Two days before the ESPYs aired, the musical performers taking the stage at this year’s award ceremony were announced. They included the hip-hop duo Clipse, Tobe Nwigwe, NBA player-turned-rapper LiAngelo Ball (who now goes by GELO), and Busta Rhymes.
Busta is a veteran in the rap game as he’s been in the business for decades. He also has a notable history of sports crossovers, which makes sense to have him perform on sports‘ biggest night.
Here are a few things you may not know about the legendary rapper, including his age and net worth.
Busta Rhymes’ age and net worth
Busta Rhymes, whose real name is Trevor George Smith Jr., was born in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn in New York City on May 20, 1972. He has one brother and their parents are immigrants from Jamaica. At the age of 12, the family moved to Uniondale on Long Island. Busta also lived in Liverpool, England, for a period in the 1980s before returning to New York.
In a previous interview with GQ, the “Woo Hah!! Got You All in Check” artist discussed the time when he and his brother lived in the U.K. with their mom and their aunt, recalling, “My aunt made sure that we actually went to school in England. Regular school and then we went to karate school too. We also were on some breakdancing that was so crazy, we ended up actually getting work to breakdance in clubs as minors. And our cousins used to run us around and they used to advertise us as TJ and Paul.”
Busta’s professional career began in the late ’80s as a member of the group Leaders of the New School. But he gained major recognition when he launched his solo career in the ’90s. His debut solo album, The Coming, was released in 1996 and showed off his lyrical abilities with a flow and distinctive voice like no other in the genre.
His follow-up albums featured collaborations with some of the biggest names in music including Janet Jackson, Pharrell, and Mariah Carey. Throughout his career, Busta has been featured in over 300 songs.
Busta has done work as an actor as well. He’s had roles in the films Strapped, Higher Learning, Finding Forrester, Halloween: Resurrection, and Breaking Point.
According to Celebrity Net Worth, “In May 2014, it was revealed that Busta Rhymes owed $789,577 in back taxes. The IRS claimed that Busta failed to pay $611,000 in taxes for 2008 and $178,000 for 2012 … the rapper did not comment on whether this was a small misunderstanding or an indication of a larger financial problem.”
Today, he has a net worth of $20 million.
Other interesting facts about Busta Rhymes
He got his stage name from a football player, thanks to Chuck D of Public Enemy. His first rap name was Chilly-O-Ski. A few people in the industry considered the name “corny” though so Chuck D decided to rechristen him Busta Rhymes after the former Minnesota Viking George “Buster” Rhymes.
Busta is known for his larger-than-life personality and the excessive speed in which he can rap. In 2000, he broke the Guinness World Record for having said the most syllables in one second during a freestyle rap. That record was previously held by voice actor John Moschitta, who maintained the most consonants unbroken per second.
