5. Busta Rhymes
I guess it’s the manicness. I think it’s the most punk song I had ever heard in my life. Musically I had a hard time with things associated with girls and femininity, I liked stuff that sounded rough. Of course, many girls did that too, but I’m just talking about my early teenage self. I think the perspective of a person who was also not really accounting or documenting reality, and was more on the imagination, sci-fi, storytelling, that was very attractive and revolutionary for me. I didn’t grow up listening to hip hop for the most part, but I was fascinated by the metrics of his raps. Sometimes when I listen to my own music I laugh because I feel like in another life I wish I was an MC, just based on the metrics of the words, and how I like fitting in as many words as possible and playing with rhythm. I think Busta Rhymes was pop enough that it was unavoidable for me to know about him. The playfulness paired with the heavy, demented beats, and the rhythms of his voice – it was very liberating to me.
