E.L.E. (Extinction Level Event): The Final World Front | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | December 15, 1998 | |||
Recorded | 1998 | |||
Studio | Larrabee North Sound Studios (Los Angeles, California) No Limit Studios (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) Quad Studios (New York, NY) Soundtrack Studios (New York, NY) | |||
Genre | Hip hop | |||
Length | 70:28 | |||
Label | Flipmode, Elektra | |||
Producer |
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Busta Rhymes chronology | ||||
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Singles from E.L.E. (Extinction Level Event): The Final World Front | ||||
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E.L.E. (Extinction Level Event): The Final World Front is the third studio album by American rapper Busta Rhymes. The album was released on December 15, 1998 by Flipmode and Elektra Records in North America. The album follows the apocalypse theme that was explored by Rhymes in his first two studio albums, The Coming (1996) and When Disaster Strikes (1997). Musically, the album is composed of East Coast, West Coast, horrorcore, and hardcore hip hop music.
Based on the "end of the world" motif and apocalypse themes that was displayed in Rhymes earlier albums The Coming (1996) and When Disaster Strikes (1997), the album was widely praised by critics and received three Grammy Award nominations for Best Rap Album, Best Rap Solo Performance and Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group at the 42nd Grammy Awards. E.L.E. also spawned three singles that attained Billboard chart success, including the Janet Jackson-featuring "What's It Gonna Be?!", which became Rhymes' highest-charting single on the US Billboard Hot 100 as a lead artist, reaching number three. In early 1999, E.L.E. was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for selling over one million copies.
The album received generally favorable reviews from most music critics. At the 42nd Grammy Awards, the album earned three nominations, one for the album itself in the category of Best Rap Album, a Best Rap Solo Performance nomination for "Gimme Some More" and a Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group nomination for "What's It Gonna Be?!" with Janet Jackson. [1]
In August 2020, Busta Rhymes announced a sequel to the album, Extinction Level Event 2: The Wrath of God , scheduled to be released on October 30, 2020. [2] [3]
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [4] |
Entertainment Weekly | B [5] |
Mixmag | [6] |
NME | 7/10 [7] |
The New York Times | favorable [8] |
Rolling Stone | [9] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [10] |
The Source | [11] |
Urban Latino | [6] |
The Village Voice | mixed [12] |
The album debuted at number twelve on the official US Billboard 200 album chart, remaining on the chart for thirty-two weeks. [13] E.L.E. peaked at the number two spot on the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, peaking inside the top fifty for thirty-five weeks. [14] In the United Kingdom, E.L.E. entered at number fifty-four on the official UK Albums Chart, charting for seven weeks. [15] On January 8, 1999, the album was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipping 1,000,000 copies. [16]
The album, and cover were influenced by popular disaster movies around the time of the album's release in 1998, primarily Armageddon and Deep Impact . Busta Rhymes explained in an interview that the cover was inspired by the disaster movie Deep Impact, showing his image of an asteroid hitting New York City. [17]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
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1. | "There's Only One Year Left (Intro)" | DJ Mr. Stanneke | 2:39 | |
2. | "Everybody Rise" | Trevor Smith Jr., Dominick Lamb | Nottz | 3:02 |
3. | "Where We Are About to Take It" | Smith, Lamb | Nottz | 3:08 |
4. | "Extinction Level Event (The Song of Salvation)" | Smith, Lamb | Nottz | 3:36 |
5. | "Tear da Roof Off" | Smith, Kasseem Dean | Swizz Beatz | 3:38 |
6. | "Against All Odds" (featuring The Flipmode Squad) | Smith, Rashia Fisher, W. Michael Lewis, Roger McNair, L. Jones | Jamal | 4:20 |
7. | "Just Give It to Me Raw" | Smith, Dean | Swizz Beatz | 3:03 |
8. | "Do It to Death" | Smith, Dana Stinson | Rockwilder | 3:29 |
9. | "Keepin' It Tight" | Smith, Manu Dibango, Rashad Smith | Rashad Smith, Armando Colon | 4:29 |
10. | "Gimme Some More" | Smith, George Spivey | DJ Scratch | 2:41 |
11. | "Iz They Wildin Wit Us & Gettin' Rowdy Wit Us?" (featuring Mystikal) | Smith, Darrell Allamby, Michael Tyler | Darrell "Delite" Allamby, Kenny "Flav" Dickerson | 3:41 |
12. | "Party Is Goin' on Over Here" | Smith, Spivey | DJ Scratch | 2:34 |
13. | "Do the Bus a Bus" | Smith, Russell Simmons, Lawrence Smith, Jimmy Spicer, Spivey | DJ Scratch | 5:00 |
14. | "Take It Off" | Smith, Carlos Evans | Haas G | 3:09 |
15. | "What's It Gonna Be?!" (featuring Janet Jackson) | Smith, Allamby, Antoinette Roberson | Darrell "Delite" Allamby | 5:26 |
16. | "Hot Shit Makin' Ya Bounce" | Smith, Deric Angelettie | D-Dot, Nashiem Myrick | 3:34 |
17. | "What the Fuck You Want!!" | Smith | Diamond D | 3:17 |
18. | "This Means War!!" (featuring Ozzy Osbourne) | Smith, Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi, Bill Ward, A. McLeer | Busta Rhymes | 4:38 |
19. | "The Burial Song (Outro)" | Smith, Spivey | DJ Scratch | 5:04 |
• "Everybody Rise" contains a sample of "If Tomorrow Never Comes" by The Controllers.
Chart (1998) | Peak position |
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US Billboard 200 [18] | 12 |
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard) [19] | 2 |
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [20] | 45 |
UK Albums (OCC) [21] | 54 |
Canadian Albums (Billboard) [22] | 34 |
Chart (1999) | Position |
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US Billboard 200 [23] | 49 |
US R&B/Hip-Hop Albums [24] | 14 |
Country | Certification (sales thresholds) |
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United States | Platinum (RIAA) [16] |
United Kingdom | Gold (BPI) [25] |
Trevor George Smith Jr., known professionally as Busta Rhymes, is a Jamaican-American rapper, singer, record producer, actor, and record executive. Chuck D of Public Enemy gave him the moniker Busta Rhymes, after NFL and CFL wide receiver George "Buster" Rhymes. He has received 11 Grammy Award nominations for his work.
Greatest Hits is a posthumous double-disc greatest hits album by American rapper 2Pac, released by Amaru Entertainment, Death Row Records, and Interscope Records on November 13, 1998.
George Spivey, professionally known as DJ Scratch, is an American three-time Grammy-nominated hip hop disc jockey (DJ) and multi-platinum record producer from Brooklyn, New York.
"What's It Gonna Be?!" is the second single released by American rapper Busta Rhymes from his third studio album E.L.E. : The Final World Front (1999), featuring guest vocals from American singer Janet Jackson. The song was a commercial and critical success, reaching number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and the top ten of various countries. It also hit number one on the Billboard Hot Rap Tracks and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks charts, and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group at the 2000 Grammy Awards.
The Coming is the debut studio album by American rapper Busta Rhymes. It was released on March 26, 1996, by Elektra Records. The album features Def Squad members Redman and Keith Murray, Q-Tip, Zhané, Leaders of the New School and several Flipmode Squad members. Production was handled by DJ Scratch, Easy Mo Bee and The Ummah, among others. It serves as Rhymes' first solo album after the break up of former group Leaders of the New School three years prior and Rhymes' first full-length project after numerous guest appearances on other songs with artists such as A Tribe Called Quest, The Notorious B.I.G., Heavy D and the Boyz and Mary J. Blige.
Genesis is the fifth studio album by American rapper Busta Rhymes. The album was released on November 27, 2001, by Flipmode Records and J Records. The fourth single from the album, "Pass the Courvoisier Part II", peaked at number eleven on the Billboard Hot 100. It was included at the end of the album on some later pressings. The album debuted at number 7 on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 185,000 copies. It later sold 1 million domestic copies and certified Platinum by RIAA.
When Disaster Strikes... is the second studio album by American rapper Busta Rhymes, released by Elektra on September 16, 1997. The album follows the same theme as The Coming, the apocalypse. The album was a commercial success, sporting the hit singles "Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See" and "Dangerous". The album, upon its release, has received praise from most music critics, and opened at number three on the official US Billboard 200 album chart, and peaked at the top spot on the Top R&B Albums chart.
Anarchy is the fourth studio album by American rapper Busta Rhymes, released on June 20, 2000 by Flipmode Records and Elektra Records. It comes after the release of The Coming, When Disaster Strikes and Extinction Level Event . Unlike these albums, Anarchy does not follow the apocalypse theme. The album debuted at number 4 on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 164,000 copies. The album would later be certified Platinum by the RIAA. This was Busta's final album with Elektra Records.
It Ain't Safe No More... is the sixth studio album by American rapper Busta Rhymes. The album was released on November 26, 2002, by Flipmode Records and J Records. The album went Gold on January 6, 2003 – and has sold 605,000 copies as of December 5, 2007. It served as his final album for J.
Conglomerate is a record label founded by Busta Rhymes. The label was established in 1994 as Flipmode, the name Conglomerate was later adopted in 2011.
"Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See" is a hip hop song recorded by American rapper Busta Rhymes. The single serves as the lead single from his second studio album When Disaster Strikes (1997) and its music video is notable for its homage to the 1988 Eddie Murphy film Coming to America. The song contains a sample of the 1976 recording "Sweet Green Fields" by American soft rock duo Seals and Crofts. Rhymes scored a second consecutive nomination for Best Rap Solo Performance at the 40th Grammy Awards.
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"Gimme Some More" is a song by American rapper Busta Rhymes, released in October 26, 1998 by Elektra Records. The single serves as the lead single released from his third solo album E.L.E. : The Final World Front (1998). It is often considered to be the very summit of Busta's complex, breathless, high-speed rhyming delivery most prominent in his early work. The song was produced by regular Busta collaborator DJ Scratch. The violin riffs that accompany the main beat are sampled from the opening theme to Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 film Psycho, composed by Bernard Herrmann.
"Dangerous" is a hip hop song written by Lawrence Dermer, Trevor Smith, Rashad Smith, Henry Stone and Freddy Stonewall for Busta Rhymes second album When Disaster Strikes. The song is the album's fifteenth track, and was released as its second single, peaking at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance at the 41st Grammy Awards in 1999, but lost to "Gettin' Jiggy wit It" by Will Smith. The video was directed by Hype Williams.
"Turn It Up (remix)/Fire It Up" is the third single by American rapper Busta Rhymes released from his second studio album, When Disaster Strikes (1997). The original version, which appears on When Disaster Strikes, takes a sample of "Love and Happiness" by soul singer Al Green. However, when issued as the third official single from When Disaster Strikes in the spring of 1998, the remix had now contained a sample of the 1980s TV series Knight Rider, and under a new title "Turn It Up (remix)/Fire It Up". The song, nonetheless, became Rhymes' third top-ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100, reaching number ten. It also became a hit on the rap (#1), dance (#2), and R&B charts (#7). Internationally, the single was a major success, reaching number two in the United Kingdom and number three in Canada. The lyrics mostly centre around music technology and erotic dancing.
"Look at Me Now" is a song by American recording artist Chris Brown, featuring fellow American rappers Busta Rhymes and Lil Wayne, released as the second single from Brown's fourth studio album F.A.M.E. on February 1, 2011. The artists co-wrote the song with its producers Afrojack, Diplo, and Free School, with additional writing from Ryan Buendia. Musically, "Look at Me Now" is a "Dirty south-inspired" hip hop song that features "thumping bass, spacy synth and horn jam sounds."
"Thank You" is a song by American rapper Busta Rhymes. It was released on November 7, 2013 by Cash Money Records and Republic Records as the intended second single from his tenth studio album, Extinction Level Event 2: The Wrath of God. The long-awaited album, released October 30, 2020 by Conglomerate and Empire, excluded both "Thank You" and "#Twerkit", the album's intended lead single.
Haas G is a Staten Island-based hip hop musician. Haas G was part of the 1990s rap duo The U.M.C.'s, and as Carlos Evans, he is credited as producer of the hit "Magic Stick".
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Extinction Level Event 2: The Wrath of God is the tenth studio album by American rapper Busta Rhymes. The album features guest appearances from Kendrick Lamar, Mariah Carey, Anderson .Paak, Q-Tip, Rick Ross, Mary J. Blige, Rapsody, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Rakim, Pete Rock, Vybz Kartel, Bell Biv DeVoe, M.O.P., Nikki Grier, Chris Rock, and Louis Farrakhan. It is a sequel to 1998's E.L.E. : The Final World Front, and his first studio album since 2012's Year of the Dragon.