… You want more of him than the group can provide.” She then suggests Busta record an EP but remain in the group, comparing his “polyrhythmic flow” to John Coltrane and Charlie Parker solos. jam is you can’t help waiting for Busta to get on the mic. “I hate to be the one to put it on paper and shit, but Busta needs to do a solo album,” dream hampton wrote in her 1993 Source review of L.O.N.S.’s sophomore album, T.I.M.E. Leaders of the New School, or L.O.N.S., didn’t have to go up in flames, but Busta needed room to spread his wings and scorch the earth before the end of the millennium. The group’s post-show split confirmed what everyone on staff at The Source magazine already knew: 16 bars could no longer cage the roaring dungeon dragon from East Flatbush. And you hear the defeat in his voice as he stands opposite his group and says to the cameraman, “Please don’t film this, B.” You can read the tension on the face of a then 21-year-old Busta Rhymes, who was appearing on the show with the group that provided his entry to the music industry. Leaders of the New School were disintegrating in real time. The writing was always on the wall, but in 1993 it was on camera for Yo! MTV Raps. Today, we’re going deep on Busta Rhymes’ legendary debut, The Coming, which incinerated the rap game when it arrived in March 1996.
#Busta rhymes break ya neck red man gif series#
The 1996 Rap Yearbook, a recurring series from The Ringer, will explore the landmark releases and moments from a quarter-century ago that redefined how we think of the genre.
The only person really taking it seriously is Trevor himself, everybody else is just enjoying dancing like crazy to the beats of 'What's It Gonna Be?'.Ĭan we all just agree that Trevor Tahiem Smith Jr.No year in hip-hop history sticks out quite like 1996: It marked the height of the East Coast–West Coast feud, the debut of several artists who would rule the next few decades, and the last moment before battle lines between “mainstream” and “underground” were fully drawn. His live show, perhaps unsurprisingly, is designed around his sheer force of personality, as much as anything else in front of a huge banner emblazoned with his name, he eschews the traditional hip hop penchant for a hype man sharing vocal duties, although does seem to be frequently backed by an entourage doing nothing in particular.ĭespite having consistently recorded and released music over the past fifteen years, he is a far more elusive live performer so therefore whenever he does announce tours the fans flock to hear classics such as 'Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See' in all their glory.Īccompanied by a huge entourage onstage including some rather redundant female dancers, Busta really does obey all the conventions in the hip hop book when it comes to his live performance yet the audience just goes with it and it makes the whole show incredibly fun. That’s not to play down his impressive solo back catalogue, though there’s banger after banger in there, from ‘Break Ya Neck’ to ‘Woo Hah! (Got You All in Check)’ to the classic ‘Pass the Courvoisier’. urban music for a good couple of decades now how many people with even a passing interest in that genre could claim never to have heard of him? Secondly, Busta’s never really gone away you could probably argue that he was one of the first artists to make an art form out of the feature, probably being more notable for his guest spots than his own tracks - recently, too, he’s continued to reinvent himself, working with the likes of Tiesto and Nicki Minaj. One, he’s been one of the most recognizable figures in U.S. Whatever your opinion on Busta Rhymes, there’s two things about him that you can’t really deny. BREAK YA NECK - BUSTA RHYMES E11even Miami, Miami, FL, US June 15th, 2019