Little Nip and a Toast, Before Revisiting a Recession-Proof Songbook

By: Jon Caramanica
Tuesday, March 12, 2009
NYT-The Arts, C5

This article is a music review of Busta Rhymes’ celebration of President Obama and the recession, during his start-stop tour. Caramanica clearly did not like performance, because it’s not his style of music. I like his lede though, because he states how Rhymes proposed a toast while pouring himself a little bit of Courvoisier, which I know is his favorite drink, and which he made a song out of. The lede caught my attention, because Caramanica says Rhymes’ celebration took place in New York, which is my hometown.

Caramanica’s “but” statement is in the third paragraph: “His entertainment start-stop tour through his catalog on Tuesday covered more than 20 songs and skipped plenty great ones. But what he performed was a testament to versatility: songs that emphasize his Jamaican heritage.”

One thing I think was cool, but Caramanica didn’t seem to enjoy was a funny move during his performance, “During ‘Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See,’ Busta Rhymes went from loud to soft and back while Spliff Star mimed turning a key next to his mouth, as if manually adjusting the volume.”

Caramanica then ended the article saying Rhymes’ celebration had nothing to do with the word recession, “Later he sprayed Champagne over the crowd as if it were still the late Clinton era. For a minute, at least, there was no recession to speak of.”