New Busta Rhymes interview

[Meho]

PART 1:

During a conversation with a very credible MC that is respected by many, he said, "You won't see no Busta Rhymes or ODB's in ciphers; these are special, special dudes." That statement was not far from the truth.

Artists like Busta Rhymes are so rare that you can't think of two or three people that are in the same category as him. His crazy animated persona and the ability to push the envelope with creativity is not only evident in his voice and music, but also in his videos. Jay-Z was once quoted saying "No, I ain't animated like a Busta Rhymes." But, in reality, how many people are?

Busta's character captivated us from the moment we heard him on "Scenario" alongside A Tribe Called Quest, where he stole the show from deep filled roster of emcees. His artistry was so distinctive that fans have always taken notice no matter how many people were on a song with him. And the public demanded him to go solo while he was with Leaders of the New School.

Well, Ballerstatus got up with the hip-hop icon, where he discussed the difficulty of working with Dr. Dre, his involvement with Raekwon, film aspirations, and why hip-hop fans aren't loyal anymore.

BallerStatus.net: When is the album dropping?

Busta Rhymes: It's dropping the second week of April. We about to go hard with the promo and follow-up singles, so the album got the right push behind it. I'm real proud of this album; I put a lot of hard work into it.

BallerStatus.net: It's coming out thru Aftermath/Interscope correct?

Busta: Oh yes, definitely -- Flipmode/Aftermath/Interscope baby, it's official.

BallerStatus.net: We hear a lot of people talking about it, but tell us what it was like working with Dr Dre for this project?

Busta: Sh-- was crazy to me man. I mean you hear it all the time -- the general consensus across the board is that Dre is unbelievably the best ever to ever do it as a producer in this game. It's a whole different experience when you're actually there working with him and you see the things other people talk about. I mean, if you look at when the finished product with every album that he's responsible for drops, it smashes everything else that's on the market at the time, sound quality wise and everything else that comes along with that sh--. That's probably the most meticulous dude (Dr Dre) that I've ever worked with in my life man. He scrutinizes every word, down to the most intricate, finest detail of how you're saying the sh-- so much that sometimes you could be stuck just saying a line with Dre for a good two hours before you even move on.

Now the crazy sh-- is that you still have a verse to do. You lay your verse down and he walks in and hears your sh--, that's when the scrutinizing part comes in. "You know Busta, you could've said this a little better. You could've said it this way. I don't know if I'm really feeling that line." Sometimes he likes riding around with the sh-- or he'll take it home with him just to see if he's still feeling the same impact to when he first heard it. Sometimes you finish a record and two or three days later, it don't got the same feel to it and Dre is real, real strict on keeping that same impact.

It was a good experience and I was prepared for the challenge, so I'm good and my album is going to show the affects of my hard work and Dre's as well. We worked hard man.

BallerStatus.net: So, Dre was basically involved with your entire album? It wasn't like he just did a few beats and walked away?

Busta: Dog, he was involved with songs he ain't having sh-- to do with. He let me do my record the way I wanted to do it, but as you make your songs, you have to give it to him. When he lives with the record, that's when you have to start dealing with the meticulous scrutiny and that's when your sh-- is under a microscope. Because now, where he might of been excited about something the day he heard it, two weeks later, he comes back to you like, "We need to change this and that." And I mean, we always reach a compromise, so we reach a compromise and I go in there and I try some of the sh-- his way 'cause I respect his ear.

I did six solo albums my way, so if I'm looking for new results, I gotta try sh-- a little different. You can't expect new results if you doing it the same way, so I'm a lot more open minded to the way Dre was trying to approach my project, just like he was open minded to the way I wanted to approach my project. At the end of the day, I'm the one who has to go to sleep at night 100% comfortable with my sh-- 'cause I'm the one putting my sh-- out and people are gonna look at me 'cause it's a Busta album, ya dig?

PART 2:

BallerStatus.net: The word out there is that you're actually co-executive producing Raekwon's album. Can u speak on that?

BallerStatus.net: Yeah, Raekwon is a great friend of mine and I'm a great friend of his, Rza, Ghost, and the whole Wu...those are my peoples. I just respected that project so much that I just wanted to be whatever support that I could be to Rae. You know Rae doesn't really need my support, I'm just the one that helped excite the drive to do it sooner. I know a Cuban Linx album was gonna drop eventually, but I was just getting a little impatient for the sh-- to happen. I would always holla at it all the time like, "Rae, lets get you in the studio and put yourself in the same mentality when you made that classic sh-- fam. Lets start chiseling away at that 'Glacier of Ice' man....there's a diamond you can sculpture out of that big ass rock." So, that's how it all started man. Basically, because Rae is a master at his craft, so I just put myself out there and told him whatever support he needs that I'm here and that's basically that. So, I'm here for whatever he needs and Rza is big piece of the project too. The sh--s going to be some sh--.

BallerStatus.net: Yeah 'cause some people's interpretation out there was that you've been rapping for so long, so maybe it's a time where you see Busta behind-the-scenes more, co-executive producing other people's LPs 'cause he has that touch film producing, directing and working more behind-the-scenes than being on front street.

Busta: Oh that goes without saying man. I mean, it's always been like that and even now. I always been about my business, feel me? I got my record label Flipmode, which is thru Aftermath/Interscope. I got a few new artists that I'm working with right now. Definitely though, that executive producing sh-- is definitely in the grand scheme of things. Working with other artist has always been my thing -- the cameos, collaborations and all that. You'll see me working with more artists and you'll see my name on a few things you don't expect to see it on in the present and in the future.

BallerStatus.net: How about producing films or directing? I look at your videos and I just see the credits saying "produced by Hype Williams AND Busta Rhymes." You obviously have a lot of input in your videos because they are so different from everything else. Will wee see you directing or producing with films in the neat future?

Busta: Yeah, actually the first film that I produced is a straight to DVD movie called "Full Clipse." I executive produced and produced along with Patrick Walters starring Prodigy, Spliff Starr, Bubba Smith, Alicia Candeli, and I'm just trying to take everywhere. I enjoyed it too because that's the type of challenges I like taking. I give it my time and my energy 'cause it rewards me great. I will definitely be f---ing with that more often.

BallerStatus.net: When you first started with Leaders of the New School, did you ever picture having this type of success and doing what you're doing? I mean, lets take "Halloween" for example. This is a classic horror series. When the original "Halloween" came out, rappers weren't even getting deals. Now, here you are and you are apart of this chapter, which has nothing to do with hip-hop. Did you ever picture yourself doing things like this and scoring movies, which had nothing to do with hip-hop?

Busta: Nah man, not at all 'cause I ain't even think about acting. That all came about from my rap career being so successful, so that's pretty much how I stumbled into the acting thing. I was just capitalizing on opportunities as they presented themselves. It wasn't part of the plan, but fortunately it has played a part in what I do as far as my hustle goes 'cause it's created a opportunity for me to gain from multiple revenues. I ain't gotta depend on just making money from one thing or just being forced to keep doing one thing. Plus, I can always keep my face and name out there with just doing more than music, so it's helped me in that way too.

The best thing about that though is that I ain't gotta be a slave to one hustle. If they ain't trying to give me a situation one way or the money I want, I'm like "You know what, I ain't doing this deal 'cause I got bread coming in from here." That's the good thing about this sh--. I stay motivated and I do what I want to do on all different ventures I'm associated with though believe that.

BallerStatus.net: More and more rappers are landing rolls now because hip-hop is such a huge commodity, so it's more of a marketing thing to bring in the urban audience more than anything. Before this, there weren't many actors landing rolls alongside other credible actors. You had Tupac, Will Smith, Ice-T, Ice Cube and yourself. These are the guys that I think of just off the top that were some of the first cats to take it from hip-hop to the major film industry. Let's not forget you were in "Higher Learning" over 10 years ago with Lawrence Fishburn, Omar Epps and more. So, what separated the list of guys that I just mentioned from other hip-hop acts who definitely attempted to make the same push you other cats did?

Busta: I don't know. I just think a lot of it had to do with it being obvious and easy to distinguish who were the star motherf---ers in this game. It ain't hard to tell who the well-rounded and full-packaged all-around stars were. These directors and casting directors seen what it was and seen there were so many talented cats in hip-hop and they already knew what time it was. I think that's what it was in a nut shell. I think anybody can look at somebody and be like, "Aight, this dude got it." They gotta have a total package.

BallerStatus.net: One thing that stands out when I think of Busta Rhymes is charisma, your character and that fact that you push the envelope -- musically, with yours videos and etc. You were just extremely different from everybody else. Do you think that's lacking in the game right now?

Busta: Yeah, the game definitely doesn't have the creative edge that it once had and I think that's because there aren't enough examples around. You know there was a time when Nas, Biggie, Jay-Z, Tupac, Busta Rhymes, and Wu-Tang all had albums out at the same time. We ain't got no A-list caliber artists with albums out right now. None of us got albums out right now. I mean Biggie's album just came out, but that's the final chapter. People ain't getting no more Biggie albums and people had to wait five years for this one to drop, but you know what that is.

Anyways, the cats that were like 12 or 16 years old, a couple of years ago, they ain't really have too many great influences or examples to follow and see what they had to do. I definitely feel like there's been a compromise in the quality because the A-list artists dropping ain't been that active. All that's about to change though 'cause I'm dropping my sh-- in the second week of April and I'm turning in something so serious. I'm definitely thirsty to see how cats react.

BallerStatus.net: During a conversation with Kool G Rap, he mentioned to that one of the main things he's noticed that's different from now and in the "golden era" of hip-hop was that fans aren't as loyal as they once was. He said that when him, [Big Daddy] Kane, and Rakim were dropping albums, they didn't have to catch a buzz all over again before they dropped. They just dropped and people supported them because they were fans of their work. And when they dropped, people just wanted to hear what they were doing. These days, you have to "get hot in the street" and find a way to buzz again before you they support you again. Do you agree?

BallerStatus.net: Definitely man, and I think dudes ain't loyal no more because cats like Kool G Rap (who's my dude and I got a lot of respect for) -- but cats like G Rap and Kane left their foot prints for a lot of n----s putting out classic sh--. A lot of dudes after them was just putting out bullsh--, dropping a album with just two or three hot songs and fooling the fans.

You know times was rough out there and cats had to spend 10-15 bucks on an album, ya know? They ain't trying to spend their last 15 bucks out they pocket for the wrong LP. So, now people wanna see that there's a promise that's being kept and fulfilled. You got people out here promoting they own hype and saying how sick they sh-- is and when you get it, it ain't that. So, the quality of the game got poor. With that you expect more cats to be iffy about how they gonna spend their money, so now they on some "you want me to buy, you show me" sh--. That's where that came from.

BallerStatus.net: Now you're one of the few and only cats who I'll see in the big screen doing a movie and the next day I'll step in front of the bootleg spot and I'll see "Busta Rhymes Freestyle" on Whoo Kid CDs or whatever. Most people go to Hollywood and stay there and never do sh-- for the hood anymore, what keeps you doing that?

BallerStatus.net: I love to rhyme man (laughs), ya feel me? I just love rhyming and hearing myself on a beat smashing sh--. A lot of times 'cause I'm in a great place financially, I don't need to rhyme to get bread man, so I just do this for love of this sh--. If I'm doing it as a work for hire, of course I gotta eat, but there's a lot of times that I just do this for me. At the end of the day, the grind is endless and the money and all the extra sh-- that comes with it is rewarding, but for me, so is hearing myself make some good sh-- and spit some good sh-- all over a track. What I do is good to me in return, so I just continue to do it.

BallerStatus.net: Any last words?

Busta: Cop the album, you won't be disappointed. I'm bringing some serious heat and cats are gonna see. Good looks on the interview and watch out for my man Raekwon's album as well when it drops. Flipmode and Aftermath baby, that's what it is!

[wcsoldier]

Thanks man dope interview. Though they should ask more details about the album.

[kingwell]

"BallerStatus.net: During a conversation with Kool G Rap, he mentioned to that one of the main things he's noticed that's different from now and in the "golden era" of hip-hop was that fans aren't as loyal as they once was. He said that when him, [Big Daddy] Kane, and Rakim were dropping albums, they didn't have to catch a buzz all over again before they dropped. They just dropped and people supported them because they were fans of their work. And when they dropped, people just wanted to hear what they were doing. These days, you have to "get hot in the street" and find a way to buzz again before you they support you again."

So true....