Busta Rhymes is without question one of the most unique, explosive and groundbreaking MCs of all time. For his impact and longevity, the New York legend was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2023 BET Awards this past weekend and it was as emotional as any fan of the culture might expect.
Following a roaring applause, the 51-year-old spitter took the stage at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles to give a speech that deserves an award of its own. Watch the whole video below:
“I’ma wear it on my sleeve: I do want to cry,” Busta said, then proceeded to wipe his tears. Sure enough, this hyped up the crowd even more — after all, wasn’t that the most valid reason to clog up?
While recalling his come-up in the Big Apple, Bus-a-Bus even talked about how he was able to sneak into recording studios by offering weed to those in charge: “I made sure that when my weed was moving around in that studio, I would quickly whip up a 16-bar verse before the weed came back to me.”
He added: “And I was able to do that quick enough for them dudes to want to hear my verse. When they asked me what was I doing, I said, ‘Let me go in the booth and do it. I ain’t telling you my rhyme until you let me in the booth.’”
While elaborating on the tight grind of this practice, he explained: “I’d go in the booth and I’d spit, and come out the booth; they couldn’t hear the song without the ‘rah rah’ no more. I did that three, four times a week … By default, I pioneered the feature.”
To that point, a team of Hip Hop’s finest later took the stage to honor Busta and it was the feature act of a lifetime. Check it out below:
