Busta Rhymes praise Missy Elliott in a new interview.
Busta Rhymes has been in the game for over 30 years, and still giving us consistent new music. The rapper just released his new tape “The Fuse Is Lit“, with contributions from Big Daddy Kane, Conway The Machine, Swizz Beatz, Capella Grey and more. The 50-year-old now connects with Billboard for a new interview where he shows love for Missy Elliott.
“When it comes to music videos, you and Missy Elliott are in a league of your own. What do you think it took to make a memorable video in ‘97, versus what it takes to make a memorable video now?,” he was asked.
“That’s my twin sister,” responds Rhymes. “I love her on undescribable levels. She has been moving out here in such a phenomenally iconic way. She just got her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame this year. She just got a street named after her. She got a doctorate, I believe. And I just seen that she recently got her Madame Toussaint Wax Museum statue. Her s–t is on a whole ‘nother level of icon right now. So I’m super proud. Congrats to Missy.”
He continued, “It really starts with the vision and thinking outside of whatever was considered the norm, which was easy to do when you were never the norm to begin with. But then to be able to find an incredible director that knows how to help you execute that. I’m not gonna front, let’s add the fact that the budgets were disrespectful back then as well. We was throwing money out the f–king window, million-dollar budgets left and right. And we was able to get that because we was doing our numbers. We was just killing s–t so crazy, that we started to become competitive on every level. Diddy was the only one that was spending like me and Missy. We frustrated the industry for it, because a lot of labels was getting pressure from their artists to spend like that, and they didn’t want to hear it or deal with it.”
“I think the same thing applies now. The only difference is, technology has allowed things to be done a lot more cost-effectively. You could still pull off these magical ideas, but there’s definitely ways to be smarter about the spend. I’m fortunate enough to be able to still pull off some amazing visuals that look like million-dollar spends, but they’re no way near those spends, but I’m still able to impact s–t in the way that people have grown to know and love me for doing.”
The Brooklyn-born icon afterwards offered Kendrick Lamar his roses and mentioned that “The Heart Part 5” was the final video that had an impact on him. “What was the name of the Kendrick joint over the Marvin Gaye sample? ‘The Heart Part 5.’ That video was special, and they set a bar for the new generation when it came to the revolutionary visual impact that me and Missy were always successful at executing,” said Busta.
Check out the full interview here.
