After eight years, Busta Rhymes releases his tenth studio album, a sequel to "E.L.E.", his 1998 record. Massively commercial effort, in production features the rapper himself, Nottz, Avenue Beats, Swizz Beats, J Dilla, Pete Rock, Rockwilder, Dready, Focus, DJ Scratch, DJ Premier, Hi-Tek, Terrace Martin, Anderson Paak, Schife, 9th Wonder and Rick Rock. As guests, the Brooklyn MC brings Rakim, Pete Rock, MOP, Bell Biv Devoe, Minister Louis Farrakhan, ODB, Q-Tip, Rick Ross, Anderson Paak, Vybz Kartel, Rapsody, Mariah Carey, Kendrick Lamar, Mary J. Blige and Nikki Grier, while Chris Rock has the task of accompanying the listener throughout the album with the crazy skits.
Intro spoken with vocal synthesizer, after two minutes Chris Rock bursts into the cut shouting something for a second intro, an explosion follows. Boom bap jazzy, good skinny slow pounding syncopated drum machine, splendid jazzy sample from Anita Ward's "You Lied": it opens Busta, in the middle of his long verse, there's a change of beat, with the wonderful sample from "I Love Music" by Ahmal Jamal Trio, which is a clear homage to "The World is Yours" by Nas; the drum is removed, followed by a verse by Rakim, spoken, smooth, excellent flow; the rhythm of the duo Busta & Nottz is excellent, in the outro the chorus of Pete Rock is sampled from the masterpiece song of "Illmatic".
This intro, over seven minutes long, is one of the best cuts on the record. The second track is short, about a minute, essential vibrating drum, alarmist sample, delivery with some spoken line. "Strap Yourself Down" is opened by the skit of Cyrus' speech in the classic movie "The Warriors" (1979), honest drum, skinny tight and vibrant, boom bap jazzy simple lo-fi, good rhythm provided by Pete Rock to support the raw and tight delivery of Busta; rhythm switched midway through the song, then production of J Dilla's "Track 09", dry, dirty, lo-fi, Busta accelerates with his dirty flow. Chris Rock introduces "Czar", boom bap energetic, powerful, tight, heavy delivery of Busta sampling Lil Fame from "Ante Up" for adlibs.
The Flipmode Squad MC pulls a commercial hit in "Outta My Mind", with Bell Biv Devoe's pop hook and three braggadocio verses on decent rhythm, with tight drum machine and an energetic hardcore delivery of Busta Rhymes, which then places a speech by Farrakhan in the following piece, on piano looped in the background, strings, lyrics and harsh hard violin. After two minutes, the rapper walks in and attacks with his raw, quick flow. "Slow Flow" is one of the worst cuts in the project: cheap, really poor, video game rhythm by Nottz, weak drum, sample from one of the Supreme songs that sounds musically worse, smooth and dirty delivery from the Leaders of the New School rapper, who here tries to use some bars from "Brooklyn Zoo" by Ol' Dirty Bastard's debut album.
The second verse features a name-dropping of albums that the rapper believes he has equaled with "E.L.E. II", but curiously he forgets to mention "Return to 36 Chambers" as a classic, paying homage instead to Raekwon's debut. In this section, the record shows its greatest irregularity, putting "Don't Go" for track number eight: great dope rhythm by Focus, which creates a masterpiece, light jazzy boom bap, with hard and tight, thumping drum machine, almost perfect, wonderful piano sample, rhythm left to breathe, then Busta annihilates the cut with a smooth, quick and tidy delivery; Q-Tip performs with a great calm and velvet flow, making one of the best cuts on the record, despite Chris Rock's useless outro.
DJ Scratch creates an interesting soundscape for "Boomp!", jazzy boom bap, vibrant and tight drum, taut strings, synthesized piano, piano shots. Good attempt for the club. "True Indeed" has a tense synthesizer rhythm in the background, jazzy boom bap, rhythm let to breathe, then samples from "Woo-Hah!! Got You All in Check" by Busta himself and "Real Hip-Hop" by Das EFX, lean and slow drum, it's a formula that seems the typical one of Premier, and, in fact, it is, at the first official collaboration with Busta Rhymes: the rapper delivers with a smooth, crisp and unstoppable style, nothing wrong here. Rick Ross blesses "Master Fard Muhammad" in one of the smoothest of these twenty-two choices: beautiful elegant light piano sample extracted from one of the best samples of the album, "Here I Am" by Blue Notes, simple slow drum, production let to breathe, opens Rick Ross, with a flowing, smooth, clear, clean, energetic delivery; track without hook, Busta chooses to let the sample breathe, then closes the song with a raw, smooth and clear flow, excellent song.
So far, it's been a really solid album, with only one weak track out of eleven and lots of good ones. With about forty minutes, eleven songs, rapping and excellent production, it's one of the best records of the year, surprisingly. Unfortunately, Busta Rhymes decides to extend his project with eleven other songs: the record collapses, attracted to hell by the grim mediocrity.
Anderson Paak shows up in a light-hearted joint over a light hip trap rhythm produced by Paak himself, the guest delivers calmly, Busta flows decently, but all these four minutes are lower than anything there has been before. The song kicks off the trap section of this long LP: it follows a rapper solo choice over cheap beat, cheap drum trap, decent dark sound, good slow syncopated delivery. Vybz Kartel is the guest in the worst track, both for music and for lyrics: boom bap jazzy trap by Schife, there are some of the worst samples of the record, Kartel and Busta deliver this commercial cut too long. Rapsody saves this long-play that was falling into the abyss and brings it back to the surface with an excellent performance in "Best I Can", jazzy rhythm, samples from "Thank You Lord" by The Fantastic Goldenaires of Rocky Mount, N.C., and from "And That's Saying a Lot" by Christine Perfect, good smooth delivery of Busta. "Where I Belong" is a new collaboration with Mariah Carey, messy rhythm that seems inspired by video games, looped sample tight in the background until annoyance, soft hook of Carey, decent delivery of Busta, but sample completely wrong here. "Deep Thought" is a tribute to Rakim, light jazzy rhythm, sample from "Ghetto: Misfortune's Wealth" by The 24-Carat Black, the same used by the God MC for "In the Ghetto", unique hookless verse for Busta, which slow delivery on an honest and skeletal drum.
A short interlude sampling Michael Jackson from "I'll Be There" by Jackson 5 follows, prelude to "Look Over Your Shoulder", another strong contender for the best song on the album: Michael Jackson's previous sample remains on this track, lean and slow drum, perfect, then Kendrick's slow and smooth syncopated delivery in the first verse, performed with a rhythmic flow; Busta kills the track with his ultra-rapid dope flow, closes the Jackson samples used for the chorus and reinforced by Nikki Grier, uncredited, before Chris Rock's outro. Flawless cut, practically perfect.
Aretha Franklin's sample "The Thrill Is Gone" lights up the track with Mary J Blige, great jazzy rhythm provided by Busta Rhymes, honest simple drum, Mary J Blige's powerful rnb-soul chorus, good performance by the rapper. "Freedom?" it's a nice jazzy cut produced by Nottz, sampling Jackie & Roy's "Tomorrow's Dream", lean and slow drum, MC's smooth raw hardcore delivery, Nikki Grier's great rnb hook. The album is closed by "Satanic", track of over five minutes, jazzy boom bap made by Rockwilder, which gives a gloomy and ethereal mood, essential and slow drum, slow and tight hardcore delivery of Busta, single verse, then outro, crazy and useless by Chris Rock on Chopin samples, "Piano Sonata No.2 In B Flat Minor Op.35 - Funeral March".
After almost 78 minutes, the album ends: 22 songs, 3 skits, dozens of different guests and producers, including Busta Rhymes himself and Nottz, who are the major beatmakers with five rhythms each. This LP is too long, heavy, hyper-pregnant: it holds up to half, then it's sunk by an excess of commercial choices. It features an inspired and at times brilliant East Coast production, and solid rapping that spans several different topics, while Chris Rock accompanies the listener throughout the record, adding nothing and throwing random swearwords. Pop rap effort without grace, raw and dynamic, that offers cuts for all kinds of hip-hop audiences, with socio-conscious, political, braggadocio, hardcore, East Coast, trap, pop, club, rnb and soul tracks. Ultimately, Busta had fun and created a nice project, which maintains a good replay value thanks to its fluidity, despite being erratic and having some sharp braking. Released by Empire and Conglomerate, the album was pleasantly received by critics and achieved good commercial success, reaching the top 10 among pop records and in the top 5 among rap records.
Highlights: "E.L.E. 2 Intro", "Don't Go", "Master Fard Muhammad", "Best I Can", "Look Over Your Shoulder".
Rating: 7/10.
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