MHHeroes Hip Hop All-Stars
RAPPERS AREN’T OFTEN HERALDED AS PARAGONS OF HEALTH. BUT YOU DON’T NEED TO HAVE BEEN BORN IN THE BRONX TO HAVE BENEFITTED FROM THE WAY IN WHICH HIP HOP’S OPENNESS ABOUT ISSUES SUCH AS DEPRESSION, ADDICTION, POVERTY AND DIGNITY HAS AMPLIFIED THE DISCOURSE AROUND MEN’S MENTAL WELLBEING – AND GIVEN VOICE TO THE VOICELESS. ON HIP HOP’S 50TH ANNIVERSARY, MH SPOKE TO SIX GLOBAL ICONS ABOUT WHAT MUSIC HAS TAUGHT THEM, AND THE LESSONS IT HOLDS FOR YOU, TOO
THE LYRICAL MAGICIAN
No one combines energy and wordplay quite like BUSTA RHYMES. And with 25 European tour dates to prepare for, he’s certainly not slowing down now
1 Growing up in Brooklyn in the 70s, the rapper born Trevor Smith Jr’s first exposure to hip hop was the Cold Crush Brothers and Run-DMC. But he was most inspired by Slick Rick. ‘He embodied everything I identified with as a child in a Jamaican family,’ says Busta, now 51. ‘Dance hall culture, big jewellery, over-the-top clothes. He understood what it was to be a character, not just an incredible lyricist.’
Another inspiration was his dad, Trevor Smith Sr, an electrician who built a gym in their basement and was ‘diesel’ [muscular]. Busta recalls returning from a holiday, when his dad met him at the airport and carried them out ‘one in each arm – horizontally’. Trevor pushed him to be an electrician, but Busta realised his gift was ‘not a nine-to-five skill set’.
He proved his skills as the lyrical Usain Bolt on his 10 world-class albums, plus the epic verse for 2011’s Look At Me Now. But he struggled to process the loss of his father in 2014, reaching 24st during the pandemic and having to deal with polyps on his vocal cords. His family helped him get back on track. ‘I’ve been blessed to have people in my life that love me so much that they refuse to let me die.’
Today, he’s living his best life – daily workouts, sauna, cryotherapy – and he’s grateful. ‘Hip hop provided the means for me to become a man, and a father,’ he says. Four of his six children are college graduates and he’s on tour with 50 Cent.
THE BULLET-PROOF POET
50 CENT’s gritty storytelling energised hip hop, while his rock-hard abs inspired a generation of gym-goers. But strength of all kinds starts in the mind, he says
