Busta Rhymes joins forces with Detroit’s hip-hop bad boy Eminem on the Brooklyn-based, gravel-voiced rapper’s track “Calm Down,” though judging from the comic book-inspired artwork on the single’s cover, the collaboration is less about teaming up than it is about settling scores.
The track — our first taste from Busta Rhymes’ forthcoming album E.L.E. 2 — is a tour de force of lyrical mettle, as these two titans duke it out over a sample from House of Pain’s “Jump Around.” But like superheroes, the MCs do more than just jump: they fly, they soar, and they spit fire in verses that go from terse to turbulent.
Produced by Scoop DeVille, this cut represents the second joint venture between Busta Rhymes and Eminem. The two had previously worked together on 2006’s “I’ll Hurt You”; however, the real damage is only being done now. By the time the track ends, no one has escaped unscathed.
Busta Rhymes leads the proceedings by asking for calm before throwing in the towel and launching into one of his trademark jaw-dropping showers of internal rhymes and unsettling rhythms. When he wonders “Do I make them say ‘Wow!’?” the answer is a resounding yes.
If anyone can match Busta’s berserk fury, it’s Em, who answers with a stream of consciousness that’s as incisive as it is discursive. Eminem reclaims the Shady of old, making us both mad-crazy (leaving our “mind scrambled” like eggs) and mad-angry (the many gay slurs and rape jokes).
The track is an all-out assault from two masters of rap’s poetics and polemics, set against a sonic backdrop whose beats elude easy footing. We’re left feeling not only turnt up, but as if the rug were pulled from under our feet. It’s very likely why the song ends with a exhortation to “chill.”
Listen to “Calm Down” below: