The Coming
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Album Summary
On March 26, 1996, Busta Rhymes came crashing through the doors of the mainstream with his debut solo offering, 'The Coming,' released through Elektra Records. This was a moment the streets had been waiting for — born out of the ashes of Leaders of the New School and fueled by the volcanic energy Busta had unleashed on A Tribe Called Quest's 'Scenario,' this album was a statement of arrival. The production was handled by a heavyweight congregation including DJ Scratch, Rashad Smith, and the Ummah — that sacred pairing of Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammad — who together built a sonic world spacious enough to contain Busta's boundless, hurricane-force delivery. Every bar on this record felt like a man who had been waiting his whole life to step to the center of the stage and own it completely.
Reception
- The album debuted at number six on the Billboard 200 and climbed to number two on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart — an extraordinary opening statement for a first-time solo artist stepping out on his own.
- The lead single 'Woo Hah!! Got You All In Check' cracked the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100, reaching number eight and serving as the thunderclap moment that announced Busta Rhymes as a genuine mainstream force.
- Critics celebrated the album's ferocious energy and the sheer acrobatic audacity of Busta's flow, even as some observers noted that the album's momentum ebbed and surged across its runtime.
Significance
- 'The Coming' stands as a landmark document of mid-1990s East Coast hip-hop, introducing a hyperkinetic, maximalist rap aesthetic that cut against the grain of the smoother, more polished sounds that dominated the charts at the time.
- The album's dense layering of soul and funk samples over boom-bap production pushed the boundaries of what the East Coast sound could contain, bending it toward something wilder, more theatrical, and altogether more unpredictable.
- By the time the needle lifted off this record, Busta Rhymes had secured his place as one of hip-hop's most singular and irreplaceable solo voices — a blueprint for high-energy delivery and larger-than-life persona that echoed through a generation of artists who came after him.
Samples
- Woo Hah!! Got You All In Check — one of the most recognizable hip-hop singles of the 1990s, the track's vocal hook and production elements have been referenced and interpolated across numerous hip-hop and R&B releases in the decades since its release.
Tracklist
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A2 Do My Thing 81
4:00
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A3 Everything Remains Raw 86
3:41
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B4 Abandon Ship 95
6:02
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B5 Woo Hah!! Got You All In Check 92
4:31
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B6 It's A Party 178
5:53
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C7 Hot Fudge 82
5:09
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C8 Ill Vibe 93
3:29
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C9 Flipmode Squad Meets Def Squad 84
8:10
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D10 Still Shining 92
2:57
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D11 Keep It Movin' 86
7:32
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D12 The Finish Line 77
5:06
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D13 The End Of The World (Outro) 81
2:49
Artist Details
Busta Rhymes, born Trevor George Smith Jr. in Brooklyn, New York in 1972, burst onto the hip-hop scene in the early '90s first as a member of Leaders of the New School before launching a blazing solo career that would cement him as one of the most kinetic and technically gifted MCs to ever grip a microphone. His rapid-fire delivery, wild theatrics, and larger-than-life persona carved out a lane all his own in the rap game, giving the world anthems like "Woo Hah!! Got You All in Check" and "Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See" that had the streets and the clubs moving in perfect unison. Busta stands as a true testament to the art of lyricism and showmanship, influencing generations of artists who came after him and proving that hip-hop, much like the soul music that came before it, is at its best when the artist gives every single performance everything they've got.
