Let’s face it, at this point, if you’ve heard one Busta Rhymes album, you’ve heard them all. Another fact to face is that Busta really has never had a blazing album - at least not from start to finish. Sure, his Total Devastation greatest hits package plays like a classic album, but in the four albums he delivered during his stint on Elektra (and let’s not forget two Leaders Of The New School albums and a Flipmode Squad album), Total Devistation is really all you need to hear, as most of his solo career has been a series of bangin’ singles and the rest, album filler.

    Enter The Genesis, a new beginning for Busta Rhymes, as he has abandoned Elektra for Clive Davis’ new J. Records imprint. As Clive warns Busta in the album’s opening skit, “keep it gutter, keep it grimey” and for the most part, he does. No awful collaborations with washed-up rock legends, and there aren’t too unnecessary guests that Busta has little in common with, it’s pretty much kept in the fam. But the biggest change with this album is the employing of outside production. While we’e always appreciated DJ Scratch’ beats, one would think that a Busta budget would include tracks from the heavy hitters, not just in house production from the home team. The addition of a high profile list of producers has made all the difference in the world, this time employing beats from Dr. Dre, The Neptunes, Mel-Man, Jay Dee, Scott Storch, Just Blaze, and others. With The Genesis, Busta actually has a hot album on his hands.

     Maybe the quality of commercial hip-hop beats has risen over the last year, but for once, we see Busta upping the ante for his album, rather than simply giving us the usual 15 tracks of filler. While his singles “Break Ya Neck” (prod. by Dr. Dre) and “As I Come Back” (prod. by The Neptunes) are two of the best songs he has recorded to date (not including the classic LONS / Native Tounge era), and the album actually keeps the pace with the singles.

      Dr. Dre also lends the incredibly dope “Holla”, with spacey moog effects wandering throughout, preceded by the dark and lovely “Bounce (Let Me See Ya Throw It)”. As far as collaborations go, he and Rah Digga play tag team with excellent results on “Better Stay In Your House”, and he turns up the volume on the evil addicting sounds of “Match The Name With The Voice”. Even making moves with Puff on “Pass The Courvoisier”, or Jay Dee’s futuristic “new millennium bounce” of “Make It Hurt”, you can’t help but shake your ass thanks to his natural mic presence.  On the other end of the spectrum, solo cuts like “Truck Volume” and “You Ain’t Fuckin’ With Me” feature production so dope, you’ll feel forced to keep your head perpetually nodding.

     Busta’s album isn’t flawless though, he slips up a few times, especially when he tries to fuse dungeon dragons with R&B soul singers (has this ever worked?) Each “What It Is” (feat. Kelis) and “There’s Only One” (feat. Mary J. Blige ) are lazy and uninspiring, while “Ass On Your Shoulders” (feat. Kokane ) and “Wife In Law” (feat. Jaheim) are just plain awful. Leave the crooning off the next album, Busta-bus.

       Lyrically, Busta was at his best in the early days - before he even signed with Elektra. While these days he has devolved from a once intricate lyricist to a sexaholic thug with an attitude, he still remains one of hip-hop’s most quotable emcees (see: “We Got What You Want” and “Genesis”). Like Snoop Dogg, Busta has mastered the art of shit talking, and no matter how ig’nant he sounds, you can’t help but sing along. With The Genesis, Busta has indeed abandoned his roots, but still, he as a commercial rap artist - and the The Genesis as a commercial album - are good, just in a different way. Yes, the old adage still applies - if you’ve heard one Busta album, you?ve heard them all, but this one is certainly his best.