It's a rags to riches story, like all the others, but you can rely on Busta Rhymes to put a spin on the old legend. "Starving 'til where my skin was suffocating my ribs/ Now we got interior decoratin' my crib," he splutters on 'Genesis'' exceptional title track, over a spacey and dislocating ambient hum that's as close to underground heroes like Clouddead as Busta's mainstream rivals.
It's the most extreme moment on this highly entertaining and eclectic survey of hip-hop styles, helmed by the bellowing but eloquent Mr Rhymes. Given his cameos on every rap album going (only Method Man and Redman, perhaps, chalk up as many guest slots), it's sometimes easy to forget how potent a force he is on his own. Instantly recognisable by his throaty, tectonic plate-splitting shouts and growls, Rhymes is surprisingly adaptable to the full gamut of hip-hop trickery.
So we get old school on 'Shut 'Em Down 2002', as Pete Rock cues up his vintage Public Enemy remix of 'Shut 'Em Down' and lets Busta loose over the top. Ultra-contemporary electro gets represented by - who else? - The Neptunes on 'As I Come Back' and the ferociously insistent 'What It Is' duet with Kelis.
'Betta Stay Up In Your House' bears comparison with the rich soul revivalism of Jay-Z's 'The Blueprint' by sampling an old Curtis Mayfield track. The guest slots are top-notch: P Diddy on the banging cognac-fest 'Pass The Courvoisier'; Mary J Blige on the sleek, low-slung 'There's Only One'. And Dre contributes three fine examples of his current jittery baroque style, notably 'Break Ya Neck', with Busta accelerating to tonguetwister speed whilst Dre manages to sample The Red Hot Chili Peppers' 'Give It Away' and not make a rap-rock crossover record with it. Remarkable.
Throughout, there's all the good humour of Busta Rhymes' previous work, but minus the millennial paranoia that sometimes threatened to drag him down in the past. At the very start, J Records' venerable CEO Clive Davis turns up, imploring he, "Keep it gutter, keep it grimy". But Busta's far too much of an all-rounder, a showman, to be so limited. Goes on a bit, predictably (20 tracks!), but only Jay-Z can match its highlights for party soundtrack of the year.
