Busta Rhymes

Trevor George Smith Jr. (born May 20, 1972), known professionally as Busta Rhymes, is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, and actor.

Chuck D of Public Enemy gave him the moniker Busta Rhymes, after NFL and CFL wide receiver George "Buster" Rhymes.

He has received 12 Grammy Award nominations for his work, making him one of the most-nominated artists without winning.

Busta Rhymes was an original member of Leaders of the New School, a group that attracted national attention when they opened on tour for Public Enemy.

He gained exposure for their guest appearance on A Tribe Called Quest's track "Scenario".

in the East Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn on May 20, 1972, to Geraldine Green and Trevor Smith Sr., both from Jamaica.

At age 12, Smith's family moved to Uniondale, New York.

For a short while, Smith attended George Westinghouse Career and Technical Education High School in Brooklyn with future rappers Christopher "The Notorious B.I.G." Wallace and Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter, and attended Samuel J. Tilden High School with Edward "Special Ed" Archer and Roderick "Chip Fu" Roachford of Fu-Schnickens.

Busta also spent time in Britain during the early 1980s where he resided with his maternal aunt.

She lived in Morecambe, and he spent two summers there with his mother and younger brother.

He went to Skerton Community High School while he was staying in the area.

In 1986, Smith, alongside fellow Long Island natives Charlie Brown, Cut Monitor Milo, and Dinco D, formed the East Coast hip hop group Leaders of the New School.

About.com included him on its list of the 50 Greatest MCs of Our Time (1987–2007), and Steve Huey of AllMusic called him one of the best and most prolific rappers of the 1990s.

Smith eventually graduated from Long Island's Uniondale High School in 1991.

Leaders of the New School released their debut album A Future Without a Past... in June 1991 on Elektra Records.

Later that year, the group appeared on A Tribe Called Quest's critically acclaimed posse cut "Scenario".

In 1993, they released T.I.M.E. (The Inner Mind's Eye).

Smith gained popularity from his advanced rhymes as well as his unique style that was not common of many New York rap artists at the time.

Soon after, however, internal problems arose because of his increasing popularity, and the group broke up on the set of Yo! MTV Raps.

Shortly thereafter, Leaders of the New School broke up, leading Rhymes to become a sought after solo artist, appearing on numerous tracks for other artists before his solo debut album, The Coming (1996).

The album reached the top ten on the Billboard 200 album chart, was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and earned him a Grammy nomination.

He has released eleven total solo albums, with the most recent being 2023's Blockbusta.

Rhymes' list of hit singles include "Woo-Hah!! Got You All in Check", "It's a Party", "Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See", "Dangerous", "Turn It Up" (Remix)/"Fire It Up", "Gimme Some More", "What's It Gonna Be?", "Pass the Courvoisier, Part II", "I Know What You Want" and "Touch It".

Among his other ventures, he founded the record label Conglomerate (initially Flipmode Entertainment) and the production crew The Conglomerate (formerly Flipmode Squad).

In 1996, Busta Rhymes release on his solo debut album The Coming.

His single "Woo Hah!! Got You All in Check" was a success, pushing the album into gold record status.

Later, he started work on his second album, When Disaster Strikes, which would not be released until September 1997.

In 1998, Busta Rhymes recorded Extinction Level Event: The Final World Front.

In 2000, Busta Rhymes released his final album for Elektra, titled Anarchy.

He released Genesis in 2001.

The album featured collaborations with Mary J. Blige, P. Diddy, Kelis, and others.

In 2002, Busta Rhymes released his sixth studio album It Ain't Safe No More.

His seventh studio album, titled The Big Bang, became the first No. 1 album of his career.

The album sold over 209,000 copies in its first week to earn the top spot on the US Billboard 200.

It was later revealed that Busta signed a deal with Universal Motown, through which he released his eighth studio album Back on My B.S., on May 19, 2009.

Due to controversial content, the United Arab Emirates has banned the album.

In 2012, The Source placed him on its list of the Top 50 Lyricists of All Time.

MTV has called him "one of hip-hop's greatest visual artists".

Busta Rhymes was born Trevor George Smith Jr.

He told GQ in a 2020 interview, "One summer when we went down there I was 12, my brother was eight, so my aunt made sure that we actually went to school in England. Regular school and then we went to karate school too. We also were on some breakdancing that was so crazy, we ended up actually getting work to breakdance in clubs as minors. And our cousins used to run us around and they used to advertise us as TJ and Paul."