Busta Rhymes
delivered his debut album,
The Coming
, three years after
the Leaders of the New School
unofficially disbanded, and it reflects the change in
hip-hop
between 1993 and 1996.
is indebted to the slow, spare, and quietly menacing
funk
and soundscapes of
the Wu-Tang Clan
-- in fact,
Ol' Dirty Bastard
appears on one of the album's most infectious tracks, the single
"Woo Ha!! Got You All in Check."
, like
Ol' Dirty
, is a surreal, inspired rapper, but his skills are on a whole different level. Though his talents were evident on the
Leaders of the New School
records,
has never had such an impressive showcase for his rhymes as he does on
.
Busta
doesn't have a deep message in his raps, but he twists words and phrases around with an insane, invigorating flair. Like many
albums of the mid-'90s,
is padded with too much material, but
' brilliant raps keep the record from sinking during its monotonous passages. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine