''Extinction Level Event: The Final World Front'' is the third studio album by American rapper and record producer

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 December 15, 1998, by Flipmode and

Elektra Records Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

. The album follows the apocalyptic theme explored by Rhymes' first two albums, '' The Coming'' (1996) and '' When Disaster Strikes'' (1997). The album comprises East Coast, West Coast,

horrorcore Horrorcore (also called shock rap, horror hip hop, horror rap, death hip hop, death rap, or murder rap) is a subgenre of hip hop music based on horror-themed and often darkly transgressive lyrical content and imagery. Its origins derived from ...

, and

hardcore hip hop Hardcore hip-hop (also known as hardcore rap) is a subgenre of hip hop music that developed through the East Coast hip hop scene in the 1980s. Pioneered by such artists as Run-DMC, Schoolly D, Boogie Down Productions and Public Enemy, it is gen ...

music. Widely praised by critics, the album earned three

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

nominations:

Best Rap Album The Grammy Award for Best Rap Album is an award presented to recording artists for quality albums with rapping at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors in several categories ...

Best Rap Solo Performance The Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance was awarded from 1991 to 2011, alongside the Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. Previously, a single award was presented for Best Rap Performance. In 2003, this award was split into separate a ...

and

Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group The Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group was awarded between 1991 and 2011, alongside the Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance. Previously a single award was presented for Best Rap Performance. The award was discontinue ...

at the 42nd Grammy Awards. It also spawned three ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' chart hits, including the

Janet Jackson Janet Damita Jo Jackson (born May 16, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, actress and dancer. She is noted for her innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows. Her sound and choreogr ...

-featuring "

What's It Gonna Be?! "What's It Gonna Be?!" is a song by American rapper Busta Rhymes featuring American singer Janet Jackson. It was released as the fourth and last single from Rhymes' third studio album ''Extinction Level Event: The Final World Front'' on March 9 ...

", which became Busta's highest-charting single on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 as a lead artist, reaching number three. In early 1999, ''E.L.E.'' was certified

Platinum Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...

by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

(RIAA) for selling over one million copies. :

Reception

The album received generally favorable reviews. At the 42nd Grammy Awards, the album earned three nominations, one for the album itself in the category of

, a

nomination for "Gimme Some More" and a

nomination for "What's It Gonna Be?!" with

. In August 2020, Busta Rhymes announced a sequel to the album, '' Extinction Level Event 2: The Wrath of God'', which was released on October 30, 2020.

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number twelve on the official US ''Billboard'' 200 album chart, remaining on the chart for thirty-two weeks. ''E.L.E.'' peaked at the number two spot on the

R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip-hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Luminate. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated January 30, ...

chart, peaking inside the top fifty for thirty-five weeks. In the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, ''E.L.E.'' entered at number fifty-four on the official

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

, charting for seven weeks. On January 8, 1999, the album was certified

by the

(RIAA) for shipping 1,000,000 copies.

Album cover

The album, and cover were influenced by popular disaster movies around the time of the album's release in 1998, primarily ''

Armageddon Armageddon ( ; ; ; from ) is the prophesied gathering of armies for a battle during the end times, according to the Book of Revelation in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. Armageddon is variously interpreted as either a literal or a ...

'' and '' Deep Impact''. Busta Rhymes explained that the cover was inspired by the disaster movie ''Deep Impact'', showing his image of an asteroid hitting New York City.Interview in radio program ''P3 Soul'' in

Sveriges Radio P3 Sveriges Radio P3 (P3) is a Contemporary hit radio, semi-mainstream CHR/CHR Alternative-formatted station operated by Sweden's national publicly funded radio broadcasting organization Sveriges Radio. The P in P3 originally stood for Program (''Pro ...

on 2008-09-07

Track listing

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.

Notes

* signifies a co-producer

Charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 1998 albums Busta Rhymes albums Horrorcore albums Elektra Records albums Albums produced by Swizz Beatz Albums produced by Nottz Albums produced by DJ Scratch Albums produced by Rockwilder Apocalyptic music