Zilla Rocca recently told me that in the All-Time Great rap nerd debates, he’d put Busta Rhymes over Eminem. His point was that over the last decade, there hasn’t been one Shady moment that made him want to rap on the spot. Busta has had about 15 of those during the same time span. The underlying idea is that we take Busta’s greatness for granted. He’s been murdering since Leaders of the New School. I remember reading a Disney Adventure Magazine when I was 9 and someone was saying that LONS were the clinic on how to rap. I don’t remember who the rapper saying it was, but he was famous enough to be in a kids magazine with Goofy and Fred Savage on the cover.
Busta can hang with any rapper ever on every hook. He’s got a great ear for beats. He’s one of the greatest cameo rappers of all-time. The knock is that his his albums are hit and miss, but so are Eminem’s and almost everyone after their second album. Ask yourself if you’d rather hear a Busta greatest hits or one of Marshall Mathers at a party. The latter might mean a lot to trailer trash, opiate addicts, and Internet comment sections, but after “Lose Yourself,” you could excise the last decade of his career. Busta is still a beast and probably will be until they bury him in a kimono next to Martha Stewart. Listen to it while bumping, The Abstract & The Dragon, his collaborative mixtape with Q-Tip. I wish there more new tracks and lost outtakes, but you probably find few more enjoyable hour’s worth of music. I mean, these guys made “Scenario.”
Download:
ZIP: Q-Tip & Busta Rhymes – The Abstract & The Dragon (Left-Click)
