Busta Rhymes had every reason to feel good on Sunday night (Sept. 7) at the 2025 MTV VMAs. In addition to being honored with the first-time Rock the Bells Visionary Award — and putting on a show-stopping performance medley of his hits at New York’s UBS Arena — the veteran rapper said he was blessed to be receiving his flowers.
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“It’s incredible… you know, I’ve never not felt the love, but it’s definitely evolved into new heights,” he told Billboard on the red carpet about the acknowledgement. “It’s a whole other thing to be getting it from your community and your folks and even more so in the abundance that it’s been happening in.” Rhymes wasn’t kidding as he ticked off his recent list of kudos, which include getting his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, receiving the Hip-Hop Icon Award at Harlem Week and bering crowned an Elite Icon at the 2025 Caribbean Music Awards, all of which happened in August.
Rhymes was feeling good on the red carpet on Sunday night (Sept. 7), professing to feeling “incredible… everything is beautiful, everything is blessed and we’re gonna stay right in the blessed energy space,” he said. “No games being played on no day, no time, no place whatsoever.”
The 53-year-old rapper who has been spitting for nearly four decades also offered some advice for longevity to upstart MCs who are just breaking into the game. “The most important thing is to really understand the difference between doing this because you love it and doing it because you just trying to get a bag,” he said. “I would be doing this if there was no money, which that’s what it was initially.”
His biggest piece of advice? “Think about what your contribution [to hip-hop] should be. Think about how significant your contribution needs to be and then deliver on that,” Rhymes said.
Of course Rhymes did eventually get paid for doing what he loves, but for him the money wasn’t the most important part. Rather, it was the joy of making bank for something he was already doing for free, as well as the fulfillment he got from being on the mic and getting high praise from the critics that mattered to him and the culture.
“It’s kind of like blurring out the noise, loving what you do, being passionate about what you do and just being committed no matter what people do to deter you from what you’re feeling and believing in and what you really see in your vision for what you think it should be,” he said.
Watch the full interview above.