Busta Rhymes with “bluster” (depending on one’s accent, of course), and no rapper’s been as full of himself for as so long as our man. Which is a good thing in rap circles. Especially when your career is nose-diving to the point that people just want to talk about your hair (”Why’d he cut it off?”) and the guy who got shot on the set of your last video as opposed to your new tunes. 2006’s “The Big Bang” returned him to the top of the chart, but the unreleased “B.O.M.B.” was supposed to be Rhymes’ artistic restatement, until an argument with Interscope Records’ Jimmy Iovine got him dropped. Third label (in three tries)’s a charm, Dr. Dre hopes, because “World Go Round” and the now-finished “B.O.M.B.” are now on his Aftermath imprint.

by Mark Emge