Busta Rhymes Has a New Album Dropping Soon, Says It’s His ‘Most Compelling Body of Work’
Busta Rhymes sat down with Billboard to discuss his new track, "Get It," with Missy and Kelly Rowland, his Super Bowl commercial and his upcoming album, which he says is his "most compelling body of work" to date.
The 45-year-old rapper hasn't dropped a proper album since 2009 and says he's excited about his upcoming album, mostly because he was patient and took his time with it.
"The only thing I am going to say is that this is definitely going to be my most compelling body of work that I've ever put together," he said, adding that he's been working on the album off and on for nine years. "I haven't dropped an album in retail since 2009. I am really proud of this project. I was very patient with it and took my time. Patience was probably one of my greatest weapons when putting this project together, because there was things I ended up stumbling on that ended up on the album years into the recording."
It's extra special that he's planning on dropping music before the mid-point of 2018 because this is the 20 year anniversary of his most defining album, Extinction Level Event.
"We're going to be celebrating the entire year. It's one of my proudest moments in my entire catalog of music," he says.
The talked specifically about working with Janet Jackson on the album's hit single, "Whats It Gonna Be."
"The [Janet Jackson] record came about as a result of her touring on her Velvet Rope Tour and she came to New York and did a radio interview on Hot 97 with Angie Martinez, who asked her, "Is there any hip-hop artist that you hasn't worked with that you would like to?" And [Janet Jackson] said, "Busta Rhymes." I was actually in my vehicle driving from Long Island to [New York City] and I had to pull over because I almost crashed," he remembers. "
"Janet's one of my favorite artists ever to exist in the world. To hear her say that was one of the biggest highlights of my life," he continued. "I had Mona Scott Young, who was my manager with Chris Lighty, notify management. I told them to get [Janet] on the phone. [Mona] got Janet on the phone and interestingly enough I told Janet, "I had the perfect song for her," and I didn't even have the song yet. With that being said we found the perfect song, once I said all that I had to deliver. I guess I'm pretty good under pressure. I got with the right people to collaborate and put the song together, which ended up becoming one of the most historical moments of my career. It's an incredible thing to know that 20 years later people can still celebrate the greatness of it."
As for the video with Missy Elliott and Kelly Rowland he says to expect it to be epic.
"The video is going to be unbelievably out of control," he says. He adds that the song came together "organically."
"It came together organically, but the music set the tone for the direction I felt the song needed to go in," he says of "Get It." "Missy did her verse at one point and sent it to me and I put the song together. Kelly Rowland was with Bangladesh when she did her vocals. I got with Missy after the song was done so she could hear it and make an adjustment. She tried to make me go make an adjustment. I was like wait a minute, 'You're not busting my ass on my own record.'"
You can check out Busta's full interview with Billboard here.
50 Greatest Female R&B Artists of the 90s