"Bust a Move" 20 Years Later: Young MC Reflects on the Hit That Changed Hip-Hop

"Bust A Move" still has a life 20 years later.
"Bust A Move" gets a lot of recurrence. I get plays on pop stations. But there are no oldies rap stations. So you get these records that outsold "Bust A Move" that can't get any play. You can be cussing, talking about killing people, and a 16-year-old will get into that out of rebellion. But fast-forward 10 or 12 years and that person is now 30 and they have kids. They're not going to get a babysitter to go to a club and hear about you shooting people and raping women. They'll go to a club to hear "Baby Got Back" or "Bust A Move" or "Wild Thing," because that's a fun time out.

What's your favorite story about the song's legacy?
I will preface this by saying I'm a lifelong Democrat. But pre-9/11, in 2001, Bush was taking a lot of vacations down to the ranch. And the press secretary at that time, Ari Fleischer, got drunk at a party at the ranch and did "Bust A Move" on karaoke. They said he was actually good, and it made US News & World Report. The kids who were listening to it then are now gainfully employed.

They must tell you stories all the time.
I had a guy come up and thank me because he was able to get laid. He played the record for a girl he met me after a concert. Just the other day, my investment banker, his assistant had mentioned to her brother that I was a client and he just busted out all the lyrics. She had me come in and sign an album for his birthday... I didn't understand how big "Bust A Move" was for at least three, four, five years afterwards. I would meet people in places I'd never been and they would tell me stories. Yeah, you sell the records and win the Grammy, but that's a personal experience. I've watched the Grammys and seen people win with records that I've never heard before [Laughs].

What would you do if you could go back and change how you approached your second record, 1991's Brainstorm?
It's hard to say because there was so many other things going on. Brainstorm was on Capitol because I left Delicious — would you let an artist that just won a Grammy and just sold 2 million records leave? The lawsuit was major. I couldn't record for a year and a half. Trust me I was not sitting down, seamlessly going from one record to another. In hindsight, there's records on Brainstorm I could remix right now and would work.

Do you remember that 1990 Newsweek cover story about "Rap Rage" that all the music writers protested as being a racist fantasy?
I do! My friend actually showed me it about two years ago. Here's a little nugget. The morning after I won the Grammy, I go and do some post-award interviews. I'll never forget, it was an East-Indian lady from England because she had a British accent. And she looked at me as I walked in, and I believe I was wearing something nice — a jacket and slacks — and looked at me and said, "Oh, I was so surprised that you didn't have your Grammy around your neck on a chain." Now mind you, this is after I go up there in glasses and accept my award.

Where do you keep your Grammy?
This is bad, but I actually keep it in storage. I just don't want to look at it. I did a TV interview here about a month ago and they had me bring everything out and lay it out. I laid out all the platinum records, the Grammy, the American Music Award and the Billboard award. I know artists who I know and respect a great deal, who don't have half of what I have, just from that short period of time. So, if I'm looking at that every day, it just puts a weird perspective on trying to make a new hit. Also, quite frankly, if I have platinum records on the walls, it's really difficult having an honest conversation with people. They just got done fixing my sink, but then I get a call saying "such and such has a demo."