That's it, Basta: How was the first Busta Rhymes concert in Russia in nine years?

The rap star of the 90s Busta Rhymes gave the only concert in Russia on August 31. He performed at the Projection Light Festival with a program of his main hits. The previous time the artist visited Moscow was back in 2016, and the audience missed him. The audience greeted the star guest with loud and prolonged applause and accompanied them throughout the hour-long performance. What tracks Basta Rimes brought to the Russian capital and what statements he made from the stage that evening are in the Izvestia report.

Where was the concert held

Busta Rhymes visited Russia with a single concert on the last day of summer, he performed at the Moskino Film Park. The show was timed to coincide with the Projection Light Festival, where dozens of interactive art objects and installations were presented. One of these objects was the stage during the concert.

The performance started a little late, but for Basta Rhimes, this is normal — the artist was late three times during the evening. First, to a press approach, which, however, did not take place in the end, then to a concert, and to a second attempt at a press approach, for which journalists waited several hours at night for the American rap star on a cold street with intrusive mosquitoes.

The concert started out fiery in the truest sense of the word: a Hollywood-level blockbuster unfolded on the screen with a dragon that flies into one of the European cities and literally burns everything with its flames. After that, the mythical beast drops the mask, and Basta Rimes turns out to be under it. His digital doppelganger reminded viewers that the iconic track "Break ya neck" means rap at a level where shaking the audience's head literally crunches the neck. He also urged the audience to prepare for the new album in the coming weeks.

There were three actors on the stage. The three of them are already old by the standards of the rap movement. Busta Rhymes himself is 53 years old, his partner in the creative duo Spliff (Spliff Star) is 54, and DJ Scratch is 57 years old. Unsurprisingly, powerful rap numbers were regularly interrupted by so-called stand-ups: in them, the singers talked about their recent achievements. So, Spliff defeated cancer and came to Moscow after rehab. Scratch's second grandson was born on the day of the concert. And Basta himself nostalgically noted that for 35 years he has held the status of one of the most influential rappers in the world. It sounded quite convincing at the concert.

Trevor George Smith Jr. (that's actually the name of Busta Rhymes) linked his performance with his professional anniversary. Its activity began in the summer of 1990. Russia became one of the first countries in the framework of the tour dedicated to this anniversary.

It's hard for Rhimes to keep the bar set more than three decades ago: he has a handkerchief in his pocket, which he constantly used to wipe his sweat. Both rappers, Rimes and Spliff (his main partner, who shares his own life story during the shutouts, as rap performances are called between numbers) jumped around the stage, sparing no effort. In the pauses, they told stories about everything in the world. Those who know English at the high school level found out how Rimes recorded the same song with Mariah Carey, thanks to which even those who had never listened to rap found out about the young man. How I met Snoop Dogg. How much he loves Moscow and worries that he hasn't been here for almost ten years. Rimes devoted more than half of the performance to Muscovites: first to the girls with the tracks I Know What You Want ("I Know What you Want") and Dont Cha ("Don't You want"), then to the guys with their hits Break Ya Neck (I'll Break your Neck") and Gimme Some More ("Give Me More").

There were some surprises: the artist performed a cover version of the classic Queen ballad "We Are The Champions", and then offered the audience something fresh. The artist himself called it "new shit" (an untranslatable pun) and performed a track from the album Vengeance, which is scheduled for release in September 2025.

Loud, spectacular, pretentious

For the sake of the concert, Muscovites had to travel beyond the MKAD to the village of Krasnaya Pakhra, where the "Projection" took place. Adding to the intrigue was the fact that a few days after the concert, Basta Rimes was scheduled to receive the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards in the nomination "For Outstanding Cultural Influence and Indomitable Musical Career."

Rhimes is compared to Eminem, who is often called Rap God ("rap god"), in terms of reading speed. His style is characterized by the ability to read tracks entirely in one go, fully focusing on the performance. In his youth, Basta Rimes played basketball, which is still reflected in his powerful endurance and spectacular stage movements. The artist collaborated with Linkin Park (2007 joint single) and Ozzy Osbourne. In 2025, his new album Dragon Season was released, and he also starred in the world film distribution hit "Naked Gun" in 2025.

During all the tracks, an extravaganza was created on the screen — classic clips of the performer with AI processing, digital doubles, and various illumination effects were used. The rapper was assisted by a virtual Mariah Carey from the artist's main song "I Know What You Want." At some point, the entire concert hall started chanting "Basta", and the artist got emotional. He began to talk about how Moscow had become firmly embedded in his heart. At the same time, there were shots on the screen with a view of the night city, very similar to the Russian capital. After repeated confessions, Basta Rimes and the Spliff Star drank a bottle of wine in one gulp, celebrating their second grandson, their victory over cancer, and the 35th anniversary of their concert career.

Russia remains open to artists from the USA. Since 2022, such world rap stars as Akon, Tyga, DaBaby, Offset, Lil Pump have performed in the country. A multi-platinum Swae Lee, the author of the Sunflower song, will be performing in the coming days. At the same time, Basta Rimes still stands apart — unlike most rap stars of the new generation, he found and survived the war of the west and east coasts of rap culture in the United States. Tupac Shakur (1996) and Notorius B.I.G. (1997) were killed during this conflict.

At the end of the performance, the artist announced his plans to return to Russia with a new concert. He asked everyone present to promise to continue listening to his tracks. He addressed the visitors at the concert exclusively with the words "family, friends." During one of his shutouts, the actor recalled how in his youth he skipped school and organized hooky parties with friends, "night parties" in the middle of the day. There he met most of the famous rappers, with whom he later recorded joint tracks. The artist's biography includes collaborations with The Pussycat Dolls, Flipmode Squad, P. Diddy, Kendrick Lamar and Jamal.

It was noticeable that such a warm welcome had not been given to Rhimes for a long time: the arena chanted "Basta" for two minutes, obediently fell silent after the demand to "shut up and listen", and also shouted the phrase Hell Yeah ("yes, damn it") at the direction of the "conductor" from the stage. Basta even complained: "Moscow, why didn't you invite me for so long?" According to Mash, the artist's fee for the show was at least 300 thousand dollars. At the same time, the rapper had many requirements for the organizers, including servicing a team of 11 people, including a personal barber. Obviously, the press approach was not included in the contract: after long hours of waiting, the artist went out to the press and thanked both the audience and the media, after which he got into his Cadillac Escalade and sped off towards the night and long-dormant Moscow.