Busta Rhymes Details Cash Money Departure, Eminem Direction

by DANIELLE HARLING

Busta Rhymes says his departure from Aftermath and later Cash Money didn't happen "in a negative way."

Several weeks ago, Busta Rhymes released the Scoop DeVille-produced “Calm Down,” a record that also features a guest verse from Eminem and is scheduled to appear on Busta Rhymes’ upcoming album, Extinction Level Event 2. Although the song was released late last month, Busta revealed that the record has been in the works for quite some time, during his interview on Sway’s Universe.

According to Busta, the song was originally three minutes and eight seconds long, but skyrocketed to six minutes and six seconds long when Em submitted his verse, which forced Busta to change his entire approach to the song.

“The song was originally like three minutes and eight seconds,” Busta Rhymes said. “I had just put a regular song structure to it. Two, 16 bar verses and a hook. The same hook that’s there. Met with Paul Rosenberg with Chris Lighty. God bless his soul. This was one of the last meetings that me and Chris did before he passed. Gave it to Paul on a CD. Didn’t hear back from Paul for about six weeks. Riggs Morales came through and Shaheem had Rich come out the studio to hear the song. When Riggs heard the record, Riggs kinda was so excited about the joint he goes back to Paul. Two weeks later we get a call confirming that Em is ready to do the joint…We get a call from Paul saying he coming by the studio he gon’ play us something. He get to the studio he played a verse. Em is rhyming for like 42 bars on a verse. And my two, 16s was on the song and I’m looking at it like ‘Nah, this ain’t gon’ work’…I had to change my approach. So, I went and I wrote 50 new bars.”

In regards to his label situation, Busta says he’s no longer at Cash Money Records and added that his split from the label was an amicable one. He revealed that while working on his album, he lost his friend, Chris Lighty and his father, and as a result chose to rid himself of his label situations.

“Actually, nothing happened in a negative way with Cash Money,” he said. “And actually nothing happened in a negative way with Aftermath. I think the difference really with the Aftermath situation was more me and Interscope. You know what I’m saying? It was just creative issues that was just conflicting a little bit, but it led to other frustrations. That really had nothing to do with the creative shit. So, at that point a discussion was had. And the beautiful thing about these situations is that the stage that I was at at those times, everybody had already respected what I’ve built and what I’ve accomplished on my own prior to getting with them…Same thing with Cash Money. I was there for two years and the opportunity was a great opportunity at the time because of the type of deal that was done…I just had a conversation with Bird like, ‘Listen, bro. I’m grateful and everything is love with us, but I just gotta see this through the way that I want to see this through.’"

In a previous interview with Complex, Busta revealed that he’s hoping for a November 2014 release for Extinction Level Event 2, but is still in the middle of handling sample issues.

“In an ideal world, I would want it to come out around November,” the rapper said. “But I’m dealing with some sample clearance legal issues. Until that process is resolved, I can’t actually lock in the way I want to on my date. But so far the sailing has been smooth. Regardless, it’s definitely coming this year.”