Tag: Busta Rhymes

#RushHourRap – Busta Rhymes ft. Eminem – Calm Down

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“Calm Down” is a summer 2014 banger from Busta Rhymes and Eminem going HAM over a chaotic sample of House of Pain’s “Jump Around.” What’s wild to think about is how well Em flows over the beat made famous by a guy he *bodied* over a decade before. You may remember back in 2000 House of Pain’s Everlast and Eminem were going back and forth with diss tracks that were legitimately personal and vitriolic. I mean, Em literally threatened to kill him on a track. This is back in the day when rap beefs were no joke and people often wound up getting shot. So I found it interesting Em not only appeared on, but went off on a past enemy’s original track.

But I digress…

“Busta noted that “It started off from just doing a dope, high energy hip-hop record into us respectfully competing and damn near battling each other” and stated that he and Eminem “bring the best out of” each other and praised Eminem as someone who “genuinely still cares about the music.”

True story: Busta Rhymes’ son was actually a couple years behind me in college and it was kind of this known thing around campus so I was always on the lookout hoping for a Busta sighting. I never ran into him, but I’ll never forget one of my professors, whose a white guy in his 70s, posting a picture from graduation with Busta Rhymes in the middle of the quad and it is one of the funniest pics I’ve ever seen. One of the greatest rappers of all time just chilling in the middle of suburbia Connecticut where I used to walk through hungover as all hell hopelessly sipping a Gatorade on my way to class.

Introducing the Official #RushHourRap Playlist

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Introducing the official #RushHourRap playlist curated by The 300s. Dozens of songs compiled from the past 30 years so you can take my obscure music recommendations with you anywhere. Featuring everyone from household names like Eminem and Kanye to lesser known artists, rappers you need to know, and young guys on the come up.

Just search #RushHourRap on Spotify to add it to your library.

Some of the deeper cuts of #RushHourRap unfortunately did not make the list because Spotify doesn’t exactly have a plethora of obscure mixtapes. So that means you’ll still need to track down hidden gems like Switch by Lupe Fiasco on YouTube.

But if you’re a fan of our morning rap recommendations then make sure you save and share this playlist because it’s a living breathing entity that I’ll be adding to all the time.

#RushHourRap – Travis Barker – Let’s Go

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So I finally got around to listening to the Travis Barker episode of the Joe Rogan Podcast and it was an excellent way to spend an hour and a half. Travis is one of the most interesting dudes in music with some crazy stories including everything from the early days of Blink 182 to his insane airplane crash but it also got me thinking of this underrated project from back in 2011; Give the Drummer Some. It was really something out of left field and as Travis described it, there had never really been a spot for a live drummer in a rap performance. Well he put this album together from scratch and got some of the biggest names in rap to appear on the album. LETS GOO

#RushHourRap – Lil Wayne – A Milli

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I caught some old Lil Wayne on the radio driving into work this AM and it sent me down the rabbit hole. Lil Wayne is obviously still very popular, but it’s different than how it used to be. The guy was an absolute monster with everything he touched turning to gold. Maybe it just seems that way to me because I’m washed, but seriously it’s different.

I went to the Drake vs Lil Wayne concert a couple summers ago and I was stunned at how many people didn’t know the words to LOLLIPOP. I felt like my uncle at a New Kids On the Block concert because I suddenly felt very dated. All the drunk children at that show knew nothing prior to I Am Not A Human Being and thats a shame because Lil Wayne was an absolute megastar back when I was in high school/college. I would say from 2006-2008 Lil Wayne was not only the most popular, but the most lyrically dominating artist on the planet. I think he’s tailed off hard in recent years, but you cannot deny the guy’s resume.

If you want to start even a little earlier in 2004 Weezy dropped Tha Carter with Go DJ being the main hit, followed up by a pretty legit feature on Destiny’s Child (holy shit I’m old) Solider. Then in 2005 he released The Carter II, which was the first Lil Wayne song I remember being a huge hit in Fireman, but also had Hustler Musik and of course Shooter (introducing Robin Thicke). In 2006 Wayne had the collab with Birdman Like Father Like Son, which was fine with the main single being Stuntin Like My Daddy.

BUT, thats when the guy absolutely took off appearing on anything and everything from features to mixtapes to albums. In late 2006 we got Dedication 2 and then in early 2007 Lil Wayne released, in my opinion, the best mixtape of all time with Da Drought 3.

Then the guy really got hot appearing on *all* of these songs:

“Despite no album release for two years, Lil Wayne appeared in numerous singles as a featured performer, including “Gimme That” by Chris Brown, “Make It Rain” by Fat Joe, “You” by Lloyd, and “We Takin’ Over” by DJ Khaled (also featuring Akon, T.I., Rick Ross, Fat Joe, and Birdman), “Duffle Bag Boy” by Playaz Circle, “Sweetest Girl (Dollar Bill)” by Wyclef Jean (also featuring Akon), and the remix to “I’m So Hood” by DJ Khaled (also featuring T-Pain, Young Jeezy, Ludacris, Busta Rhymes, Big Boi, Fat Joe, Birdman, and Rick Ross). All these singles charted within the top 20 spots on the Billboard Hot 100..Wayne also appeared on tracks from albums Getback by Little Brother, American Gangster by Jay-Z, and Graduation by Kanye West.”

That was before he even got around to releasing his own work. Released in 2008 after a delay, Tha Carter III is still one of the best rap albums of all time. 3 Peat, Mr. Carter, A Milli, Dr. Carter, Mrs. Officer, Shoot Me Down, Lollipop — all bangers more than 10 years later.

In that time span Lil Wayne won a Grammy for Best Rap Solo Performance for A Milli, Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for Swagga Like Us, Best Rap Song for Lollipop, and Best Rap Album for Tha Carter III.

Hard to top that stretch.