It’s no secret that Busta Rhymes has the uncanny ability to create classic hip-hop masterpieces, it’s just that they are few and far in between. Of the course of his four album / four year solo career, we’ve seen him bang out a number of timeless tracks. “Woo-Hah”, “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See”, “Fire It Up”, “Dangerous”, “What’s It Gonna Be”, “Gimmie Some More”, “Party Is Goin’ On”, “Tear The Roof Off” - the list goes on. Notice a trend though? While he’s pushed the envelope on virtually every one of his singles, each of them becoming mainstream or club hits, the same cannot be said for his albums. This album included, Busta simply gives us another collection of songs that serve as a quick fix of rap music, rather than what should be a future hip-hop classic.

Make no mistake - B. Rhymes is one of the most incredible emcees rocking the earth today, and when he wants to, he can flip shit incredible, just check last year’s “Simon Says Remix”, where the ante was upped, rhyming next to five other emcees. And yes, this album does have those kinds of tracks where Busta lets loose completely, creating some incredible shit. “Fire” is just ridiculous, with its raw piano bounce, and Busta’s lyrical aviation of the track. “C’mon All My Niggas, C’mon All My Bitches” is twice as amazing, as Busta mimics the sounds of DJ Scratch’s violin sample, rhyming even faster and more precise than he did on “Gimmie Some More”. Both of these joints are classic in nature, and show Busta actually becoming a part of the music itself, yet the same can’t be said for the rest of the album.

It’s not that the rest of the album is particularly bad, it’s just not as incredible as it should be, when dealing with a superstar like Busta Rhymes. Equally thugged out are “We Put It Down For Ya’ll” and “Street Shit”, both of which give that raw ruff ryda energy that Busta somehow blends so well with. Then “Make Noise”, which features the combined talents of Busta, Rockwilder, and Lenny Kravitz  is also notable, featuring great chemistry between the three, yet the rock-rap fusion still isn’t as flawless as Run DMC / Aerosmith “Walk This Way”. Of course, there are the guest featured joints – “The Heist” (w/ Ghostface Killah & Raekwon ), “Why We Die” (feat. DMX & Jay-Z), and “Ready For War” (feat. M.O.P.), each of which do their best to transform Busta into the artists he’s sharing mic-time with, but his ever changing face (native tongue? jiggy superstar? whylin’ out thug?) is sometimes hard for the listener to adapt to. These will get you through the day, but less than stellar contributions that dominate the majority of the album’s massive twenty-two tracks makes things get tired really fast.

What would it be like if Busta had waited to release his solo album until now, and every song on there was every single he’s had a hit with over the past four years? That album would be a classic. But what is the reality? Anarchy is just another album of songs only good enough to hold us over for a short while.