Busta Rhymes Has Sage Advice For Young Rappers On Their Way Up: ‘Think About What Your Contribution Should Be’

Busta Rhymes had each crushed to consciousness bully connected Sunday nighttime (Sept. 7) astatine the 2025 MTV VMAs. In summation to being honored with the first-time Rock the Bells Visionary Award — and putting connected a show-stopping show medley of his hits astatine New York’s UBS Arena — the seasoned rapper said helium was blessed to beryllium receiving his flowers.

“It’s incredible… you know, I’ve ne'er not felt the love, but it’s decidedly evolved into caller heights,” helium told Billboard connected the reddish carpet astir the acknowledgement. “It’s a full different happening to beryllium getting it from your assemblage and your folks and adjacent much truthful successful the abundance that it’s been happening in.” Rhymes wasn’t kidding arsenic helium ticked disconnected his caller database of kudos, which see getting his prima connected the Hollywood Walk of Fame, receiving the Hip-Hop Icon Award astatine Harlem Week and bering crowned an Elite Icon astatine the 2025 Caribbean Music Awards, each of which happened successful August.

Rhymes was feeling bully connected the reddish carpet connected Sunday nighttime (Sept. 7), professing to feeling “incredible… everything is beautiful, everything is blessed and we’re gonna enactment close successful the blessed vigor space,” helium said. “No games being played connected nary day, nary time, nary spot whatsoever.”

The 53-year-old rapper who has been spitting for astir 4 decades besides offered immoderate proposal for longevity to upstart MCs who are conscionable breaking into the game. “The astir important happening is to truly recognize the quality betwixt doing this due to the fact that you emotion it and doing it due to the fact that you conscionable trying to get a bag,” helium said. “I would beryllium doing this if determination was nary money, which that’s what it was initially.”

His biggest portion of advice? “Think astir what your publication [to hip-hop] should be. Think astir however important your publication needs to beryllium and past present connected that,” Rhymes said.

Of people Rhymes did yet get paid for doing what helium loves, but for him the wealth wasn’t the astir important part. Rather, it was the joyousness of making slope for thing helium was already doing for free, arsenic good arsenic the fulfillment helium got from being connected the mic and getting precocious praise from the critics that mattered to him and the culture.

“It’s benignant of similar blurring retired the noise, loving what you do, being passionate astir what you bash and conscionable being committed nary substance what radical bash to deter you from what you’re feeling and believing successful and what you truly spot successful your imaginativeness for what you deliberation it should be,” helium said.

Watch the afloat interrogation above.