Busta Rhymes shared the recording process of how he, Eminem and Dr. Dre recorded his classic, “Calm Down.”
Busta Rhymes has given fans a glimpse of what it’s like to work with Eminem. During an interview with Pitchfork, he explained how the track “Calm Down” came to be almost six minutes long. The two also collaborated on a few other tracks over the years, including “I’ll Hurt You” and “Touch It Remix,” but the most popular with fans is by far “Calm Down.” The song was released in 2014 and featured some in-depth verses from both artistes.
Busta Rhymes explained that the original track was never intended to be so long but that Eminem kept coming up with new ways to improve the track and challenge him. “If you want a clear display of what the fundamentals of hip-hop is and the art of emceeing, [Calm Down] is the case study,” he said. He continued on to explain the process and why it ended up being so intensive.
“I sent the record to Eminem with 16 bar verse. He sent it back with like 40 bar verse. I’m like ‘what the f*&k is going on. You are not gonna do this to me on my song.’ I sent back my verse with 45 bars. He sends it back 56 bars. I sent mine back 62 bars. He sends back 66 bars. I’m like, look bro, who we making this record for at this point? Are we making this record for the consumer or we are just battling each other now?”
Busta added that the competitive nature between them is what served as an inspiration to keep going. He said that he was actually happy that Eminem took the project so seriously.
“But that’s the beauty and the competitive nature and spirit we both have cause we care that much. We love it that much. No one wants to be a weak link,” he said
He went to say that it went beyond making a song and brought back his passion for rap music. “No one wants to say I’m going to settle with getting my a*s bust by the other rapper on the song. It’s no longer a business at that point. It’s just that fiery passion that still burns in the souls of both of us as true incredible swordsmen of the sport and we love the opportunity of being able to display the skill set at the most highest level of just raw emceeing. That was so much fun,” he added.
Busta also opened up about the making of other tracks like “Break Ya Neck” with Dr. Dre. You can check out the interview below.
