Note: This review was written in February of 2019.

This album was released on June 13th in 2006. I don’t really know how I’m gonna feel about this project to be honest. I feel like at this point in Busta’s career things were starting to go downhill. The album he released four years prior to this one was my least favorite Busta Rhymes project so far. Hopefully it stays that way after hearing this. I don’t really have much to say before checking this out. I don’t think it’s gonna be bad, but I’m keeping my expectations in check. I’m sure it’ll be decent. We’ll see…

1. Get You Some featuring Q-Tip & Marsha Ambrosius produced by Dr. Dre & Mark Batson

Huh. I was not expecting to hear a beat like this. It’s pretty dope, but I’m not feelin’ the hook from Marsha Ambrosius and Q-Tip. The first verse from Busta Rhymes was nice. He sounds pretty good over this beat. The second verse was cool. Nothing about this song really blows me away. I like the beat a lot, and the verses are cool. I wish the hook was better. A verse from Q-Tip would’ve been cool, but I get why he was left off since it’s the intro to Busta’s album. Anyway, I like this song, but I don’t love it like I wanted to. It’s a good track though. I fuck with it. It’s dope.

2. Touch It produced by Swizz Beatz

Uh oh… This is one of the few songs that I’ve already heard from this album, and I fucking hate it. The beat from Swizz Beatz is wack as hell, and I fucking hate the Daft Punk sample they flipped for the hook. I don’t really have a problem with Busta’s actual performance on this track. I think it’s kinda cool how he keeps switching between a more laidback, calm delivery and the other one where he’s yelling. The content of this song really isn’t for me though. It’s a sexual club song.

As we started, got me ringing her bell
When I come I be doin’ it and doin’ it well
Then I beat up the coochie and be makin it swell
Tryin to hide the smell of the sex, spraying on the Chanel

I don’t really like anything about this song aside from Busta’s flow and delivery. The production is fucking awful to me. The hook is really fucking annoying. This shit is trash. It’s wack af.

3. How We Do It Over Here featuring Missy Elliott produced by Dr. Dre

The beat on this track is cool. I hate the hook from Missy Elliott though. I don’t really care for Busta’s performance on this track either. His delivery is really lowkey. It’s kinda hard to hear him over this loud ass beat. Man… This song fucking sucks. The hook is awful, and I wasn’t impressed by Busta’s verses. Wow. This album is off to a really bad start. The only thing I like about this track is the production. This shit is wack to me.

4. New York Shit featuring Swizz Beatz produced by DJ Scratch

The production from DJ Scratch on this track is really great honestly. I really wish Swizz Beatz wasn’t featured on this song. He doesn’t do anything that Busta couldn’t have done himself. However, it’s not like he completely ruins the song. The first verse from Busta Rhymes isn’t that good.

Yeah! I’m on my New York shit
Got the world followin’ the New York script
Hustle with Timbs and hoodies on my New York flip
Rubberband stack money with my New York click

Every line in the first verse follows that formula. In fact, every fourth line of the song is literally exactly the same. The second verse is a lot better. I like this song. This is actually my favorite track on the album so far. I mean, that’s not really saying that much, but I think this is a good track. I love the production. The hook from Swizz Beatz is tolerable, and Busta did an okay job on this track too. This is dope.

5. Been Through the Storm featuring Stevie Wonder produced by Sha Money XL, Black Jeruz, Dr. Dre & Busta Rhymes

Okay, this beat is actually pretty great. Oh man… I don’t know why, but I really wasn’t expecting to hear Stevie Wonder singing on this shit. These days whenever he’s featured on a Hip Hop project he’s usually just playing the harmonica, which honestly isn’t that impressive to me. I have friends that play the harmonica, and they’ve made it clear that what Stevie does with it isn’t some super advanced shit that only he could do. So yeah, him actually singing on this song was a pleasant surprise. He sounds fantastic on the hook. The content from Busta Rhymes is very personal. He’s rapping about the lives of his parents and his family history. Okay, here we go. This is already the best song on the album so far. The first verse was really great. His flow was super smooth. Oh fucking shit. Goddamn, man. That second verse was amazing. The way the production evolved was so fucking awesome. The percussion faded out, and the instrumental got really dramatic. The vocals on the outro from Stevie were superb as well. Yeah, this is easily the best song on the album so far. It’s amazing.

6. In the Ghetto featuring Rick James produced by DJ Green Lantern & Dr. Dre

Rick James is another relatively rare feature, and he sounds fantastic on the hook of this song in my opinion. This is awesome. The production is really cinematic too, and Busta’s flow on the first verse is fucking glorious. Man, this album really did a 180. These past few tracks have been absolutely stellar. The title of this track makes it pretty obvious what the subject matter is. He’s describing life in the hood. This is fantastic. I can’t praise this track enough. Everybody involved did an amazing job. Rick James sang his ass off on the hook, and Green Lantern & Dre put their ass in the beat as well. Busta killed the verses too. The saxophone contribution from Jason Freese is really great too. I have absolutely zero gripes with this track. The way it transitions into the next track is amazing too. They took the audio of Rick James saying “cocaine is a hell of a drug” from the Chappelle Show and put it at the very end of this track. I love it. This shit is dope af.

7. Cocaina featuring Marsha Ambrosius produced by Dr. Dre & Mark Batson

The production on this track is dope. The manner in which Busta says “sheeeeeeit” right before starting his first verse reminds me of Kendrick Lamar’s Institutionalized. In fact, Genius claims that it’s a direct interpolation. I thought it was just a coincidence. The first verse is pretty good. The way the instrumental gets more detailed and layered during the hook is really nice. Busta’s singing didn’t even bother me. I enjoyed the hook. The second verse was awesome. The additional keyboard contributions from Che Pope sounded fantastic. The production is really great. Busta snapped on that verse too. This is another awesome song. Marsha Ambrosius just provided some background vocals, which were pretty nice. She came in towards the end to sing on the outro. She sounded really good. Yeah, I definitely fuck with this track. It’s dope af.

8. You Can’t Hold the Torch featuring Q-Tip & Chauncey Black produced by J Dilla

This was one of the only songs I’d heard prior to listening to the entire album, and it’s one of my favorite Busta Rhymes songs ever. I swear Busta Rhymes & Q-Tip can do no wrong when they work together. This song is fucking amazing. In fact, this is my favorite song on the entire album so far, and I’ll be shocked if I end up hearing something better than this by the time I’m finished with the entire project. The production from J Dilla is absolutely perfect. Q-Tip did an amazing job with that first verse too. As you can possibly surmise from the title, the song’s about newer rappers not being able to live up to the expectations of quality held by their predecessors. It doesn’t come off like a bunch of salty old ass niggas rapping though. It’s really well executed. The hook on this track is incredible too. Chauncey sang his motherfucking asshole off, and the Puff Daddy sample is fantastic as well. Busta slaughtered that second verse.

I’m like a blessing to the game when your shit sound dated
I force niggas to improve, you should be happy I made it
Here to rep the game fully, change my style like the weather
Givin’ you niggas new shit to make the game feel better

There’s not a single aspect of this song I would change. I think it’s perfect. I love how they both came back in to spit 8 bars each on the final verse. This shit is fucking incredible. I love it.

9. Goldmine featuring Raekwon produced by Erick Sermon & Dr. Dre

Goddamn. This project started off pretty slow, but the past few tracks have been awesome. I’m so glad it’s not a bad album. The way the previous track transitions into this one is really dope, and Raekwon sounds awesome over this production. He killed that first verse. This shit is so hard. The hook from Busta is great, and he rapped his ass off on that second verse. Jesus, man. This shit is so fucking good. These dudes were not fuckin’ around on this track. They both snapped. That last verse where they both came back in to spit 8 bars was crazy too. Busta murdered this shit.

See I was always good at science, in the class I was dope
Ask ’em for the chemistry temperature now I’m cookin’ the coke up
Used to sit and watch them older niggas for hours
And did the knowledge to how the cold water quickly harden the powder

This is another amazing song with which I have no issues. The production is good, and both of the MCs snapped on this shit. It’s dope af.

10. I Love My Bitch featuring Kelis & will.i.am produced by will.i.am

I was very concerned and I guess apprehensive when I saw this song in the tracklist. Not only are the features a huge turn off, but the title of the song is as well. I didn’t think it was gonna be my cup of tea at all, but I had hope that maybe I’d be pleasantly surprised. Fortunately, it wasn’t quite as shitty as I was expecting. It’s definitely one of the worst songs on the album though. I hate the fucking intro where Busta just says “I love my bitch” and then you hear Kelis say “I love you, nigga.” It’s so fucking stupid, and the fact that it repeats more than five times is just terrible. The vocals from will.i.am on the first part of the hook thankfully aren’t that bad, but then the part I mentioned before returns. It fucking sucks. The music video for this song is stupid as fuck too. It’s based on that dumbass movie, Mr. & Mrs. Smith. I can’t believe that was a real movie. I never watched it, and it’s because the commercials I saw made it seem like the dumbest movie ever made, but not in a funny or entertaining way. It looked like pure dogshit. The production on this track is actually kinda nice, but that’s really the only thing I like about the song. Well, as I said before, will.i.am’s vocals aren’t too bad. You know your song is terrible when will.i.am is the best thing about it. Busta’s flow was solid, but lyrically this shit isn’t for me at all. I’m never listening to this bullshit ass song again. It’s super wack.

11. Don’t Get Carried Away featuring Nas produced by Dr. Dre

This beat from Dre is pretty awesome. It’s really cinematic. It sounds like it’s from a movie score. The hook from Busta Rhymes is nothing special, but it gets the job done. The first verse from Busta Rhymes was pretty solid. Nas killed that second verse. That was great. The final verse from Busta is really hard too. I like this song quite a bit. It’s not amazing or anything, but I don’t really have any major issues with it. The hook could’ve been a little better, but the production was great, and I liked all the verses. This is pretty dope.

12. They’re Out to Get Me featuring Mr. Porter produced by Mr. Porter

This beat is awesome. Mr. Porter was singin’ like a motherfucker on that hook too. The first verse from Busta was nice. The song’s pretty much about having fake friends that are just tryna exploit you. The second verse was even better than the first one. All of the verses are really good though. I like this song about as much as the previous one. The production was pretty great, and the hook was really good too. Nothing about this song was amazing enough to push it to the next level of enjoyability for me, but I don’t really have any gripes with it. I think it’s another really good song. Busta did his thing. This shit is dope.

13. Get Down produced by Nisan Stewart & Timbaland

This song definitely has one of the more unique instrumentals on the album. It’s very skeletal, but not to a fault. It’s pretty much all percussion. They sampled a fucking frog’s ribbit. That’s amazing. Lyrically, this song is super simplistic. It’s clearly just supposed to be a fun party song. It’s interesting that he’d go that route with such a skeletal instrumental.

Uh huh, I know you niggas know the feelin—get down
Alright, and if you ready and you willin’—say yo
Okay, throw your hands to the ceiling—get down
Alright, go ‘head and stack another million

As you can see, he wasn’t really focusing on his bars with this one. The hook is kinda lame, but it’s not too bad I guess. The main focus here is the percussion and Busta’s flow. I’m not really into the first two verses at all. The third verse is easily the best part of the song. His flow was really impressive. I like the beat on this track a lot, and the final verse was dope, but I’m not feelin’ the hook at all, and the lackluster lyricism kinda prevents me from enjoying this song that much. I don’t see myself coming back to this one, but I wouldn’t say it’s bad. There are certain things that I really like about it. Unfortunately it’s just not good enough for me to return to it. It’s okay though.

14. I’ll Do It All featuring LaToiya Williams produced by Big Baby Jelly Roll

I really love the production on this track, but I’m unfortunately not really into the content at all. It’s a love song. Well, it’s one of those “shooting my shot” songs where the rapper is basically rapping to a girl and telling her they should date. The first verse was alright I guess. I just didn’t give a shit about anything he was saying. The hook is pretty nice though, and, again, I love the beat. The second verse from Busta was kinda relatable.

Mami, I like your conduct, light the fireworks and bombs up
The type of chick I wanna talk about when I call my moms up
Until the love is empty, I credit the one who sent me
The most beautifullest woman and she ridin’ with me

I know that feeling well, although it unfortunately never ends well. You know what? Fuck it. I like this song. It’s far from my favorite track on the album, but I definitely enjoyed it to some extent. It’s certainly more enjoyable than the previous track to me. I fuck with this one. It’s pretty good.

15. Legend of the Fall Offs produced by Dr. Dre

This is probably the most creative song on the whole album lyrically. It’s kinda similar to the final track from Genesis. The uncredited hook from Truth Hurts is really fantastic. This beat from Dr. Dre is fucking incredible. The first verse from Busta Rhymes is really awesome. He’s kinda rapping from the perspective of the Grim Reaper, whose taking away the career of a rapper who fell off. This is really fucking dope.

Reality starts to settle in, you’re sweatin’ every wake up
You’re broke and now you gotta return your jewelry to Jacob
You run around and you front like you’re still on fire
But nobody believes you; and now you live as a liar

Man, this shit is awesome. The way Dre incorporated the sound of someone literally digging a grave into the beat is awesome. The song ends with what sounds like the audio of a washed up rapper being buried alive and begging for his life. Shit is wild. Yeah, this song is amazing. I definitely fuck with this shit. It’s easily one of the best songs on the album. It’s dope af.

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This album is actually pretty good. Obviously it’s a very flawed record, but I enjoyed it overall. It’s way better than I was expecting it to be. I think if this was stripped down to 10 tracks it’d be one of the best albums Busta Rhymes ever put out, and probably the best album of 2006 to be honest. What came out that year? Oh never mind. Army of the Pharoahs, Jedi Mind Tricks, Lupe Fiasco, and J Dilla all dropped some of their best work that year. Well, still. It would’ve been another great album. Busta Rhymes claims that this is one of his favorite albums that he’s ever done, and that the only song he’d cut from it was the will.i.am track. He didn’t even say it was a bad song though. He said he would’ve put it on a different album. That song shouldn’t have ever been released. I think this album’s biggest flaw is really just the lack of consistency. There’s some great shit that backpackers like me would love, such as You Can’t Hold the Torch & Goldmine, but then there are also those club, party, mainstream appealing tracks that I don’t care for at all such as Touch It and the aforementioned Kelis collab. I think this album has some of the best songs he’s ever made, but it’s far from perfect. It’s definitely worth listening to if you’re a fan of Busta Rhymes. I liked the album. It’s a good record.

Favorite Song: You Can’t Hold the Torch
Least Favorite Song: Touch It

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