''Blockbusta'' is the eleventh studio album by American rapper

Busta Rhymes Trevor George Smith Jr. (born May 20, 1972), known professionally as Busta Rhymes, is an American rapper, singer and actor. Chuck D of Public Enemy gave him the moniker Busta Rhymes, after National Football League, NFL and Canadian Football Lea ...

. It was released on November 24, 2023, through his own Conglomerate Entertainment label with distribution by

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), cong ...

. Busta Rhymes executive produced the album alongside

Pharrell Williams Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973), also known mononymously as Pharrell, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, and fashion designer. He first became known as one half of the music production duo ...

Timbaland Timothy Zachery Mosley (born March 10, 1972), known professionally as Timbaland, is an American record producer and rapper. Born and raised in Norfolk, Virginia, he is widely acclaimed for his distinctive production work and "stuttering" rhythm ...

, and

Swizz Beatz Kasseem Daoud Dean (born September 13, 1978), known professionally as Swizz Beatz, is an American rapper and record producer. Born and raised in the Bronx borough of New York City, Dean embarked on his musical career as a DJ in 1994. At the age ...

. It is his first studio album in over three years following 2020's '' Extinction Level Event 2: The Wrath of God'' and features guest appearances from

Quavo Quavious Keyate Marshall (born April 2, 1991), better known by his stage name Quavo (), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the frontman of the now-defunct hip hop group Migos. Formed with his nep ...

, Bia,

Young Thug Jeffery Lamar Williams II (born August 16, 1991), known professionally as Young Thug, is an American rapper. Known for his eccentric vocal style and fashion, he is considered an influential figure in modern hip hop music, hip hop and trap music ...

Blxst Matthew Dean Burdette (born September 17, 1992), known professionally as Blxst (pronounced "blast"), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer from Los Angeles, California. He signed with Red Bull Records to release his debu ...

Yung Bleu Jeremy Biddle (born April 4, 1994), known professionally as Yung Bleu or Bleu, is an American rapper and singer. He is best known for his 2020 single " You're Mines Still", which peaked at number 18 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 after it was remi ...

Coi Leray Coi Leray Collins (born May 11, 1997) is an American rapper and singer. The daughter of rapper and media executive Benzino, she began her musical career in 2018 with the release of her debut mixtape, ''Everythingcoz''. She signed with Republic ...

DaBaby Jonathan Lyndale Kirk (born December 22, 1991), known professionally as DaBaby (formerly Baby Jesus), is an American rapper. After releasing several mixtapes between 2014 and 2018, he signed with Interscope Records in January 2019 in a joint ...

T-Pain Faheem Rashad Najm (born September 30, 1984), known professionally as T-Pain, is an American singer and rapper. He is known for popularizing creative use of Auto-Tune pitch correction, often used with extreme parameter settings to create electro ...

Burna Boy Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu (born 2 July 1991), known professionally as Burna Boy, is a Nigerian singer, songwriter and record producer. He gained recognition in 2012 after releasing "Like to Party", the lead single from his debut studio album '' ...

Blackway ''Blackway'' is a 2015 thriller film directed by Daniel Alfredson and written by Joseph Gangemi and Gregory Jacobs, based on the 2008 novel '' Go with Me'' by Castle Freeman Jr. The film stars Anthony Hopkins, Julia Stiles, Ray Liotta, Alexan ...

, Jnr Choi,

Chris Brown Christopher Maurice Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. A Pop music, pop and hip-hop-influenced contemporary R&B, R&B musician who works in a variety of genres, he has been called the "Honorific nic ...

Shenseea Chinsea Linda Lee (born 1 October 1996), known professionally as Shenseea (), is a Jamaican dancehall singer-songwriter and dancer. She is best known for her guest appearance alongside Roddy Ricch on Kanye West's 2021 song " Pure Souls," whic ...

, Giggs,

Kodak Black Bill Kahan Kapri (born Dieuson Octave; June 11, 1997), known professionally as Kodak Black, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He gained initial recognition following the release of his 2014 songs " No Flockin" and " Skrt", both of ...

Morray Morae Ebony Ruffin (born November 10, 1992), known professionally as Morray, is an American rapper and singer-songwriter. He first saw recognition for his 2020 single "Quicksand", which led him to sign with Interscope Records and release his debu ...

, Cie, Trillian, Rai, and

Big Tigger Darian "Big Tigger" Morgan (born December 22, 1972), also known as Big Tigg, is an American television and radio personality, DJ and rapper best known as the host of BET's ''Rap City'' and '' 106 & Park''. Biography Morgan was born to a Jamaica ...

. The album was supposed to be supported by the Blockbusta Tour, set to begin on March 13, 2024 at the SF Masonic Auditorium in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, California, and end on April 21, 2024 at the

Brooklyn Paramount Theater The Brooklyn Paramount is a music venue in Downtown Brooklyn, New York City, at the intersection of Flatbush Avenue, Flatbush and DeKalb Avenues. It opened in 1928 as a movie palace that occasionally hosted jazz, blues and early rock and roll c ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York. The tour was later cancelled on March 8, 2024 with no explanation.

Background

The announcement of the album follows the singles "Beach Ball" featuring Bia, "Murda" featuring

Bilal __NOTOC__ Bilal may refer to: People * Bilal (name), or Belal or Bilel, including a list of people with the name * Bilal ibn Rabah, a companion of Muhammad, made calls for prayers * Bilal (American singer) * Bilal (Lebanese singer) Places * Bi ...

, and "Luxury Life" featuring

, which were released throughout 2023. The full tracklist was revealed on November 16.

Critical reception

''Blockbusta'' received a score of 53 out of 100 on review aggregator

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

based on five critics' reviews, indicating "mixed or average" reception.

Track listing

Note * signifies an additional producer.

Personnel

Musicians *

– vocals * Delanie Leyden – vocals (tracks 6, 11) * Davine Tuch – keyboards (7) * Andrew Potts Jr. – vocals (10) * Chioma Eze – vocals (10) * James T. Williams Jr. – vocals (10) * Maryla Roy – vocals (10) * Micah Houston – vocals (10) * Ronny Mercedes – vocals (10) * Sarah Chidebelu-Eze – vocals (10) * Sugarlane Voices – vocals (10) * Euglen Tanci – vocals (11) * Fonz Figgaz – vocals (11) * A.L. – vocals (11) * HotBoii Johnny – vocals (11) * FametheMovie – vocals (11) * Punchline – vocals (11) * Choco "GDubs" Reynoso – keyboards (17) * Jamal Peoples – keyboards (17) * Rai – keyboards (18) Technical * Master Plan – mastering * Stan Greene – mastering (all tracks), mixing (1–9, 11, 13–19) * Bainz – mixing,

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

(4) * Rick St. Hilaire – mixing, engineering (10) * Brian Stanley – mixing (12), engineering (2, 3, 12), vocal engineering (2) * Gonzalo "GeeFlowCL" Contreras – mixing (18), engineering (10, 12) * Delanie Leyden – engineering (1–9, 11–14, 16–19), engineering assistance (10) * Dub Shakes – engineering (1, 7, 18, 19) * Enoch Harris III – engineering, vocal engineering (3) * Jodie Grayson Williams – engineering (4) * Jeremy Biddle – engineering, vocal engineering (5) *

– engineering (5) * Euglen Tanci – engineering (6, 11, 15, 19), engineering assistance (8, 17) * Drü Oliver – engineering (6) * Mike Larson – engineering (8) * Patrizio "Teezio" Pigliapoco – engineering, vocal engineering (12) * Serge Tsai – engineering, vocal engineering (14) * Derek Garcia – engineering, vocal engineering (15) * Treyonce Moore – engineering (16) * Paul Joasil – engineering assistance (4) * Sonny Charles – engineering assistance (4) * Tristan Bott – engineering assistance (7) * Michael Choi – engineering assistance (18) * Wyatt Sayre – engineering assistance (18)

Charts

References

{{Busta Rhymes 2023 albums Busta Rhymes albums Conglomerate (record label) albums Epic Records albums Albums produced by Beam Albums produced by Cardiak Albums produced by Cool & Dre Albums produced by DJ Khalil Albums produced by Focus... Albums produced by Hitmaka Albums produced by Pharrell Williams Albums produced by Swizz Beatz Albums produced by Timbaland Albums produced by Wheezy