The rap veteran performed two new tracks from his upcoming album, Dragon Season… The Awakening
Busta Rhymes rocked The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last night with two new songs from his forthcoming album Dragon Season… The Awakening and one multi-platinum favorite.
Taking the stage with his longtime hypeman Spliff Star and DJ Scratchator in coordinated Louis Vuitton-printed winter wear, Busta Rhymes first performed “Unleash Me” from the newly announced album. He and Spliff Star rocked in sync to the steady and heavy beat, with Busta rapping, “Please unleash me/I’m tryna go get ‘em/My poison kills slow when I’m spitting the most venom.”
He next detoured into his rapid-fire verse from Chris Brown’s “Look at Me Now.” “This record went diamond the first week of 2025, thank you Breezy!” Busta said before he launched into the song (the RIAA’s official site lists its most recent certification from October 2021 at eight-times platinum).
The last track of the set, “Do the Busabus Pt. 2” is a funky dance-instigator, where Busta calls out moves for the audience to perform — and, indeed, the Tonight Show audience was filled with fast learners, or pre-coached participants, because they mostly had the dance down pat. “Real big clap!/All yall freeze!” Busta commanded. “One more clap/Do the Busabus please.”
Due out Jan. 17, Dragon Season… The Awakening will be Busta Rhymes 12th studio album, following 2023’s Blockbusta. It’s his second dragon-themed album, recalling his seminal verse on A Tribe Called Quest’s “Scenario” (“Rah-rah/ Like a dungeon dragon,” famously interpolated by Nicki Minaj on “Roman’s Revenge” 18 years later).
After 30 years in rap and as one of its modern waymakers, Busta Rhymes sat down for a conversation with GloRilla at Rolling Stone’s second annual Musicians on Musicians event at the legendary Apollo Theatre in Harlem in November 2024. When Glo asked him the secret to his fast rapping, he said, “I’m going to be honest with you. It’s called relaxing. If you notice, when I do a song like ‘Ante Up’ or a song like ‘Scenario,’ me and Spliff will bounce off every part of the stage. But if I’m doing ‘Break Your Neck’ or ‘Gimme Some More,’ my movement is minimal and Spliff will do all of the antics around me to keep the animation going while I calm down. It’s really about centering everything to where the primary focus is. And in that moment it’s my mouth. I can’t be doing all of this shit when I got to give you proper enunciation.”
