Busta Rhymes, Anarchy (2000)

Now there are no years left! And, well, Busta brings another album full of the same old, same old and frankly it’s getting old. You all know the Busta Rhymes protocol; get some high octane beats, scream at the top of your lungs and repeat the name of the song 4 or 5 times in the chorus. That’s exactly what you’ll find on songs like Bladow!!, and C’mon All My Niggaz, C’mon All my Bitches. Street Shit, although adhering to the formula, does hit hard with a Just Blaze beat that Mr. Rhymes ain’t competing with.

So a bunch of generic songs pepper the album, but Busta went all out on the production with tracks by D.J. Scratch, Swizz Beats, Rockwilder, the Large Professor, and Jay Dee in addition to the aforementioned Just Blaze. Unfortunately, by the time you get 4 or 5 tracks into Anarchy, you realize that Busta Rhymes might have just run out of things to rap about. Actually, that happened a couple albums ago. A couple standouts include the much welcomed change of pace offered by verses from Roc-Marciano, Raekwon and Ghostface Killah on the Heist. The rappers team up over a strings laced, Italiano-themed offering and refresh things before we get back to the grind. Also, Ready for War, featuring M.O.P., has Lil Fame going off bustin’ “Fuck the bullshit, I kick a bone out your ass/ hard rock niggas, I kick a stone out your ass/ warning to all those, caps get peeled/ quicker than emails to your ass saying ‘chill, chill, chill’/ chase him, straight lace him, with a mack-10 blazing/ split your ass up like the Temptations/ you cats is animated cartoons/ who y’all, The return of Goodfellas part 2?/ bitch, throw your fuckin’ guns up, put your fuckin’ hand down/ Famester, Berkawitzc, Buss-Buss-Down/ we sneak the guns right in, y’all keep tryin’/ and I’m a check all pussies like the GYN/ open up your can of whoop ass/ I open up a fresh can of I’ll fuck your ass up quick fast/ Flipmode, M.O.P./ Fizzy Womack, whoa Mack, y’all know who the fuck I be.”

And on Anarchy, obviously the album’s title track, Busta spits “Right before I lay your soul to sleep/ witness the day of your reckoning with God on the street/ behold, what the fuck y’all niggas come around here for/ we massacre the masters so therefore/ here’s your, invitation to explore/ the way we gather up niggas to thoroughly rep for/ my street niggas [come on], stressed niggas [come on], hungry niggas [come on], yes yes y’all [come on]/ hope my live motherfuckers pass the test y’all/ prepare for high retribution and I hope God bless y’all/ fuck shit up and watch the truth manifest y’all/ feel it in your guts to burn it in your chest y’all/ rushing through just like a wild flood, with such a pain and so intense it make y'all wanna cry blood/ my slang talk earned a scholarship on how to style a chick, influence rulership and earn another dollar quick/ you need do the philosophical research/ fuck around and be the next to die and better leave first/ yo, my whole crew extra large and stay charged/ like polytheism, having belief in many Gods/ I gotta handful of niggas with a sick disease/ diagnosed with destructive anti-social tendencies/ yo, turn up the treble, adjust the level/ analyze the science deeper than when Mozart civilized the devil/ now lemme ask y’all…” Your guess is as good as mine as to what the man’s talking about.

Busta Rhymes hasn’t had a good album since Extinction Level Event, but back then there were like 3 years left or so. Better get the hint because it’s over.

Rating: 6 Gold Teefs
Buy or Copy: Copy and throw it on when you’re trying to drown out your neighbors or something.