Album of the Day

After debuting with Leaders of the New School, Brooklyn-born Busta Rhymes quickly emerged as one of the most inventive performers in hip-hop. Going solo in the mid-1990s, Busta signed with Elektra for a string of acclaimed albums, of which EXTINCTION LEVEL EVENT: THE FINAL WORLD FRONT was his third. If its themes run toward the apocalyptic (the cover image was reportedly inspired by disaster movie Deep Impact), Rhymes rings in the end of the world with a wild party. And it's a party with a pretty broad guest list; film composer Bernard Herrmann is sampled on “Gimme Some More,” Ozzy Osbourne joins in on “This Means War!!” and Top 10 hit “What's It Gonna Be?!” features Janet Jackson. EXTINCTION LEVEL EVENT was released 30 years ago this week, and Busta delivers some of his fastest, most outrageous rhymes on the platinum-certified, Grammy-nominated collection.