AUDIO: Busta Rhymes + Pharrell Channel Super Cat on “Master Race”

Words by Richard “Treats” Dryden

Busta Rhymes has unleashed his inner yardie persona once more on a Pharrell Williams production. The track, “Master Race,” made its debut on Pharrell’s OTHERtone broadcast yesterday, providing the standout moment of the producer’s Beats 1 radio show. Busta dropping rhymes in patois is nothing new—his flow has always had a debt to dancehall, going back to his days with Leaders of the New School—but this is Busta at his most Jamaican. The punchlines in both verses are more tongue-in-cheek than “Twerk It,” his last, dutty wine-inspired collaboration with Pharrell from back in 2013, and his competitive spirit shines as he adopts a laid-back Super Cat flow (a la “Don Dada”), with humorous notes about shooting off a potato gun.

Listen to the radio rip below, see our countdown of Busta’s “biggest bashment tunes” here, and while you’re at it check out Pharrell and the Neptunes’ “Most Caribbean Moments” here.