Busta Rhymes Honored With Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame: ‘I Feel Complete Today’
It’s been nearly 30 years since Busta Rhymes released his The Coming debut album, and Bus-a-Bus was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Friday (Aug. 1).
Prior to Busta, a star-studded lineup of guest speakers took the podium, including LL COOL J, whose flow Busta mimicked when penning his first-ever rhymes, Big Daddy Kane and Public Enemy’s Chuck D.
“I worked so hard and I never asked for a shortcut, I never asked for a cheat code,” Busta said while teary-eyed on stage. “I was never raised by a support system that made it seem okay to try to go around honestly earning your rite to passage. I want to thank those people.”
The New York native recalled times of hustling leading him to trouble with the law at 12 years old, forming his Leaders of the New School crew and Chuck D being the one to give him his iconic rap name.
“I want to thank you Chuck for giving me my first shot and being one of the first to believe in me. I say you gave me the name even though you say you presented it,” he explained. “If you didn’t present it, it probably wouldn’t have been one of the greatest gifts in my life because my name before Busta Rhymes was Chill-O-Skee.”
Busta continued to “big-up” plenty of people who helped him on this journey, like his children, Epic Records CEO Sylvia Rhone, members of his team and his mother.
“I feel complete today. As we completed this chapter and started giving birth to a new one. I’m no longer Daniel-San in this s—t, I’m Mr. Miyagi now,” Busta said in a mic drop moment to finish off his speech.
Busta Rhymes then posed for photos alongside LL COOL J, radio royalty Big Boy, Chuck D and Big Daddy Kane.
In addition to receiving his Hollywood star, Busta has a role in The Naked Gun reboot, which was released on Friday. He’s also plotting the arrival of his Vengeance album in September.
Watch the full ceremony below.
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