Original subtitles

♪ If you really wanna party with me ♪

♪ Let me see just what you got for me ♪

♪ Put all your hands where my eyes can see ♪

I'm definitely a different person now

20 years later.

You just become your--your--

a much better version of yourself,

learning from your mistakes,

and I'm very proud of, you know, the 20-year-later Busta Rhymes.

[audience cheering]

Everybody up top, we gonna do this Brooklyn style!

Get up out your seat, boy!

NARRATOR: He's the outrageous renegade of rap.

♪ Tell me what you really wanna do ♪

-He's so fast. -[rapping rapidly]

He's so creative. He's not scared to do something

that's super weird. -♪ Break ya neck

He's that hot sauce, you know?

♪ Pass the Courvoisier

♪ Everybody sing it now

He's that flavor, that extra spicy.

♪ Pass the Courvoisier

-Passion and energy. -Busta Rhymes!

He's like a walking Rose Bowl.

When I hear the music, it's an addiction for me.

-♪ Fire it up -♪ Fire it up

♪ Say fire it up

With that passion for the beat,

Busta battled his way to the top of the mainstream.

♪ Turn it up

♪ Now you know who holdin' the throne, so gimme the crown ♪

Everything was moving 100,000 miles per second.

Busta Rhymes!

Busta!

[loud cheering]

But the deaths of those closest to him

sent Busta down a dark path.

I didn't really give a fuck

about nothing for a little while,

and this depression started to happen.

He was heavy, heavy drinking to hide the pain.

By 2019, he gained more than 100 pounds,

and a night of heavy partying nearly cost Busta his life.

[siren wailing]

I couldn't breathe. It was a near-death situation.

[siren wailing]

But through tragedy, Busta found the strength to recover...

I had to take a break, get healthy, improve me.

...and regain his voice.

Do you understand who this man is?

Do you understand how hard he brings it,

[voice echoing] how hard he brings it?

I wanted to dedicate myself to that transformation.

Everything just started to fall in place.

Come on!

Now 20 years

after his "Behind the Music" episode aired,

Busta is reflecting on key moments in his life...

You gotta continue to secure the win.

♪ It's Bust' Rhymes, ya goddamn snitch ♪

...giving new insights on his troubles...

Please don't film this, B.

It was a stupid-ass move.

♪ Do not come after me, no, you don't wanna do that ♪

...as he revels in his triumph back as the king of hip-hop.

He's an icon.

♪ Everything about me new

Busta Rhymes never taking his foot off the gas pedal again.

This is "Busta Rhymes: The Story Behind the Music."

♪ I never left

♪ Bang a left

♪♪♪

-Rolling! -October 2020.

Busta Rhymes finds inspiration in a classic hip-hop beat

by Bell Biv DeVoe,

as he shoots a music video for his latest album.

We're bringing a touch of classic

'cause we gon' make the classic just as dope or better.

♪ Don't this hit make my... wanna ♪

♪ Wait, one sec, hey, homie, what's hood? ♪

♪ Bouncin' on the beat like the way you... should, oh ♪

♪ Oh, oh

It took more than a decade for the iconic rapper

to finish "Extinction Level Event 2."

Never gonna take this long to put out another album again

until I'm bowing out gracefully.

[sniffles]

The love of the game keeps him in.

He has the "it" factor,

and a lot of people don't have that.

♪ Don't this hit make my... wanna ♪

[explosion]

The album chronicles

the resurrection of Busta Rhymes,

an artist deeply committed

to staying true to his music and himself.

I think the most important thing was just making sure

that I prioritize me again, you know?

We get caught up in living

for so many other things and other people,

you're not realizing how much you need in you.

The moment of truth has finally arrived.

♪♪♪

Busta Rhymes' journey began in Brooklyn.

[reggae beat playing]

He was born Trevor Smith Jr. in 1972

to Jamaican parents in East Flatbush,

a melting pot of West Indian culture.

♪♪♪

Trevor and his younger brother had a strict upbringing,

raised in the conservative Seventh Day Adventist Church.

Seventh Day Adventist is a strict faith,

to the point where there's certain things

that you can't eat, certain ways to dress.

No alcohol, no smokin'.

I was a very disciplined man in terms of the way

in which I brought up my kids.

Trevor understood that very well.

My pops was a hard-working man, and he took care of his family.

It was priority to him.

That is definitely what I took from my father.

Right from the start, Trevor was a child determined

to be both seen and heard.

Trevor was very rambunctious as a child,

constantly banging the pots and pans or anything.

My house, the, you know, the reggae music was prominent.

Bob Marley, Gregory Isaacs, Peter Tosh.

He would listen to all sorts of music and dance a lot.

[chuckles]

CHIC: ♪ Good times

♪ These are the good times

The music that was on the radio

when I was like 8 or 9 was disco.

The disco thing was booming at the time.

♪ Good times

But a hip-hop revolution was about to change

the state of music.

♪ Dang-didang-dang, da-dang-da-dang ♪

In the late '70s, rap was born

on the streets of Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx.

♪ Go dang diddy dang di-dang di-dang diggy diggy ♪

The dudes would cut it on the two turntables.

You'd get an MC that'd get on the mic.

It's hip-hop in its rawest form.

But as Trevor's romance with rap was just beginning,

his parents' marriage was coming to an end.

My moms and my pops had a little fight or whatever,

just the arguing and all of that.

I started to see a little bit of that.

♪♪♪

Eventually, his father moved out,

and when Trevor was 10 years old,

his parents divorced.

Busta and his father were very, very close.

Oh, my God. Very close when he was a young boy.

♪♪♪

We'd been together since he's been a baby.

And all of a sudden, I weren't there.

So of course it was normal for him to miss me.

Even though I knew him and my mother wasn't getting along

and he had to bounce,

I just always felt like, "You could still come around.

You got kids. You need to come see your kids,

and if you ain't coming to see your kids,

then I don't know if I'm gon' wanna see you."

So you know, as a result of that,

we wasn't cool for a while.

♪♪♪

After the divorce, Trevor's mother

had to work longer hours to make ends meet.

And for 11-year-old Trevor, less parental supervision

meant more time in the streets.

He was staying out late, coming home late.

As a mother, I was worried he was getting involved in drugs.

♪♪♪

Smoking weed, getting into the nickle-and-dime hustle

in the street.

You know, I would get in trouble,

but I would never get charged as an adult with anything

because I was a minor.

I did shit in the street that I wanted to do.

It was never shit that I had to do.

My moms always made sure I was good.

I didn't need to do none of this shit

that I ended up finding myself

mischievously getting involved with.

I just loved being in the middle of the bullshit,

and it was cool to be in these things

with the kind of friends that you kept.

Trevor's mom was determined to get him off the street

and back on track, so in 1983,

she moved the family to Uniondale, Long Island,

a world away from the blacktops and block parties of Brooklyn.

♪♪♪

Long Island, you got honor roll students,

and [bleep] I wasn't used to being around.

I just felt out of place in Long Island.

That wasn't my element, you know?

[cheering]

So every weekend, he hopped a train back to Brooklyn

and back to hip-hop.

We wanted to breakdance and pop and do graffiti and rap.

I just missed that.

♪♪♪

Inspired by the vibrant hip-hop culture,

Trevor set out to express himself artistically,

bringing the Brooklyn vibe back to his school

in Long Island.

I had heard wind of someone from Brooklyn.

He's a breakdancer, a beatbox, hip-hop lover like myself.

That's how we met. MCs used to battle in front of the school.

Everybody would circle around and see what we was doing.

You know, Brown would spit, I'm beatboxing it.

You know, he started dissing me.

You know, I started making fun of him

'cause he didn't wanna rap.

He wanted to battle Busta.

That pretty much did it for me.

At that point, I knew that I wanted to rhyme because

I wanted to get back at Brown.

So he came back the next day in the cypher,

and he torched me in front of everybody.

I got on his ass. [chuckles]

In my mind already, it's like,

that was the first person I was gonna start my group with

'cause he had heart.

♪♪♪

Trevor, Charlie Brown, and Dinco D

formed a group with Trevor's cousin Milo as their DJ.

Charlie Brown had connections at Long Island's

legendary 510 Franklin Street Studio,

home base to the revolutionary rap group Public Enemy.

♪ Yes, the rhythm, the rebel

♪ Without pause, I'm lowering my level ♪

And in 1986, the teenagers started hanging out at 510,

hoping for a break.

For a while, they weren't interested in us

'cause they had a lot of groups.

They really, you know, tried to prove

that they was gon' be hungrier

than anybody else that came up into 510

because they was treated the worst.

After months of trying to get noticed,

Trevor and his crew planned to show off their skills

at a talent contest judged by Chuck D.

They kinda dressed up, and they got there late,

and we didn't allow them to compete.

It was like, "Look, whatever y'all got going on,

please, just give us five minutes of y'all time.

We just want y'all to see what we can do."

♪ Jump, come on, come on

They was energetic young kids,

they were going for it,

and all their styles worked with each other.

♪ Kids on the block just scramblin', ahh ♪

♪ Teachers in class, they just be babblin', ooh ♪

Public Enemy began schooling the teenagers

in the art and the business of rap.

♪ Huh, he tried to break my back ♪

They gave them the name "Leaders of the New School."

And Chuck D, a huge sports fan,

suggested a stage name for Trevor.

"Buster" Rhymes was a halfback with Oklahoma.

I said it just made too much sense.

"Busta" as a first name, "Rhymes" as a last name.

♪ Dinco, Dinco, go, Dinco

♪ Go, Charlie, Charlie, go, Charlie ♪

-♪ Go Busta, Busta, go, Busta -♪ You know we got style

The Leaders of the New School started playing gigs

at Manhattan night clubs.

Eventually, a record exec spotted them,

and in December '89,

they were offered a deal with Elektra Records.

We just signed the contract, and we got a budget,

and nobody can't tell us nothin'. [chuckles]

♪ Oh, man

At 17, Busta dropped out of school

and began recording Leaders' first album.

Released in July 1991, "Future Without a Past"

was a colorful hip-hop ode to high school life.

The first time I heard Busta Rhymes, I was a kid.

♪ It's just another case of that old P.T.A. ♪

He's back there like, ♪ I'm Busta Rhymes

♪ Nah-nah-nah-nah, nah-nah

♪ Always misbehaving and mischievous ♪

And I was like, yo, this dude is, like, crazy.

♪ Pushing out spitballs through plastic straws in class ♪

First of all, I was really looking at his haircut.

[laughs] Nah.

♪ A child's wickedy wild, the Calbridge Hill styles ♪

Their album was a blast of fresh air,

'cause everybody was busy being

super antiestablishment and outlaw,

and here these dudes came and just said,

"Yo, let's have some fun."

♪ I know you, and you know me

♪ I know you, and you know me ♪

♪ It's a sobb story, the sobb story ♪

It's just a beautiful thing to see that, you know,

something that I just fell in love with as a kid,

was able to do so much for my life

throughout the years, and I remember those times.

♪ I remember the days when I was walkin' and talkin' ♪

-♪ Doing what I gotta do -♪ Doing what we wanna do

I just loved the fact that we're still here

in an amazing space, able to do what we love,

and we're still active.

We're still super current and present and fresh,

and we're still able

to shake shit up the same way we was doing it then.

♪ My name is Busta, my name is Diana ♪

♪ My name is Busta

Music has changed so, so, so much.

But Busta's always gon' rhyme.

♪ And when I return the favor everybody gets pissed ♪

I'm not in the space where I can look at that

and be like, damn, that's what I used to do,

because I'm still doing it.

♪ I know you and...

The group was earning major respect in the underground,

but that wasn't translating into major dollars.

As a new group just starting out,

the money was not a lot of money.

Then it had to split, like, four ways,

so things weren't as lovely as it should be.

♪ You know me, it's the sobb story ♪

♪ The sobb story

For Busta, the financial situation became critical

when he discovered

that his high school sweetheart was pregnant.

♪♪♪

Okay, now I gotta take the responsibility and step up

and be the father and be the man of the family

and be the provider.

By December of '91,

19-year-old Busta Rhymes had a baby on the way.

He was feeling pressured to get his group,

Leaders of the New School, established.

Busta felt that things weren't happening fast enough.

He became, uh, edgy, and, like, he wanted to get money.

Even when times is rough,

you still gotta find a way to provide for the family.

The Leaders kicked into high gear,

making promotional appearances

and playing as many paid gigs as possible.

We were doing two and three shows in a night.

We would do one show, jump in the limo, sweaty,

change our clothes into some other crazy outfit

and go onstage and rock at another spot.

♪ Throw your hands in the air

♪ And wave 'em like you just don't care ♪

But as the group fought to make a name for themselves,

a rivalry sprang up between Busta and Brown.

♪ Check it out

♪ At school I wrote notes and took quotes from Shakespeare ♪

I think it kinda helped the vibe

because you get so riled up beefin',

that when you out there, you trying to outdo each other.

[rapping indistinctly]

We knew it was healthy competition,

but things started getting bitter, lot of animosity.

♪♪♪

The competition only intensified

when the Leaders got a huge break.

The established rap act, a Tribe Called Quest,

invited them into the studio to collaborate

on a song called "Scenario."

♪ Here we go, yo, here we go, yo ♪

♪ So what's the, what's the, what's the scenario? ♪

It was kinda like a respectable battle,

because everybody knew they verse had to be scorchin'

or else you ain't gon' be on the record.

There was this competition amongst themselves

that was a little uncanny.

♪ Oh, my gosh, oh, my gosh

♪ Eating Ital Stew like the one Peter Tosh, uhh, uhh ♪

Busta knew this was his time to shine,

and he seized the moment.

It was his record, you know?

It was definitely Busta's moment.

♪ Yo, bust it out before the Busta bust another rhyme ♪

♪ The rhythm is in sync, uhh, the rhymes are on time, time ♪

Leaders, Tribe, you know, boom.

-[explosion] -Explosion. Hit record.

♪ Yo, Mr. Busta Rhymes, tell him what I did ♪

♪ I heard you rushed and rushed and attacked ♪

"Scenario" was a breakout moment for the Leaders,

and Busta's manic, in-your-face style

made him a standout.

I remember when we did "Arsenio Hall,"

when Busta had this Dr. Seuss hat on... [chuckles]

♪ As I combine all the juice from the mind ♪

-♪ Yeah -♪ Heel up, wheel up

-♪ Uh-oh -♪ Bring it back, come, rewind

He takes his hat off, and he's rhyming,

and he turns it inside out and puts it on. [laughs]

I mean, you just couldn't... you can't deny him.

♪ Rawr, rawr, like a dungeon dragon ♪

♪ Change your little drawers 'cause your pants were saggin' ♪

I'm just doing what I know how to do and what feels right,

and that's the best way to be.

You don't gotta remember that movie script

because it's you.

You're, uh, portraying this character,

and it's not you. At some point,

they're gonna forget the lines to the script.

I just don't ever wanna be that guy.

After the explosion of "Scenario,"

Busta was suddenly in demand as an MC.

I started to get mad more phone calls

to do cameos on people records.

I felt like, what the hell is going on?

It's like, yo, we-- we are a crew.

It was about crew. It was about your crew.

That's it. It ain't nothin' about all these--

all these other people, man.

♪♪♪

Whenever I did something, I represent the crew name

in whatever it was that I was doing.

Busta Rhymes, fresh from the L.O.N.S. family tree.

So everybody'd be cool with it, but I guess behind my back,

it wasn't cool because I started to hear [bleep] like,

"You going for dolo. You know, you--

you ain't thinking about the crew no more."

We were having our-- our disagreements.

♪♪♪

But the Leaders' petty in-fighting would soon

be overshadowed by tragedy.

In May 1992, while Busta was touring abroad with Leaders,

his girlfriend went into premature labor

five months into her pregnancy.

I was on the road in St. Maarten,

doing a show, and, um,

soon as I found out what was up,

I didn't waste no time.

♪♪♪

He came home the night, and, um,

we told him she gave birth.

He rushed to the hospital,

and then he found out at that time, yeah.

The baby had just died, and, um, it was heart-rendin'.

♪♪♪

I had a baby that just died that I didn't--

I wasn't even home to see be born.

You know what I'm sayin'?

Like, I was hating myself for a minute,

crazy, because I'm out doing shows, running around onstage,

when I should've been home.

I couldn't believe that I was burying my baby.

Like, [bleep] this made no sense to me.

It just was like, I need to be around my people

because if I don't be around my people,

I might do somethin' stupid.

♪♪♪

After the death of his infant son,

the Leaders of the New School were there to support him.

Leaders helped me deal because I was never by myself

to go crazy about it. You know what I'm sayin'?

So, like, I always had the encouragement

of Dinco and Brown and Milo

just being the support system for me at the time,

because, um, they was my friends.

Then Busta found a new inspiration

with the birth of his second son, T'ziah,

in February of '93.

I'm there to witness the birth. I made myself a promise

that I don't give a [bleep] what I was doing.

I'm not missing another child being born.

♪♪♪

With Busta revitalized,

the Leaders focused on their second album.

But old tensions soon returned to haunt the group.

It was getting harder to really come together.

I mean, it was ego there, you know what I'm saying?

♪♪♪

And a serious power struggle developed

between Busta and Charlie Brown.

Leaders of the New School was something that I created.

That was my group. This was my brainchild.

In the beginning, you know, Brown kinda came off

as the point person.

I created the opportunity and that venue

for us to get into the game.

But then now that we got our foot in the door,

it wasn't just about what Brown could set up.

Now I could make a call and pull a string.

♪♪♪

Resentments were only aggravated in October of '93,

when the Leaders' second album, "T.I.M.E."

was released to mixed reviews and sluggish sales.

I think that was the beginning of the end

when a record label says, "You know, we found one star

and the rest of it, we'll throw away."

The final straw came during a November '93 taping

of "Yo! MTV Raps."

We're getting ready to explode like a bomb here.

But, yo, before we do, let's, like,

get everybody's, like, name check.

So he asking us, like, everybody,

"What does everybody plan to do for Leaders of the New School?"

or whatever.

Let me tell you the time. Right now the time is L.O.N.S.

Leaders of the New School,

Busta Rhymes, Dinco, Milo, Brown time.

Then Brown said, you know what I'm saying?

"See, Brown trying to do what's up for C. Brown or whatever."

He said his name. He said he wasn't repping the crew no more.

Charlie Brown, you know,

what's been going on, my brother?

Just loungin', you know what I'm sayin'?

Like you said, just getting to know myself,

you know what I'm saying?

To know what my capabilities are

and what I'm-a do in life.

And me and Busta look at each other like,

"Come on, man. Save that for off the cameras."

So we was gonna whup Brown ass right there.

-[speaks indistinctly] -Please, don't film this, B.

And that was just the breaking point right there, you know?

Now it just feels like this was some stupid-ass shit.

Whatever the issues are that we was having,

we was raised to not air dirty laundry.

You know, we can handle that amongst each other.

I pretty much realized at that point

that Brown was seriously on some [bleep].

He wanted to go do his own thing.

Everybody's screaming for him to go do his own thing.

The label is acting funny.

I was like, you know what? I don't need this [bleep], man.

I don't need this [bleep]. I'm outta here.

That was a stupid-ass move,

and it was a stupid-ass thing to do.

To do it in the way that he did that at the time,

it was just stupid.

And it was selfish and it was inconsiderate,

and it just--it just never needed to happen that way.

We didn't speak for about 19 years,

but you know, we good now.

You know, one day I reached out to C. Brown, and we spoke,

and I went to his house, and it was--

we was happy to see each other.

It was like we missed each other.

It's okay to agree to disagree.

We don't have to always agree on things.

Stupid to lose all of this time over some emotional dumb shit.

When Charlie Brown walked away from Leaders

in November 1993,

Busta was faced with a harsh reality

of life without a crew.

Suffering with a team,

y'all can still help be each other's support system.

Suffering on your own is a whole nother ball game.

By early '94 with a young son in his care,

Busta was once again feeling the pressure

to provide for his family.

He had no choice but to make his own way in the rap game.

♪ I know one thing the whole world is expecting ♪

♪ It's how we all connected

♪ To break fool on the same record ♪

I started rhyming on every cameo opportunity

that I could get after that-- everything.

♪ The brand-new flava in ya ear ♪

♪ Time for new flava in ya ear

♪♪♪

In the spring of '94,

Busta was ready to venture out on his own.

He signed with Elektra Records and went into the studio

to work on his first solo album,

but seven months later, he had barely recorded a track.

Well, he was stuck for a while, you know?

And he was just trying to find his voice.

I had the craziest mental block.

I'm in the studio. Hours is going by.

I ain't coming up with [bleep].

♪♪♪

Then one day, he heard an old Sugarhill Gang song

on the radio.

"Old School at Noon" comes on.

They played "8th Wonder."

♪ See it's up my back, it's around my neck ♪

♪ Woo-hah, got you all in check ♪

♪ Let's scream and let's shout

-♪ Woo-hah -And I said, oh, [bleep].

♪ Let's shout

I got it, I got it, I got it.

♪♪♪

Busta adapted the song into his own infectious anthem,

and in February of '96, it became the first single

off his solo debut, "The Coming."

♪ Woo-hah, got you all in check ♪

The glam hip-hop era kinda started coming along.

And here comes Busta, and all he's saying is,

"Woo-hah, got you all in check."

Just bugging out on the record, you know? Just having fun.

♪ So throw your hands up in the air, don't ever disrespect ♪

♪ Woo-hah, I got you all in check ♪

Within 12 weeks, "The Coming" went platinum.

♪♪♪

Then Busta sidestepped the sophomore jinx

with his 1997 release, "When Disaster Strikes..."

♪ Let me hear you say "fire it up" ♪

♪ Fire it up

♪ Say, "fire it up"

♪ Fire it up

The album debuted at number 3 on the charts

and spawned three top-10 singles,

including one that was a definite change of pace

for the combustive MC.

["Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See" playing]

♪ Oh, yeah

♪♪♪

Q-Tip, you know, every time he call me

to get on the record, I'm sounding like this.

Ahh!

Puffy calling me to get on records, and I'm like, "Ahh!"

I hear him screaming and going over the deep end,

and I'm like, "Yo, you alienating the girls, playboy.

They can't 'rah, rah' with you too many times." [laughs]

Basically, I got from both of them,

"Just calm your [bleep] down a little bit." [laughs]

♪ Front, baby, like you don't wanna be hearin' us ♪

♪ Gotta listen to how radio be playin' us, ah ♪

That beat was just creating that ♪ Ba-du-boom, boom, boom

These videos are what got me to really, really pay attention.

He was, like, crazy with the visuals,

like, bringing that song to life.

With its hypnotic bass line and electro funk riffs,

"Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See"

became a platinum single and an instant hip-hop classic.

People likes the new, calm Busta Rhymes.

Do I need to get caught up in doing all of my records calm?

I don't think so.

♪ Then we blitz and reminisce on my people Notorious ♪

♪ Like that

Busta Rhymes entered 1998 on top,

riding the phenomenal success of his second album,

"When Disaster Strikes..."

♪ If you really wanna party with me ♪

♪ Let me see just what you got for me ♪

After "When Disaster Strikes..." the opportunities were crazy.

They just started coming out of the woodworks.

I think at that point, Busta felt that he was ready

to take the step beyond just being a recording artist.

Soon, he was involved in everything

from running his own record company

to creating his own upscale hip-hop clothing line.

♪ You people had enough? Gimme some more ♪

♪ You people want the wild head? Gimme some more ♪

You know, whatever is bringing these opportunities to me,

I'm-a maximize on 'em. I'm-a capitalize on 'em.

♪ Gimme some more

You gotta continue to secure the win,

because that win, being secure, is what made sure

everybody else was straight,

and that is what I do every day.

♪ Gimme some more, cha-ching ♪

♪ Yo, Spliff, where the G's at? ♪

♪ Gimme some more, you know we always need that ♪

♪ Gimme some more

By 1998, Busta was on top of the music and fashion world.

♪ Come on, come on, yeah

But his proudest moment came

when he was able to repay the woman

who made it all possible.

Busta made me an offer I couldn't refuse.

My mother never had to go back to work for nobody to this day.

She ran my business. She was getting paid to take care

of--of my business with me and the team,

and she treated my shit like, "You not gonna mishandle

my son's business. This is my son."

You can't pay for that love and that kind of care.

The most rewarding part is, number one,

you know, this is your mother.

So the same way I talk about having to make sure

that I'm securing the win for my family,

my moms was always great at taking care of her kids.

She's a overprotective, super nurturing, loving mother.

Throughout his career, Busta had taken risks,

and they've paid off big.

And he pushed hip-hop to its outer limits

with his next album, "Extinction Level Event."

♪ Ahh

♪ After the ultimate world blast that ended all things ♪

♪ This is how we rebuilt from the underground up ♪

Busta infused the album with an unsettling apocalyptic vision,

inspired by his spiritual studies

with the Five-Percent Nation. -♪ Bounce, baby, bounce

The record was part sci-fi, part street-corner prophecy.

♪ Hit y'all with the one, two

Even though I'm-a have fun and give people

the traditional levels of entertainment on the album

'cause again, we can't forget we're making music

for people to enjoy,

let me just try to bring this to the forefront a little more so.

♪ Set a tone in the streets where even the fans blast you ♪

You know, life and what it can become

if we don't prepare, and if we're not aware.

♪ ...out there on some real hip-hop ♪

♪ Yo, yo, yo, mayday, mayday, mayday, mayday ♪

But Busta's artistic ambitions would soon be eclipsed

by a series of legal dramas.

Busta Rhymes arrested late Sunday night

in New York City

after police reportedly found

a loaded, unregistered .45 automatic in his car.

In December 1998,

Busta was apprehended after a routine traffic stop

and charged with possessing an illegal weapon.

The charge carries a maximum penalty

of up to seven years in prison.

I don't have the violent history and I don't have a beef history.

Like, that ain't my M.O.

I want people to love Busta Rhymes for the music,

not the controversy.

And that was only the beginning.

Anybody who has a child with someone they're not with

is gonna go through things with baby mama.

Anybody. It's an unfortunate reality,

but once you're a public figure, you're recognizable,

people just wanna know.

In July '99, Busta was hit with a paternity suit.

Eight months later,

another woman accused him of non-payment of child support.

The press ran with both stories.

When I saw it in the paper that, um,

Busta was not supporting his child, it hurt.

For me, I don't know how to be any other way

than to provide for my family.

And I don't give a [bleep] what the press might wanna say.

At that time, Busta repeatedly refused to comment.

People try to use, you know, your vulnerability against you.

One thing that I could definitely say

about this music industry,

when you're in it as long as I've been fortunate

and blessed enough to be involved with it,

you learn how to deal with the shit

that comes with it, you know?

People all feel like they got the right to have an opinion

about my personal space with my family

even when it's none of their business.

You subject your family, and you subject yourself to a lot

when everything is public.

To make matters worse, by late '99,

Busta was having troubles with his record label.

The last straw with Elektra for me

was probably when I did the last album, "Anarchy."

Although "Anarchy" went gold,

it was a critical and commercial disappointment,

racking up the lowest sales of Busta's solo career.

After a decade at Elektra, Busta felt the label

was no longer giving him the support he needed.

It just felt like our growth had maxed itself out.

I had to bounce.

The whole thing with Elektra came about him doing

what he had to do for his survival as an artist.

Mired in personal and professional turmoil,

Busta Rhymes found himself at a difficult crossroads.

♪♪♪

On some level, you know, doubting whether his fans

were gonna hang in there with him,

and that was really rough 'cause this was all

he'd ever done all his life.

This was all he'd ever wanted to do.

This felt like whatever the [bleep] I did in life,

to create this karma must have been some real foul [bleep],

because I couldn't even foresee

how I was making it through all of that.

♪♪♪

But by early 2001,

Busta was putting his legal troubles behind him.

He received probation on the gun charge

and started working out the conflicts over his children.

The challenges that take place as a result

of the kids being there,

it helped me understand what my pops was dealing with.

I think a lot of us men, you know,

go through that where you wanna be there for your kids,

and, you know, sometimes the unfortunate circumstances

of the co-parenting is not really in favor

of the relationship you should have with your children.

You know, the complications of those relationships

get in the way a lot of time.

So at that time, you know,

there's a lot of emotions going on.

There's a lot of disappointment. There's a lot of frustration.

♪♪♪

After struggling through his own domestic difficulties,

Busta began to see his father in a new light.

He just become mature in his way of handling his problems.

He reflect back at the way I was handling mine,

and, you know, people are people.

We're very similar in nature, man.

Living that experience, it just helped me connect with my pops

because I definitely needed his guidance on how to deal.

Those things bring him closer to me.

♪♪♪

[sniffling]

I ain't seen a video of him ever.

♪♪♪

[sniffles]

Oh, man.

♪♪♪

I needed to see him. I thank you for that.

♪♪♪

It's hard.

♪♪♪

I miss my father.

That's it.

♪♪♪

I miss him a lot.

I miss my father entirely.

I miss his voice. I miss his face.

I miss his...hugs. I miss kissing him on his cheek.

♪♪♪

Providing for family at all costs

was a lesson Busta learned early

from not only his mother but father, too.

My father--he always just wanted to make sure

that I did shit that was going to solidify...

some sort of stability as a backup plan.

You can do the shit that you wanna do,

but you also gotta understand that in life,

in being responsible, you gotta do the shit you have to do,

even if you don't wanna do it...

because that's a part of life.

That's a part of being responsible.

♪ See, the only thing you need to do right here is ♪

♪ Is nod your freakin' head

In 2001, Busta left his legal dramas behind

and prepared to reignite his music career.

♪ Yeah, here we go now

♪ Tell me what you really wanna do ♪

-♪ Come here, ma -♪ Talk to a brother

♪ Talk with me, you look like you could really give it to me ♪

♪ From the way you talk and the way ya try to walk for me ♪

A new establishment, a new team,

a new excitement, a new support system,

a new movement.

♪ Just let me give you real street... ♪

He joined forces

with record industry legend Clive Davis,

who was launching a new label, J Records.

And he released his fifth album, aptly titled "Genesis."

I was naming my life a rebirth. I gotta start fresh.

I need a new, clean slate. I need a new beginning.

-♪ Act a fool -♪ You better watch out

"Genesis" marked the beginning of a resurgence

in Busta Rhymes' career.

He had a series of hit singles...

-♪ What we gon' tell 'em? -♪ We gon' tell that brother

♪ Pass the Courvoisier

...collaborating with everyone from Diddy and Pharrell

to Mariah Carey.

♪ Baby, if you give it to me, I'll give it to you ♪

He's never afraid to take chances.

♪ Back with the remix

♪ With Spliff and Sean-A-Paul on the corner ♪

-♪ We make it clap -He really tries to come

different with everything that he does, you know?

The hot streak culminated

with him signing with Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment in 2004.

He expressed to me how much of a fan he was in what I do

and without question, it speaks for itself

how much we are all fans of what he do.

Tell all y'all nosey-ass people

"Big Bang" is in stores June 13th.

Their collaboration, "The Big Bang,"

debuted at number 1.

♪ Get low, Bus

♪ Who be the King of the Sound? ♪

♪ Busta Bus back to just put a lock on a town ♪

It's his voice and his delivery.

♪ Homie do his thing, lockin' the strip ♪

-♪ Come on -♪ Lot of mamis is dancin'

♪ And they shakin' they hips

It's not what you say. It's how you say that.

-♪ I let 'em -♪ Touch it

Production was outta here.

-♪ Turn it, leave it, stop -It's a dope record.

-Give it up for Busta Rhymes! -[cheering]

-What's good, New York? -[cheering continues]

♪ Here we go, ha, ha, ha, ha-ha ♪

I was definitely excited about it being number one,

'cause I had never experienced that

prior to that album.

♪ Ha, ha, ha, boom pow, ha [cheering]

But having an album done that was entirely supervised

and mixed by Dr. Dre,

like, I was more excited about that shit

than anything else.

Dre, what's good, B?

'Sup, boss? Everything over here all right?

Everything is good, man.

I mean, I heard a lot of noise, man. You sure?

-We good, right, babe? -Yeah, no.

I was still in my wild cowboy years.

♪♪♪

Everything was moving 100,000 miles per second.

♪ I'm on my New York...

♪ Got the world followin' the New York script ♪

And we was just riding the wave,

and we were just having a great time

with just being in the space that we were in.

♪ I'm riding on the train in my New York... ♪

You know, just moving and shaking in an amazing way.

And the Dodge Nitro Move the Crowd award goes to...

Busta Rhymes!

Busta!

Work kept me away from having to be in the face

of the stress constantly,

and there was a lot of shit that needed to be dealt with

that could not properly get dealt with.

-Busta, right here. -After a 4-year court battle,

Busta had won custody of his three sons in 2006.

Busta!

With legal bills to pay

and climbing financial obligations...

Busta Rhymes!

...he went into full gear in his career,

prioritizing making money above all else.

And all of my wins, it was a win for the whole house.

♪ I keep hustlin', yeah

That's just what it is.

♪ Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah

[cheering]

But sometimes you need time to be around for your kids.

You know what I'm saying? And then sometimes

you don't realize the effect being busy has.

So when you slow down and the tours is done,

shit could all start hitting you at the same time.

Busta was forced to slow down

when a series of personal tragedies struck.

First, in 2012, his manager, Chris Lighty,

who had guided his career since the early '90s,

died suddenly.

Chris Lighty, founder of Violator Entertainment,

manager to the stars, and beloved industry veteran,

has passed away.

Chris was like a big brother to me.

He was one of the closest people to me in my life.

Then Busta lost his father.

Trevor Smith Sr. passed away after a long illness

at the age of 75 .

I just wasn't ready to accept it.

Losing your father is some... indescribable shit.

Busta told me on the phone when that happened,

and, um, I heard his voice crack,

because when something like that happens,

you barely can talk.

You lose somebody that means so much to you,

gave birth to you.

You know, it's real, real deep.

My father and Chris--

those are the two most important male figures in my life.

You know, to not have them around

to try to get some guidance on things,

it--it felt like I was just wandering through life.

He wasn't in the right state of mind at that point.

Those back-to-back deaths kind of really got me

on some shit, like...I don't really give a fuck about nothing

for a little while.

He was heavy, heavy, heavy drinking to hide the pain.

Not feeling right, not eating right, the stress.

He was going through a lot.

Over the next few years,

Busta's depression took a visible toll.

What's up, Busta?

By 2019, he had gained more than 100 pounds,

and he had developed numerous physical ailments,

including sleep apnea and high blood pressure.

It was weird because I still was super motivated to grind

and work and do what needed to be done

because there's no such thing as me telling my family

that I don't have it or I can't give it to them.

You still gotta figure out what you gotta figure out

regardless of what you going through.

Busta's emotional and physical spiral

came to a head one night in January of 2019

in Los Angeles.

After filming a music video...

he and his oldest son went out to a club to celebrate.

It was a night of heavy partying.

♪♪♪

On the ride back home, Busta passed out.

♪♪♪

His breathing turned erratic.

It took security and Busta's son

20 minutes to wake him up.

My son just saw me in a space

that I wouldn't really want him to ever see me in,

between drinking, not being able to breathe properly,

not being the person that he can be proud of as his father.

I just was probably at my lowest point, health-wise,

and I didn't like disappointing him, so...

you know, that was really the point that I felt like

I needed to do something.

The next day, Busta made an appointment to see a doctor.

I went to the doctor, and they told me

that I needed to go to the hospital

for an emergency surgery

because I grew polyps on my throat.

It was blocking 90% of my breathing passage,

so, you know, he said if I didn't go, you know,

I could be risking a near-death situation.

That was nerve-racking.

If that procedure isn't performed properly,

It could have also changed

the way that I sound permanently.

The surgery was successful,

and Busta made a promise to himself that day

to change his lifestyle and get healthy.

Behavior patterns had to change, you know?

And I had to slow down on the smoking.

A lot of the things that I used to drink--

cognacs and, you know, tequilas, all of that,

I had to take a break.

I would tell him like, "Yo, it's time for you to get like me.

Like, you looking crazy. Look at you."

♪♪♪

Me, talking like that really amped him up, you know?

'Cause he's very, very competitive.

Like, if you challenge him,

he'll take that and be like, "What?"

I want to dedicate myself to that transformation,

and everything just started to fall in place.

In February of 2019, Busta went to Florida for one month

and dedicated himself to an intense fitness regimen,

training six days a week, three times a day.

♪♪♪

It was just about putting yourself in an environment

where the distractions was gonna be kept to a minimum,

and you just had to completely dedicate yourself

to what you was doing.

That's when I saw the change.

I saw him working out like crazy, crazy.

And being in physical shape helps you clear your mind.

In 12 months, Busta lost a hundred pounds,

dropping from 340 to nearly 240 at the age of 48.

Losing weight is definitely a challenge.

You know, it's gonna be painful at times.

It's gonna be grueling at times,

and when you start to see the results,

I think that's where the rewarding feeling comes from,

being able to move better, breathe better.

He's in shape now. He looks real good.

I'm so proud of him.

I think that's what sped up the process

to even drop the album.

In a better place physically, spiritually, and emotionally,

Busta was finally able to complete the album

he had been working on for more than a decade.

It was a moving moment for Busta

when he finished laying down the last track.

[sniffles]

I definitely didn't wanna take this long to put out the album,

but you know, I work hard, and I can show that

I'm giving people my best self at the time.

I was mad at him because he didn't put it out before,

you know, but he's very strategic,

and timing is everything.

He's really, really a perfectionist,

and if he put that album out a long time ago,

who knows what physical space he would have been in?

So everything just came together.

♪ Boomp, and if the cap fit, fit it on me ♪

♪ Got love in every hood, they been waitin' for me, hey ♪

I just wanted to do something that made me feel like

it was worth the wait.

Busta Rhymes never taking his foot off the gas pedal again.

♪ Boomp, boomp, boomp

Do you understand who this man is?

Do you understand how hard he brings it?

[voice echoing] Hard he brings it?

Nobody's following this...

[voice echoing] Nobody, nobody, nobody.

Released in October of 2020, "Extinction Level Event 2"

documents the resurrection of Busta Rhymes.

♪ Heavy metal like Metallica, now witness the massacre ♪

♪ Somebody should've told 'em... they shouldn't come after ya ♪

A relentless artist who continues to transform himself,

Busta thrives on pushing the boundaries of hip-hop.

♪ So far, shawties throw they bra ♪

♪ And I need the lighter to light the perfect cigar ♪

♪ Brand-new jet, jet, brand-new car, car ♪

♪ Leader of the new... brand-new Czar ♪

I think he's the best rap performer ever.

Come on! Come on!

Man, I learned so much from him.

♪ I want everybody to do what they know they 'posed to do ♪

The way that he performs, his pockets and punchlines...

♪ It's Bust' Rhymes, ya goddamn snitch ♪

♪ The cannon 'bout to blow, let them, let them know quick ♪

He's an icon.

♪ Gon' flip

And he's not done yet.

It just feels like everything that's been done

wasn't in vain.

I feel like I'm in a place that I can finally say

this is the new beginning

to where I'm desiring to find myself in life.

♪ You gotta love it, gotta love it ♪

♪ Don't this hit make my... wanna ♪

When you love something that much and you enjoy it that much,

it doesn't feel like work.

It's a part of what makes me happy--

the love of music.

♪ Bring the chorus back, yeah, oh ♪

♪ It's drivin' me out my head

It's almost like it's an addiction.

When that changes, that's when I'm-a stop.

♪ Gotta love it, gotta love it

♪ Don't this hit make my... wanna ♪

[explosion]

♪ Do you really wanna party with me? ♪

♪ Let me see just what you got for me ♪

♪ Put all your hands where my eyes can see ♪

♪ Straight buckwilin' in the place to be ♪

♪ If you really wanna party with me ♪

♪ Let me see just what you got for me ♪

♪ Put all your hands where my eyes can see ♪

♪ Straight buckwilin' in the place to be ♪

♪ If you really wanna party with me ♪

♪♪♪