Review: Busta Rhymes Finds New Grooves on ‘Blockbusta’

Busta Rhymes
Blockbusta
Conglomerate Ent. / Epic Records
2 out of 5 Stars

For the second time in the last eleven years, legendary New York MC Busta Rhymes has put out a new full-length studio album. Blockbusta arrived on November 24, just over three years after Busta’s previous LP Extinction Level Event 2: The Wrath of God (2020), which practically kickstarted this new era of the veteran artist’s career.

With Extinction Level Event 2: The Wrath of God, Busta made sure to unleash his patented, fierce style of rap, which includes unfathomably fast-paced rhyming and at times whimsical lyricism. To bolster this aggressive sound, he brought on many capable, polished hip-hop acts as featured artists, including Rakim, Q-Tip, Rapsody, Kendrick Lamar, and more, as well as recruiting R&B/pop icons like Mary J. Blige and Mariah Carey for killer vocals.

This time around, though, Busta’s approach felt way less intentional and focused, and a bit more experimental and chaotic. Coming into the album, Busta and others involved in its creation could not contain their excitement for the release.

“Wait until you hear this new music this man got,” Swizz Beatz, one of the LP’s executive producers, said in an Instagram video. “The album was executive produced by Swizz Beatz, Timbaland, and Pharrell. Wrap your face around what that’s gonna sound like.”

In response to this, Busta commented on the post agreeing with Swizz, proclaiming that Blockbusta would be a culture-shifting release.

“Wait till they hear how we are going to SHIFT THE CULTURE with this album,” Busta wrote.

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However, upon delivery, Blockbusta did not meet these expectations. Instead of being a significant, eye-opening listen, the 19-song, hour-long track list was inconsistent, indecisive, and bizarre for the majority of the time. For the songs produced by either Swizz, Timbaland, or Pharrell Williams, which include “THE STATEMENT,” “ROBOSHOTTA” “TINGS,” “THE RETURN OF MANSA MUSA,” and “HOLD UP,” Busta comes off as directionless, wasting his lyrical prowess and amusing wordplay on flows that do not match the exotic or bouncy production.

Throughout most of the LP, Busta takes inspiration from genres like Afrobeats, U.K. drill, dancehall, tropical reggaeton, U.S. trap-rap, and more. But, on most of these cuts, the ideas are not fully fleshed out or finalized, which makes most of the tracks feel like segments of a song instead of an actual song. The best examples of this include “ROBOSHOTTA” with Burna Boy, “TINGS,” and “SLIDE.”

But, while the overall listen of Blockbusta is mostly disappointing and bewildering, there are still a handful of moments that remind the listener of why people love Busta in the first place. Whether it be his eccentric flow switches on “REMIND ‘EM” with Quavo, his energized, versatile performance on “HOLD UP,” or his neat, all-encompassing life recap on the outro “IF YOU DON’T KNOW NOW YOU KNOW Pt. 2,” there are still signs of life from the all-time great. Not to mention some other stellar supplemental contributions from Coi Leray on the album’s lead single “LUXURY LIFE,” Kodak Black on “HOMAGE,” and Morray on “LEGEND.”

Still, these flashes of competency do not mask the lackluster quality that is found all over Blockbusta. Rather than sticking to his bread and butter, Busta had his sights set on bold instrumental choices that he didn’t mesh well with, trendy samples that came across as tacky, and far too few awe-inspiring or substantive performances. And because of that, Blockbusta fell short of what it claimed to be.

Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images for Strength Of A Woman Festival & Summit