What's good fam?! This next salute goes to one of hip-hop's most prolific artists. This "dungeon dragon" is considered a rightful legend in the game and among the most influential to ever touch a mic. His animated and original rah-rah style (though Redman would possibly take exception to that claim) has reached a couple of generations and his passion for hip-hop is unrelenting. His third album came on the heels of two huge albums that made him a household name. It was this album, however, that made him worldwide. A phenom is the only way to describe this emcee, and he wears that distinction with pride. We salute the mighty infamous Busta Rhymes and his third album, Extinction Level Event: The Final World Front.
We had known about Trevor Smith since his days with Dinco D, Milo, and Charli Brown as Leaders Of the New School, who delivered cuts such as "Another Case of The P.T.A." and "What's Next". It was his iconic and career-defining verse on A Tribe Called Quest's legendary cut "Scenario" that really made people pay attention to the Long Island native. Before too long L.O.N.S. broke up due to internal beefing between he and Charli, but Busta's star was clearly about to shine, as he was doing multiple guests appearances with artists such as Craig Mack, Method Man, and even Boyz II Men. When the announcement came that his debut was about to drop, the hype was highly apparent. He finally dropped the anthemic "Woo Hah! Got You All In Check" in '96 to lead off his highly anticipated debut album, The Coming. A gold album, Busta was officially in and more than just the rah-rah kid from L.O.N.S. that could own any cut he appeared on. he showed he could more than hold his own with a super impressive debut.
He upped the ante with what many believe to be his crossover album, When Disaster Strikes, as this absolutely fantastic sophomore album Led by the singles "Dangerous" and "Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See", the album was overall a little darker than his debut but also this was more commercially accessible as well. Selling platinum units, Busta was earning more and more of a following and becoming an icon in the making, clearly knowing the formula for what a hit record should like. Mixing apocalyptic themes with wanting to party until the last days, Busta showed his star appeal was only rising.
Still possessing the hunger of that nineteen year-old from L.O.N.S., he wanted to continue the theme of the coming end of the world with Extinction Level Event. Billed as the last of the apocalyptic trilogy, this album easily rivaled When Disaster Strikes on so many levels. The album was primarily driven by his first single "Gimme Some More" and the sultry R&B-tinged duet with Janet Jackson "What's It Gonna Be". Knowing the essential formula for mixing the streets with the clubs and even something for the ladies, Busta knew the importance of appealing to everyone, and did it in abundance with this release. While cuts like the title track, "Everybody Rise", and "Against All Odds" were cuts mostly for the cats in their jeeps and "Do the Bus-A-Bus" and "Hot Shit Making You Bounce" were club heaters, perhaps the most talked about cut was the simply frenzied collab with then-No limit solider Mytiskal, "Iz They Wylin' With Us & Gettin' Rowdy With us", as these two are double and triple-timing their rhymes in break neck speed over an animated and hyperspeed track that your average listener couldn't quite decipher in terms of lyrics. The chemistry, however, was visible and was like a marriage in Twista heaven.
With E.L.E., Busta Rhymes earned more Grammy nominations and even more acclaim as an artist that the world was really starting to embrace more and more. Busta became a star with When Disaster Strikes, but became even more so with this album. With this being his second straight platinum album, Busta was one of the hottest acts in the world at this point. While later albums such as Genesis, Anarchy, and The Big Bang further solidified Busta as a legend in hip-hop (we'll ignore hiccups like Back On My B.S.), E.L.E. was another platinum example of the staying power Bus-A-Bus had, and he is still to this day, that same dungeon dragon. Happy twentieth anniversary to Extinction Level Event.
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