Busta Rhymes, Extinction Level Event: The Final World Front (1998)

In 1998, hip-hop had Busta Rhymes chanting that there’s only 2 years left. He must’ve meant his career as a successful rap artist because Extinction Level Event is the last piece of notable artistry that he’s produced. Nonetheless, this is a damned good album that, in its time, graced dance halls all over the place.

The supered up Everybody Rise is one of those cuts that make you wanna bang and break something. Nothing gangsta about it, there’s nothing gangsta about Busta Rhymes, but this good themed club song will get the adrenal glands pumping. Extinction Level Event (The Song of Salvation) is right too, plump with well placed Busta Rhymes ad-libs and a sing-songy chorus that’ll make it stick to your mind like chewing gum. Then there’s Tear Da Roof Off with that amazing bass line. Here, Busta kicks club-type boastful lyrics in unison with the track. The whole thing is just perfect for the asylum; head-nodding like how the sick people do.

Then there are the mediocre joints like the crew cut Against All Odds featuring the Flipmode Squad. Songs like Just Give it to Me Raw, Do it to Death and Keepin’ it Tight are interchangeable. The lyrics could probably go with any of the aforementioned tracks and basially consists of Busta screaming the name of the song several times in the chorus.

In the same vein is a song like Hot Shit Makin’ Ya Bounce where Busta spits “Caliente, wearin’ Sergio Valente/ shorty whippin’ in a Mitsubishi Diamante/ smell the roses, overdoses giving niggas their diagnoses/ I got the answer for niggas who need their prognosis/ shit for all of y’all niggas to smell up in your noses/ hocus pocus, introduce me to the hostess/ I was dying to stroke her, play strip poker/ in the limo as I directed the limo chauffeur/ told the nigga to spin over by the club Copa/ watching shorty lay as she spread in the limo sofa/ she asked the chauffeur to stop for a frapaccino mocha/ then she let me blaze it while I still had my gun in my holster/ still bonin’, word I love the way shorty moanin’/ zonin’, word is bond niggas is wide open/ yo, have a little fun all in between time/ and now we focus on the money shit all in the meantime/ word to mother, I work hard to keep microphonin’/ and alert miggas to shit like when the devil started clonin’/ what nigga?, yeah we bowlin’ and shit is rollin’/ little shitty ass nigga should go run and clean your colon/ any human that be assumin’ I check my nigga Ruben/ for the ice cube and the system in my Lincoln Nav boomin’/ what’s the issue, I come to get you/ may the force be with you/ bang your head, rupture your brain tissue/ I unravel shit faster than sound travel/ battle any amphibian or live mammal/ don’ fret from sun rise to sun set/ make a nigga bounce quick and I ain’t even grab my gun yet/ I ain’t done yet, before I go to my permanent home/ make sure you put ‘one of the illest’ on my tombstone.”

With Busta Rhymes, singles are a dime a dozen. This time he went with Gimme Some More and What’s it Gonna Be?! Featuring Janet Jackson but he could have went with any of the tracks on the album including This Means War!! featuring Ozzy Osbourne. So, when you buy ELE you basically get a bunch of pop sounding crossover raps.

Rating: 7 Gold Teefs
Buy or Copy: Go ahead and get this one, it doesn’t disappoint. Buy.