. This technology era is just so much shit."
