Born to parents Geraldine Green (1947) and Trevor George Smith Sr, and he has a younger brother, Paul Smith. His parents divorced when he 10 years old. Busta’s time during the year of 1983 was that of change, his parents got divorced and his way of thinking was altered, during that year he also changed his religious beliefs and re-named himself ‘Born Justice God Allah’ because of the supreme sorts of names that he now believed in and looked up to. He discovered hip hop music through listening to the Zulu Beats Radio Show, something influenced him from that show and three years later he would form a group. Busta also went to school in the United Kingdom, where he lived in Blackpool, Preston and Morecambe. Ended up graduating from George Westinghouse High School in downtown Brooklyn.
As a youngster he played basketball, football and soccer.
His Panamanian baby-sitter, Aunt Mitzi, made him listen to all the rap radio stations. So, He would sit there at 2 in the morning rapping when he was supposed to be sleeping. I just couldn't be too loud or Mitzi's poodle would start dancing around and barking. One night, the poodle barked and Mitzi took my radio away. So he said, "I don't need that radio. I'll write my own rap songs." Busta Rhymes later became part of a B-Boy crew with mainly latinos, a couple of white kids, and Busta, the only black one. When he was about 10 years old after he moved from Brooklyn to Long Island, where he became a member of the crew when it was a big contest happening which the leader of the crew, Johnny Juice watched. Busta just came up to him like, "Are you Johnny Juice?" and Johnny answered like "Yeah." and he said he wanted to be down with this crew. He started poppin' and Johnny said he was dope so he said "We're about to do this contest" and they wanted to put him down with them, but he didn't know the routines. But they put him down anyways and they lost the contest because they didn't know where to put him in the routine. The next contest they had was more of a battle, for the crown of best b-boys in Long Island and they had their crew there and they won. Busta destroyed these other guys, when he was poppin. Johnny Juice says "even if you listen to his rhymes now, you can tell by the way he rhymes and the way he moves around he's really dope on the popping shit".
Before his leap to stardom, Rhymes, was a rambunctious middle-class kid from Long Island who wrote "rap poetry" and dropped out of high school to pursue a music career. "I really thought he'd be a dancer," says his mother, Geraldine Green. "At family cookouts he would win all the dance contests. He was always a showman." He reminds his worst job: “I used to work as a stock boy at a department store called Cheap John’s,” he says. “I knew that I couldn’t really wrap my head around doing that kind of work. Even if your heart is not in something, your mind has to at least be able to be willing to do it. So, I took the job and I worked for about two weeks, and then I quit.” Why?
“They just had me doing too much. I had to line up the roach sprays on the shelves and make sure they were all in order, facing the same way, with the logos facing the front. The dishwashing liquids, the detergents, the boxes that they came in when they came from the actual shipping companies that they were manufactured at. After I lined them up on the shelves, I had to cut up the cardboard boxes, fold them up neatly and tie them up so that they could do the recycling thing with them. After a couple paper cuts too many, and hands that were calloused and ashy and bruised, I said ‘this is definitely not the thing for me to continue to be doing.’”
Busta adds, “I used that as inspiration to go into the studio all the time when I had a free moment. After work, during my lunch break, traveling back and forth to work … to just apply myself creatively, and the opportunity finally came one day when I was downtown.” At 17, Rhymes landed a six-figure record deal.
LONS signing with Elektra
His first name as a rapper was Chill-o-ski, but he thought it was a corny name, and Chuck D from Public Enemy gave him a new name, Busta Rhymes. He got the name from an american football player from the eighties, George "Buster" Rhymes, and people always asked him to "Bust-a-rhyme", so the choice was easy. In the end of the eighties he met Charlie Brown at Turtlehook Middle School and they formed Leaders of the New School with Dinco "The rhyme scientist" D and Milo In De Dance (aka The Cut Monitor). They were on Rush Management. They was signed to Elektra Records December 12th 1989. First Recorded Appearance: “Mt. Airy Groove” from the Rubaiyat compilation, Elektra 1990. A&R Dante Ross heard about Leaders of the New School from Hank Shocklee [Bomb Squad] and Chuck D [Public Enemy] and them.He says "I knew they were one of their burgeoning groups and I also knew they didn't have a record deal. I heard they were performing and I went to check them out. I had just got my A&R gig at Elektra. I went there, saw them perform, grabbed them right after the performance and told them they had a record deal if they wanted one. LONS released 2 albums, "A future without a past" in 1991, and "T.I.M.E." in 1993. In 1992 Busta's girl was pregnant, but the baby died right after he was born, and Busta had big personal problems after that, but he got great support from his group members. In 93 they where divided because of ego in the group.
A couple of other things that made him well known before his solo career was a couple of cameo performances, among them A Tribe Called Quest's remix of "Scenario" with Leaders Of The New School, and the "Flava in ya ear remix" with Craig Mack and Rampage.
It took Busta three years before he released an album for Elektra, in 1996 he released "The Coming" with the hits "Woo hah! Got you all in check" featuring Rampage and "It's a party" featuring Zhane. while recording his debut album, he left the studio to check on his new SUV. He'd recently purchased the Toyota Land Cruiser, a giant vehicle that gives the impression of driving on an elevated track, for $40,000. Rhymes took the elevator down and came out on Broadway, in lower Manhattan, at 11:30 p.m. His ride was gone. Furious, he marched back inside and closed the door in the recording booth. "There was nothing I could do at that point, so I just vented that angry energy into three songs," he says. Woo-Hah!! Got You All in Check, one of the tracks he completed by morning, went on to become a street anthem and crossover hit, his first ever.
There was a short gap between the release of Busta’s first album and his second album, but it came sooner than people imagined it to. Busta was sceptical about bootleggers copying the new album so for reviewing purposes he only sent out album samplers. In 1997 he released his second album, "When Disaster Strikes", and after that, his popularity exploded. 1998 became a very good year for Busta, he started his own clothing line, BUSHI designs, and released his third album "Extinction Level Event (The final world front)" and Flipmode Squad's debut "The Imperial". Flipmode Squad at that point included Busta Rhymes, Rah Digga, Spliff Star, Rampage, Baby Sham & Lord Have Mercy.
1999 became a year with problems for Busta, he had to visit the courthouse a couple of times because of child support, and police stopped his car and found an unregistered gun. He lost the case about child support, and he got a 5 year probation for the other case. Now Elektra started to shut him down with less studio time and promotion for his next album. Busta didn't like that, and took his squad over to J Records in 2001 after his fourth release in 2000, "Anarchy".
J Records
His first album at J was "Genesis", with the hits "What it is" featuring Kelis, "Break ya neck" & "Pass the courvoiser part 2" featuring Pharrell and P. Diddy. Now he is CEO for Flipmode Records. In november 2002 he released his most fervent album so far, "It Ain't Safe No More" with the singles "Make it clap" featuring Spliff Star, and a remix of it featuring Spliff Star and Sean Paul. Other achievements in 2002 was the movie roles he had in "Halloween: Resurrection" and "Narc". In 2003 his SUV was shot up with 6 bullets while he was in the Violator offices, that happened just a month after a couple of people shot inside their offices. The collaboration with Mariah Carey & Flipmode Squad named "I know what you want" on "It ain't safe no more" became Busta's biggest hit so far.
Aftermath
In February 2004, Flipmode Squad joined Aftermath Records, New members was added to the squad: M. Dollars, Labba and former Blackstreet Chauncey Black joined them. In March he got a six month probation sentence after pleading no contest to a charge that he assaulted a woman during a concert in Fall River, Massachusetts, in December 2002.
In November 2005 the first official single off the album "Touch it" was released to radio. The video premiered in December. He is now the father of four children (born in 93, 99, 00 and 02). In February, while making the second video for "The Big Bang"- the "Touch it remix" ft. Mary J. Blige, Missy, Rah Digga, Lloyd Banks, Papoose and DMX, one of his bodyguards, Israel Ramirez, who recently started working security for Busta as his jewelry handler, was shot and killed shortly after midnight outside of the Kiss The Cactus Production studio in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn, NY. According to eyewitnesses, the shooting was a result of an argument that began inside the studio and continued outside.
The Aftermath chief Dr. Dre said before the release of The Big Bang that ”All of sudden I’m hearing people in the streets talking about hos Busta’s back. In my mind, he never left, and that’s why I wanted to fuck with in the first place. He’s got that drive, and he never stops trying to top himself. Anybody who knows Busta knows that he’s always gonna come with heat." His third video from "The Big Bang" was released 10th May, "I love my bitch". The video features actress Gabrielle Union and the Black Eyed Peas' Will.i.am, who produced the song, but Kelis who is featured on the song, was not in the video. The single also features Kelis, but she's not featured in the video. Also changed is his appearance, as he has cut off his trademark dreadlocks as part of a personal renewal. "Eight years of court appearances later and I was awarded custody of my children," he explained. "My hair was remindful of the unnecessary rocks in my career and life. So it was time to shed the locks... I've got my career and family right." "The Big Bang" was released 13th June. The fourth video was released in July, "New York shit" and the fitth video came out in August, "In the ghetto". The album was certified Gold in that month too. This month he was also charged with an assault after the Amsterjam Music Festival on Randalls Island, and he was ticketed after police saw him talking on his mobile while driving past a Manhattan police station.
On January 3rd 2007 he turned himself in to police custody after he allegedly attacking someone on Boxing Day. Lt. John Grimpel said a man told police that Rhymes, had punched and kicked him repeatedly after an argument over money. On May 3rd was arrested on a drunk driving charge by police in New York City. Officers stopped Rhymes at about 12:40 a.m. because the sport utility vehicle he was driving had overly tinted windows, officers then smelled alcohol on the rapper's breath and he was subsequently arrested. was released on $7,500 bail, set by Judge Tanya Kennedy. After a 8th May court appearance, he was free to drive. Rhymes' lawyer said a judge ruled against a prosecution motion to suspend the rapper's license following the driving-while-intoxicated arrest. He also turned down a plea deal that day that would have sent him to jail for one year, the Manhattan district attorney's office said.
Bus appeared in a Super Bowl finale commercial for Pepsi Max Diet in February. Busta Rhymes pleaded guilty on 23rd January to assault, two driving infractions and weapons possession, avoiding a trial and the yearlong prison sentence recommended by prosecutors. But Judge Larry Stevens disagreed with prosecutors that Rhymes deserved time behind bars. Instead, he sentenced him to three years' probation and 10 days of community service for beating a fan who reportedly spat on his car in August 2006, and then assaulting his driver, Larry Hackett, that December. Rhymes was also fined $1,250 for driving with a suspended license in 2006 and driving while intoxicated in 2007. "I just want to say that I'm very grateful to the judge, I'm very grateful to the system. I believe in the system. It hasn't failed me personally yet," Rhymes, dressed in a crisp black pinstripe suit, said outside the courtroom.
"I'm just glad that all of this is finally behind me and I can go back to doing what I do best - making great music and great films and being a people person," he said.
His 8th solo album "Blessed" was set for a release in July 2008. First he called it "When Hell Freeze Over" then he changed it to "Back On My B.S.", a title Pharrell helped him come up with, last it was changed to "Blessed" in April 08. Rhymes was added to Projekt Revolution 2008 (summer tour), He was joining Linkin Park, Chris Cornell, The Bravery, and Ashes Divide on the main stage. After the first week of touring he had to leave the tour because of business matters; Late July he left Interscope, because they couldn't agree with Busta how to handle the final version of the album.
Motown
In September 08 he his new deal was announced, with Motown/Universal. He then re-titled his album to "Back On My B.S." The first single was released in October 2008, called "Arab Money" featuring Ron Browz. 2 remix videos with different guests were later releases in February 09. The second single, "Hustler's Anthem 09" was released in Febuary too. The third single's video "Respect My Conglomerate" was released in March. "Back On My B.S." was released May 19th 09, and entered the Billboard chart at #5, after a lot of delays; 1st July 08, 9th Dec. 08, 10th Feb. 09, 24th March 09). In June, the video for "If you don't know" was released. The video for "World Go Round" will be released soon.
Watch Your Mouth
Busta Rhymes Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴
Where Brooklyn at? Where Brooklyn at?
Where Brooklyn at? Where Brooklyn at?
Where Brooklyn at?
1, 2, 3, and...
Now they say you ain't never suppose to envy no man
Who see a young nigga getting plently dough man
Icy Audemar, Hendy gold band
With a mean girl like Lindsay Lohan
That's why I keep the 9 in the Bentley door pan
Trust it's gon' bust you roll on us
Know it's gon' blow for my dough
Why would you try with that guy
Scene told you he keep it G
We can bang like the two chains on my neck
The hood is Iraq I'm Hussein in the 'jects
The coupe's up take the new Lame for a sec
12" up, new cane in the deck nigga
Right now with a squeezer and a coozie
And I'm goin out like Keyshia with the uzi
[Chorus]
They talk about it, we all about it
They making plans, we sit and counting
Our cheddar stack it's just like a mountain
You heard about it 'cause she running her mouth
She want's to ride, and she's trying to hide it
I'm cool as ever, she's too excited
Her man look like, he want to fight
But he ain't doing nothing, but running his mouth
Fuck around and feel the fury of a high nigga
When I get busy throw your hands in the sky nigga
I got the illest of the ill mentality, niggas be grabbing me
Knowing that they'd rather be stabbing me
All up in my back trying to take my track
When I used to sell crack I ain't had problems like that
Street rules, watch your pockets and your jewels
A nigga front, throw the gat to the fool
Necks wanna move but's getting blasted
Streets to a flows from the ill ghetto bastard
As I release masterpieces like adhesive
Stuck to your ass, like tissue when your wiping fast
MC's have a hard time believing
I mark with death, hard to kill like Steven
When Jake come I'm leaving, the black man's motto
You got a better chance playing lotto
What you want nigga?
[Chorus]
Ah, Yo
Now watch me dip-dip-di-dive all over the beat
Now watch me drip-drip-dri-di all over the street
The general consensus is you'll be the dominating fleet
Bitch raw, and let me continue to bring the heat
You know who been the kings of the block, the kings of the drops
The kings of the crap music and the kings of the cross
Niggas fire then drop shit like the purest of powder
That's why most of these niggas little song be sounding like ours
Couple years ago, niggas probably thought I was dying
Now same niggas are idolizing put our face in the shrine
Yeah I took a little time to cook and show you what's really hot
How the fuck any of you niggas think you feeling my spot
Why you niggas getting mad at us, we shit on your floors
All in your house nigga, our strategies is different from yours
Listen, you come you can do it while I continue to preach
Snoop, fam, bigger Bust of the stand if you can't reach
[Chorus]
Uhhh, uhhh
Fox then B.I.G.
Who fucking with Fox, who want it with I
Bust a shot for me and Big from the villfredo sky
Got my Joan Fross shit on, hop off my dick
Canary bangle-round I ain't gon' 20 carrots on this bitch
Pull up the Phantom, show 'em how we switch
From the Bentley blinds spur kill 'em with the six
Bed-Stuy what up y'all, what up with your girl
How she leave dude broke tell them boys on work
I'm in the G5 Jedi, Brooklyn what's your chrome
'Cause that niggas lying home if the tutti with the dead-eye
My nigga Neck got hit up in his truck
And no Stranel ain't the same since Homo got touched
Nasty with the pistol, nasty with the clit
See I'm a beast with it, fucking 'til I'm crippled
Ill nuns squeezing the lhama
Bog roll dutty, Fox and Poppa
Run for your gun you suckers
B.I.G. I'm a get them motherfuckers
Don't you worry about a thing, bang-bang-boogie
I got a few chickens that's gon' work that noggie
In the lack with a sack go and put it on the mat
What it do nephew (Where Brooklyn at?)
Uh, turning it out, run in your house
Gun in your mouth, motherfucker quit running your mouth
[Chorus]
What you really want from a nigga?...
In the song "Watch Your Mouth" by Busta Rhymes, the lyrics primarily focus on representing and paying homage to the Brooklyn neighborhood and its culture. The repetitive line "Where Brooklyn at?" emphasizes the pride and loyalty that Busta Rhymes has for his hometown.
The first verse delves into themes of envy and materialism. The lyrics depict an old man who becomes envious of a young person's success and wealth. Busta Rhymes showcases luxurious items like an Audemar watch and a gold band, highlighting his own success. The mention of Lindsay Lohan also suggests a connection to Hollywood and fame.
The chorus emphasizes the contrast between those who talk about success and those who actually achieve it. Busta Rhymes claims that he and his crew are focused on counting and stacking their money. The lyrics also allude to gossip, implying that people may spread rumors about their achievements.
The second verse portrays Busta Rhymes as an assertive and forceful figure. He warns his enemies that they will face the consequences of their actions. The lyrics describe the streets as a warzone, comparing them to Iraq and mentioning Hussein in the projects. Busta Rhymes also mentions his involvement in drug dealing in the past, implying that his experiences have made him tough and resilient.
The third verse switches to a more boastful and confrontational tone. Busta Rhymes asserts his dominance and superiority in the rap industry, claiming that others imitate his style. He implies that he took a break from releasing music to solidify his position and prove his worth. The lyrics also reference fellow rappers like Snoop Dogg and B.I.G., suggesting that Busta Rhymes is in the same league as them.
Overall, the lyrics in "Watch Your Mouth" capture Busta Rhymes' pride in his Brooklyn roots and his determination to assert himself as a successful and respected artist. The song also reflects his experiences and struggles in his journey to the top of the rap industry.
Lyrics © Downtown Music Publishing, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: BILLY PRESTON, CHRISTOPHER WALLACE, CORDAZAR BROADUS, EPHREM LOPEZ, GEORGE JOHNSON, JEAN LOUHISDON, JOHN JACKSON, NATE HILLS, STEVEN JORDAN, TREVOR SMITH
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@Hugo_Tate
Holy fuck I can’t believe I finally found this song. I used to blast this all the time. So damn happy right now
@Acin101
Busta just won't stop, and this beat is sick.
@jamalgordon8883
I listen this song when I was 8 years old in June 2007 and now I’m 23
@ladylovespie
i luv wen swizz beats appears in songz it's so hot..i luv busta also...JAMAICA
@troywful
this song should've gotten more air play
@onyx2371
No cap
@VisualizeAndWin
Dre was f***ing around.
@j4k3z
This is fire as fuck, swizz hook is insanity haha
@5099kaz
My favorite rapper
@R3trokidstats
bustaa is spittin firee ritee here diss izz crack