Okayplayer spoke to the emcee about his friendship with the late singer-songwriter.<\/p>\n
Photo by Steve Eichner\/Getty Images. Photo illustration by Okayplayer.\n <\/p>\n
D\u2019Angelo<\/a> meant a lot to Busta Rhymes<\/a>. The loss of the acclaimed soul innovator has left a void in music that can\u2019t be replaced, but as a former friend, Rhymes is elevating the legacy of the man he calls a \u201cgodsend,\u201d through music. Busta has released a tribute song called \u201cMagic\u201d that features the emcee rhyming over D\u2019Angelo\u2019s classic \u201cOne Mo\u2018Gin.\u201d In a conversation with Okayplayer, Busta shared what his friendship with D\u2019Angelo means to him and why he needed to honor his comrade.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI met D\u2019Angelo through Q-Tip<\/a> and Ali Shaheed [Muhammad]<\/a> at an A Tribe Called Quest<\/a> studio session probably around 1990,\u201d Busta shares. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t too far from around the timeframe that we were working on \u2018Scenario.\u2019\u201d Busta recalls the positive energy from the young artist, and how he immediately felt a kinship.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I met him, it was just a good, beautiful energy with the bro,\u201d he explains. \u201cD\u2019Angelo\u2019s personality speaks volumes because of how reserved he was. When it was time for him to actually speak\u2013when you heard him sing or play the keyboard \u2014 it magnified the polar opposite of how quiet he was.”\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHe was in the room, chillin\u2019 with us. We was just talking and shooting the s**t,\u201d Busta says of that first session with the talented kid out of Virginia. \u201cHe actually looked like a hustler from the five boroughs! [He looked the way we looked \u2014 when you in the street: a cool brother with a soft leather on and some denim jeans and Timbs and shit. He had his cornrows neat. If he had the toast on \u2018em, it wouldn\u2019t be a surprise! But he was calm. He was a man of few words. His embrace was welcoming, it was warm. He was already appreciative of what we was already doin’.\u201d<\/p>\n D\u2019Angelo entered into the circle through Q-Tip and Ali, who showed their associates what he could do, and from the beginning, his talent elevated everyone around him.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIn that same studio session, Q-Tip asked him to play some keys on the Rhodes keyboard to give us a little taste of what he do,\u201d says Busta. \u201cWhen he did that sh*t it kinda f**ked everybody\u2019s head up. At the time, there wasn\u2019t anybody in our crew who was playing instruments. When he was doing that shit live on the spot\u2026 it was like \u2018Wow!\u2019 This was some sh*t we wasn\u2019t used to. For him to have been so young \u2013 because he was younger than us. I always felt like the baby in the clique \u2013 and he was younger than me.\u201d<\/p>\n