Zephyring 29 years, Busta Rhymes made disaster sound enormous
Zephyring 29 years ago, Busta Rhymes unleashed his second studio album, When Disaster Strikes…, on September 16, 1997.
It was the record that took the manic promise of The Coming and blew it up into something even bigger — louder, stranger and more theatrical, with Busta fully settling into the explosive delivery and apocalyptic imagery that made him one of Hip-Hop’s most original voices.
Past Blast Musique
When Disaster Strikes… at 29
Busta Rhymes’ 1997 sophomore album still sounds huge nearly three decades later, with 18 tracks, unforgettable singles and a guest list stacked with late-’90s Hip-Hop and R&B heavyweights.
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The album runs 18 tracks and includes “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See,” “Dangerous,” “Turn It Up,” the title track and “One” with Erykah Badu. The guest list also reaches across Busta’s orbit with Flipmode Squad, Rampage, Ma$e, Anthony Hamilton and others, while the production bench includes names like DJ Scratch, Easy Mo Bee, Rashad Smith, Rockwilder and J Dilla.
“Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See” remains one of the album’s defining records, but When Disaster Strikes… works because the entire thing feels built around Busta’s world — frantic energy, end-times imagery, huge hooks, weird humor and a delivery that never sounds like it is interested in behaving itself.
And that larger-than-life presentation was never just decoration. By 1997, Busta had figured out how to make the visual chaos, rapid-fire flow and wild character work feel like one complete identity. This is one of those albums where the personality is part of the production.
Twenty-nine years later, the record still lands as one of the clearest snapshots of Busta Rhymes in full late-’90s form: technically ridiculous, completely theatrical and impossible to mistake for anybody else.
Busta Rhymes — INYIM Media TikTok
Embedded from INYIM Media’s official TikTok.
Source: Apple Music; Elektra Records.
