Busta Rhymes lost a rap battle to Jay-Z back in high school and now we wish we had the footage.
The history of hip hop is truly fascinating and can be a wonderful pastime when told from a credible source. It doesn’t get closer to the truth than the persons who helped to shape the history we have come to love. Busta Rhymes is one of the most credible sources out there, and one of the stories we love to hear is the coming up of himself and Jay-Z while they were in high-school together. While speaking on the 85 South Show, Busta Bus recounted that he and Jay eventually duked it out during a lunchtime session, which HOV won.
Busta Rhymes is considered one of the most skillful rappers alive at the moment, and his verse on Chris Brown’s “Look at Me Now” is still a challenge nearly 10 years later. He explained the history of fast rapping to the 85 South crew, mentioned that Jay-Z actually mastered it back in the day.
“At the time, I never heard no rappers do it. No MCs wasn’t doin’ it. I have to say the only people that was f__king with it on some rap sh*t was the originators. And the originators was the crew that Hov was down with after Jaz-O. After they did the ‘Hawaiian Sophie’ joint… Hov was on that sh*t really early,” Busta said. “I don’t think he was actually one of the originators. They just all f__ked with each other just being [from] Brooklyn.”
Busta then moved on to the battle between himself and Jay-Z, explaining that while he was still finding his sound, Jay already had it locked and loaded.
“Ultimately, Hov got the best of the battle in that moment. I was just starting to figure out how to master my fascination with the speed rap. He was already on it,” Busta said. “He was doin’ it at an incredible level of skillset. And was displayin’ that sh_t like — water spillin’ all over the place. Just takin’ shape and form whatever way he felt like it ’cause he had been on his sh*t with it,” he continued.
“Me, at that point, with my competitive a_s. You know, I always wanted to have my rematch, you know what I’m sayin’? It didn’t happen which was fine because I ended up getting my skillset developed to the point where I don’t think nobody want to f**k with a n***a now,” Busta said.
Busta Rhymes has been busy promoting his upcoming album Extinction Level Event 2: The Wrath of God. He has been making numerous stops to speak about it while giving fans a bit of history surrounding his career.
