Busta Rhymes

Back on My B.S. is a triumph of style over substance. There's no lyrical depth here, and that's OK. It's filled with big, dumb, fun club bangers and aggressive street anthems. Each song is catchier than the last, and it feels like you could take almost any track on the album and make a successful single out of it. The slinky, synth-driven "Respect My Conglomerate" could be 2009's most memorable hip-hop single to date. On the Estelle collab "World Go Round," Rhymes dips a toe in the electro pool, riding a beat that's all sharp snares and vintage-sounding keyboards. "Wheel of Fortune" has Busta combining classic boom-bap hip-hop with an old DeBarge hook to create a high-energy romp. The one major flaw with BOMBS is that there's not enough Busta. With almost 20 guest vocalists and a small army of producers, the veteran MC sometimes sounds like a bit player on his own album. On "Conglomerate," he gets outright upstaged by Lil Wayne, and "Don't Believe Em" only works thanks to Akon's hook. In that sense, BOMBS is like a plagiarized essay. Sure, it gets an "A," but we all know Busta didn't really earn it.