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Busta Rhymes Extends Rebound on Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Rigamortus’ Remix

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Woo hah! Busta Rhymes has got 2011 pretty much in check. Two decades after his debut album with former group Leaders of the New School, and a decade removed from his most recent platinum-selling album (2001’s Genesis), the fast-talking rapper has had a remarkable year. Busta’s lyrically nimble guest appearance alongside Lil Wayne on Chris Brown’s “Look at Me Now” helped make for one of 2011’s most ubiquitous — and undeniable — radio hits. Busta’s new Cash Money deal, revealed last week at the launch of Google Music, puts him in a position to benefit from the success of younger labelmates like Wayne, Nicki Minaj, and Drake.

Now to cap off Busta’s big year comes a long-teased remix of a track by one of the rap world’s most gifted up-and-comers, current SPIN story subject Kendrick Lamar (via Fader). On the smoothly jazz-boho “Rigamortis (Remix),” originally from Lamar’s excellent 2011 album Section.80, outsider and veteran pile up verses that are deft and tongue-twisting, but never virtuosic merely for the sake of virtuosity. “I’m spittin’,” rasps Busta, “you should be happy.” Amen.