Album Review: Busta Rhymes – Back On My B.S. (2009)

Album Review: Busta Rhymes – Back On My B.S. (2009)
Rating: 2 out of 5 Potholes 

So, it has come to this. Busta Rhymes has gone to the dark side. Critics and fans alike have been less than pleased with Busta Rhymes’ work of late, and 2009’s Back on My B.S. is not about to be any different. The Busta of old is gone (no more wild’n out to Woo Hah!). In is the new Busta who gets as loud as possible over synths and dubs that suck the authenticity right out of a song. Back on My B.S. kicks off with an operatic intro, singing “back on my bulls**t” over and over. It’s an amusing touch, one that indicates that this album is not to be taken seriously, perhaps hinting that Busta is just going to freak out old-school style, and destroy some good ol’ boom-bap.

This is not the case. Instead, Back on My B.S. is a hook-driven club album. It is one hour of songs that sound more or less the same, with a bit too many guest appearances, none of which are very memorable (but just wait…). Lil’ Wayne leaves an awful showing (yes, worse than the usual Weezy!) on “Respect My Conglomerate,” a track that more or less sums up what Busta is all about now – being the man and forcing his way to mainstream fame. Busta proceeds to spit uninteresting bars, often over-using the word “bitch” and materializing women. The one track that really works on this album, “Decision (featuring Jamie Foxx, John Legend, Mary J. Blige, and Common)” is a beautiful ode to a shaky relationship, however it actually ends up just pointing out the pure hypocrisy that exists in the world of mainstream hip-hop (note how just two tracks earlier Busta was degrading women). Common does actually give a memorable guest spot here, which gives great hope for those fans who were upset by UMC.

Where this album does work in some respects is in its goal. This album was not made as an attempted Native Tongues revival. Make no mistake about it, this album was made to try and make money, and get play in clubs – which it will. Numerous tracks, especially the ones with decent production (“Kill Dem” (Neptunes), “We Want In” (Ron Browz)) will work excellently well in the club scene. So try as he may to bounce back, Busta is still rather lost.