NEW Busta Rhymes interview (about new album,interscope,dre/iovine and more)

[Elano]

“I never really concerned myself with s**t like that cause, what you gonna do?,” says Busta Rhymes when asked at his inconspicuous absence whenever Top 5 rapper lists are tallied. He continues, “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.”

Busta insists there’s no chip on his shoulder, though if he did the claim would be legit. Since his debut to the rap world as a boisterous Leader of the New School, Busta has embarked on a hit laden solo career (“Woo-Hah! (Got You All In Check),” “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See”) that coupled with a full clip of show stealing guest verses (“Flava In Ya Ear (Remix),” “Scenario”) and combustible stage shows has indisputably made Bussa Bus one of Hip-Hop’s top tier artists.

In 2004 Busta signed on with Aftermath Records. Surely working with Dr. Dre would mean a turbo boost in stardom, and sales, right? However, the album was slow to arrive, and despite a huge hit (“Touch It”), his first #1 chart debut, and critical kudos, 2007’s The Big Bang didn’t live up to expectations in the marketplace. Simultaneously issues surrounding the death of his bodyguard, Ismael Ramirez, at the “Touch It” video shoot and various ensuing legal troubles didn’t help matters.

Nevertheless, Busta presses on. In July 2008 he left Interscope and Dr. Dre’s care, eventually landing at Universal/Motown. The label is headed by Sylvia Rhone, who signed Leaders of the New School in 1990. “I’m just back in my comfort zone again,” says Busta of he and Rhone’s reunion. With the success of his controversial hit “Arab Money” he is comfortably back on the charts as well.

With his eighth album, B.O.M.B. (Back On My B.S.), due in March 2009, we asked Busta just about everything. From his legal trouble to what really occurred during his convo with Jimmy Iovine, on to who his favorite producers and MCs are, he answered everything candidly and sincerely. No B.S.

AllHipHop.com: So, now you’re signed to Universal/Motown, it’s almost like you’re coming full circle since Sylvia Rhone is here and your solo career really jumped off at Elektra with her. So what’s that like?
Busta Rhymes: Back on my bulls**t.  You know what I’m saying? We back to getting back to what we used to do, to what we’ve always been able to do together. I’ve never loved any one that I’ve been in business with more than I love this woman.  And I just think that Sylvia is just an extremely loyal person.  She loves really hard and she’s an extremely passionate individual.  She’s always been the type of person where, if you in her good graces she will walk through any storm and any fire with you.

I think this one of the greatest ways to actually press the restart button. I pressed my start button to my solo career with her.  And I went through phases with other situations and I can see the difference in the way things are manifested now as opposed to what they were in my last situation.  We put one record out [“Arab Money”], s**t is on frenzy level everywhere now that I’m back with the person that knows how the do business with the Busta Rhymes brand better than anybody in the game. I’m just back in my comfort zone again, and I’ve always tried to acquire a comfort zone like this for the last five years.  I just wasn’t able to do it. 

AllHipHop.com: That said what made you leave Elektra to J Records.  What was the situation behind that?
Busta Rhymes: Back then, I was in a different space mentally. I felt like the things that me and Sylvia had done together had outgrown that situation. We was a monster that couldn’t fit in the building no more.  Video started off being $600,000 then ended up becoming $2.4 million videos.  Like, where else was there left for us to go? What, we going to start spending three, four million dollars on videos, you know, to outdo [the previous one]?  Everything we did just got so much bigger than the last s**t and that’s what we was about. Me and Sylvia, we just was so dope together that nothing outside of ourselves [was] our competition, you know what I’m saying?  So we was competing with ourselves.

AllHipHop.com: It was definitely crazy video after even crazier video for a while.
Busta Rhymes: It was crazy like nothing couldn’t top what we was doing.  And it just got to a point where we couldn’t top our own s**t. It was time for us to try something else.  And you know it was almost like a defense mech. We had to leave ourselves or we was gonna kill ourselves. Because what we started doing no longer was conducive to proper business practice.  The profit margin started lessening the more we spent. 

It started to cost us more to acquire greater success because we just was creating those movies every time we came back around with a new project. Think about it, first album was with Zhane [“It’s A Party”]. And then When Disaster Strikes had Erykah Badu on “One,” then Janet [Jackson] was Extinction Level Event [“What’s It Gonna Be?”]. It just got bigger and bigger and bigger and s**t was just…it just became too much.  So we had to let each other breathe a little bit, and let somebody else share the burden of trying to maintain the Busta Rhymes success. 

AllHipHop.com: You said you’re in a comfortable situation now. The Aftermath situation started off with great potential and expectations, of course.  What happened?
Busta Rhymes:  Just ummm…the patience that Dr. Dre had was a little difficult for me.  I respect patience, your circumstance can only allow you to have the kind of patience he has.  You know what I’m saying? His circumstances were very different than a lot of us because he’s been successful on an astronomical level for a very long time. As a producer Dre can generate significant amount of revenue without having to be on the front line as an artist.  You know me, my primary revenue stream is being on the front line as an artist. 

So at the end of the day while Dre is perfecting perfection itself, you know, at that level he does things in every way when it comes to music, you sitting around three, four years trying to put an album together. Because nothing is good enough for Dre.  Which was actually a blessing because it ended up making The Big Bang one of my most incredible albums. 

AllHipHop.com: Looking at your discography through the years you were good for a year, year and a half between albums, not to mention all the remixes and guest features.
Busta Rhymes: That’s the pace that I was used to.  That’s how Busta Rhymes does things when Busta Rhymes is in the driver’s seat.  But when I went to his situation you play by different rules because you’re moving into someone’s house who’s had success that superseded your success; doing it his way.  There ain’t been a project that Dre put out that aint do five million, four million, three million. So it’s hard to tell him to do it different, when his way has always worked for him.  And which it probably would have, with my album, if we didn’t compromise what we knew was best for the project.

When I say that I mean sometimes when an exec from a parent company wants you to go in a direction that they want you to go in, and they promise to deliver on those levels where you make that choice and support what they suggest is the decision that you should support. Then if you fight against that and it doesn’t go the way that you want it to go… A lot of the times you may not get the support that you might need.  On The Big Bang album, “I Love My Chick,” that wasn’t a single choice that was made by Busta or Dr. Dre. So when you see the difference, Busta Rhymes put out “Touch It,” it was a movie.  Then we put out the remix, bigger movie.  The single that I chose to go with, which Dre was in agreement with, was “Get You Some,” which was a Dr. Dre produced record with Marsha and Q-Tip.  First song on my album, now after three years of sitting around, there is no possible way that the people are going to want to see an album come out and you not have a Dr. Dre produced record, if you’re on Aftermath with Dr. Dre. 

We’ve already seen what a Dr. Dre produced single with Busta Rhymes on it can do with “Break Ya Neck” when I was on J records.  We put it out and the Genesis album ended up selling 1.9 million albums and that was my first single. So for me to have been at Aftermath/Interscope and not have a Dre single, it just made no sense. But obviously, that wouldn’t be a choice that we would make.  We rolled with the choice of Jimmy Iovine at the time because that’s what he felt we should have done.  And that directly contributed to the change of the momentum of the project. That single wasn’t the right single and I chose to never let a situation like that transpire again.  But you know, we could have also stood our ground and said, Nah we not doing that regardless of what the end result would have been.  But that was then, this is now.

AllHipHop.com: It’s like a double edge sword. You stand your ground and…
Busta Rhymes: You don’t get the support you want.

AllHipHop.com: Right.
Busta Rhymes: And then if you do go with it, you get all the support you want and then you still don’t get it because you know it ain’t the right single, you’re damned either way.  Again, that was then this is now.  And I’m not making those kind of mistakes anymore. But with that being said, I don’t want people to think that there’s any disgruntledness because, I’m not mad at my experience over there.  S**t happens the way they happen because that’s just how it happened.

There was a lot of other s**t that went down in my two years over there that shouldn’t have happened that contributed to a lot of the difficulties of the way things was going on.  The s**t that happened at the video shoot.  You know, just a lot of the negative press with the court cases and the constant getting arrested and it was just…a lot of s**t was going haywire at the time too that was hurting what we was trying to do with the music.  It was just a major anti-Busta Rhymes campaign for a while. 

AllHipHop.com: You dropped The Big Bang which received plenty of critical acclaim but then in the months after its release it seemed like every time your name came up in the press it was about anything but music.
Busta Rhymes: You stopped thinking about me having an album, you started thinking about me being a criminal and s**t. In a timeframe when they was putting every one of our Black entertainers in jail, if my charges were that serious I would have been doing some kind of time too.  But none of my charges were serious because, I’m not no criminal, number one.  Number two, situations, more or less were manifesting not as a result of me doing wrong things but as a result of me being dealt with in an unjust manner and being harassed by law enforcement because of the situation that transpired at the video shoot.  Because as you can see for the 16, 17 year career at that time , I never had no problems with nobody.

AllHipHop.com: You can’t say there was a pattern or anything  like that.
Busta Rhymes: Nothing.  And once that situation transpired it was an onslaught of s**t that just started to play out back to back for the last two years, and I’m still dealing with some of it now. But the difference is, you my cases are closed so it ain’t too much they can do with me right now. As far as trying to get me in trouble I don’t have any pending cases, I don’t have no legal issues with nobody. I’m in a new space with a new deal, new album coming, I’m a new person and I’m extremely happy. 

AllHipHop.com: Is there anything final you want to say about the situation at the video and with your late friend Ismael Ramirez? There’s always been a ton of speculation but mostly from people not really familiar with what happened, so is there anything final you want to say about it?
Busta Rhymes:  Nah, there’s really nothing else that I do want to say. I don’t really want to say anything because the bottom line is, you know, I don’t have anything to do with anything concerning that situation other than trying to provide an opportunity for all of us to work and make money ‘cause we were shooting a video.  And again, I just wish for the people that have so much to say about me in the situation…it would serve a greater purpose to not only get the facts and know what you talking about before you talk, but invest the energy that you are putting in in trying to disrespect the situation by continuing to talk based on information that you don’t really have the facts on [and] do something to help the man’s family.

If you really want to do something do something to help the brother’s family; he got three kids, three mother’s of his children and it could be more useful putting whatever energy that you have into being productive, moving forward for the situation. And that’s pretty much it.  And God bless all the loved ones and all those that have been affected directly and indirectly.  I’ve been affected directly and indirectly since the day that it happened more than people realize, and I’m still dealing with those effects, and so is my family so I just kind of want to move forward.

AllHipHop.com: Blessed was originally the title of your next album and you had dropped some songs to prep its release. But is it true that there was an argument between you and Jimmy Iovine that lead to you leaving Interscope and then landing at Universal/Motown?
Busta Rhymes: Nah. That’s another thing that wasn’t accurate. I never had any beef with Jimmy Iovine. We sat down and we communicated our concerns and I communicated not only my concerns but what I would like to do moving forward as far as wanting to make some changes.  And the beautiful thing about Jimmy Iovine that I respect is the fact that he respected my judgment call as far as what my choices were and he also respected the hard work that went into creating the legacy that I have; he didn’t want to do nothing to soil that or stain that.

 

[Jimmy Iovine] supported me in a way that I never seen before—he let me leave with my album. What more could you ask for? That’s a blessing because a lot of these labels when they give you money to spend on a project, they want they money back in some kind of way.  They want to override or they want you to pay that money back in its entirety. I didn’t have none of that to deal with and I guess it’s because the discussion was dealt with in a respectful manner.

 

There was no beef whatsoever and that’s not a politically correct answer neither.  We don’t got no problem in getting in somebody’s ass who ain’t doing they job. That’s a M.O. of Hip-Hop artists. A lot of the time the artists beef so much with labels that ain’t doin’ they job that a lot of time you start to think that that’s their mothaf**kin’ excuse for s**t they do sometimes that’s just wack. I ain’t wanna use that as an excuse in this situation because my success wasn’t the greatest over there so I got every reason to pop s**t.  If it was just based on and being about the success of the records, but that’s not really the nature of my situation I really don’t have nothing to be mad about with that experience over there. 

I do wish things could have popped a little crazier as far the success but I would not have changed The Big Bang album for the world.  It’s still one of my if not the favorite album of mine from a lyrical standpoint, a conceptual standpoint, and a musical standpoint.  You know?  “Legends of The Fall Offs”, gravediggin’ beat with the shovel in the dirt, that shit is conceptually…it’s just unbelievable. “You Can’t Hold a Torch,” me and Q-Tip over the J-Dilla beat.  “Don’t Get Carried Away,” me and Nas over the Dre beat. You know “Gold Mine” me and Raekwon over the Erick Sermon beat with the Dre production; Rick James, Stevie Wonder.

AllHipHop.com: It definitely felt like the album should have lasted in the marketplace much longer than it did. 
Busta Rhymes: Yeah. We had a 60-piece orchestra at the end of the Stevie Wonder song. You know it’s like there were movies made on that album and I wouldn’t change it for the world.   The only thing I probably would have changed is “I Love My Chick” would not have been on that album.  I probably would have put “I Love My Chick” on another album that it would have been more appropriate for. 

AllHipHop.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.

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.   

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 asshole 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. 

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.

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.

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.

[Meho]

It just makes me said when I read about the Big Bang project. Busta and Dre wanted Get You Some to be the offficial single but went with Jimmy's choice of I Love My Bitch instead and didn't even want the track on the album 

[MediumL]

It just makes me said when I read about the Big Bang project. Busta and Dre wanted Get You Some to be the offficial single but went with Jimmy's choice of I Love My Bitch instead and didn't even want the track on the album 

thats the difference now. 10 yrs ago u could have dropped the album without I love my bitch and get u some as a single and the album woulda sold. Now execs want mainstream hits.

[Elano]

his relationship with iovine was good,strange....

[jeromechickenbone]

Good interview.  I said from day 1, it was fucking unbelievably retarded to have Busta's Aftermath debut w/o a Dre produced single. 

[LyRiCaL_G]

^^^true story. After the work they did on genesis, it was such a suprise that a dre song was not the lead for the album. With touch it, it worked, the buzz was huge and they only way to top that coming into the album was for a dre track, it made sense...and they go with, i love my chick...next thing u know...buzz goes flat.

pz

[D-Nice]

Jimmy is fucking up.

[Larrabee]

I'm saying if they wanted a mainstream joint to follow Touch It, they could've easily put out the song with Missy. That beat was dope in my opinion and it would've received the same reaction, if not a better one than I Love My Chick.

[dubsmith_nz]

I'm saying if they wanted a mainstream joint to follow Touch It, they could've easily put out the song with Missy. That beat was dope in my opinion and it would've received the same reaction, if not a better one than I Love My Chick.

Word that's what I thought, Beat was banging and track woulda gone off in the clubs. How you gonna have a Dre produced album with no Dre singles...

Why didn't they drop any Dre tracks after I Love My Bitch dropped though? Coulda replaced "In The Ghetto" with sumthing

[R1ZE]

I'm not so sure he didn't actually want I Love My Bitch on the album... whats the difference between that and "I'll Do It All"? Just because one became a single and flopped... it's easy to say you don't want it on the album after the fact, but its still better than that track and "Get Down".

[Invincible]

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.

Would like to see him work with both of them. But as we can tell by the way this current album is going, he is never gonna work with them ever.

[Matty]

jimmy is a complete idiot for his handling of this project. funny how dre has pretty much zero say in his own projects marketing too. maybe jimmy wasn't feeling dre's stuff as much though. there was some good stuff on the big bang but nothing better than busta and dre's previous work like 'break ya neck'. it was dissapointment but definitely more on a business than a musical level.

[BiggBoogaBiff]

I hope he gets real music instead of Bass Boomers like these:





Leave this type of beat makin' in the past.  That retro shit and that same ol' hip hop formula shit is old now but theres always this:

[Dre-Day]

Jimmy is fucking up.

what else is new?

[D-Nice]

Jimmy is fucking up.

what else is new?

Dre I know there is probably a thread out there already with your thoughts on the Big Bang but what did you think of the album?