Busta Rhymes on His Ray-Ban Campaign, Little Simz Collab and Walk of Fame Star: ‘It Was One of the Most Emotional Moments of My Career’

When Busta Rhymes first came out with his enduring classic “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See” in 1997, he couldn’t imagine that it would find a fanbase in a whole new generation and be remixed by countless contemporary artists in the years since.

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Now, nearly 30 years following its chart-topping release, Rhymes has revisited “Put Your Hands” once more in a brand new campaign for Ray-Ban. In a series of videos, rappers Offset and Little Simz pound their hands to the beat of the iconic song — all from behind the tinted lenses of their Meta glasses.

“For me, it’s a blessing and a gift and indescribable in words to explain how rewarding of a feeling it is to know these songs are actually being revamped by generations way after the song’s [release],” Rhymes tells Variety over a phone call from his New York home. “You don’t make the songs at the time knowing or even thinking that they’re going to do anything outside of the timeframe that you made them. I never thought that the record would still be hot after 1997. I didn’t think it was gonna still be hot in ’98, I didn’t think it was gonna be hot in ’99, let alone to get to 2024.”

To celebrate the campaign, Rhymes, Offset and Little Simz, with special appearances by Coi Leray and Rhymes’ son Trillian, performed in Brooklyn at an event titled “Hands Free Brooklyn,” during which guests were encouraged to explore the new Ray-Ban Meta collection through a series of hands-free activities — from engaging with Meta AI  to immersive mirror and graffiti installations, prompting attendees to capture content without their cell phone.

Ahead of the performance, Variety phoned up Rhymes to talk about working on this new Ray-Ban campaign, his personal style, an upcoming collab with Little Simz and his reaction to getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame:

How would you describe your personal style, and how it’s evolved over your more than 30 years in the spotlight?

My  fashion sense is pretty much still the same from what it was in the beginning. I’m always fashion-forward thinking, I am very courageous, I am very brave and I’m very outlandish when it comes to fashion because I love to dress up. I love a lot of bright colors, I love big and over-the-top shit and that’s all coming from the cultural upbringing from being a child of hip-hop. Also, being raised in West Indian culture and Dancehall culture and my family being Jamaican and things of that nature.

The Ray-Ban campaign features your hit song “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See.” What was it like revisiting that song nearly 30 years later?

I believe ‘Put Your Hands Where My Hands Can See” is older than Little Simz. “Put Your Hands” being 27 years old and being made over by Coi Leray and Offset….there’s no words because  you don’t make the songs at the time knowing or even thinking that they’re going to do anything outside of the timeframe that you made them.

And to be perfectly honest, I think [over the years] I’ve had to clear that record for about 14 different records from 14 different artists. It’s probably one of my most passive incomes, that has generated a significant amount of revenue in a long time, because I didn’t have to lift the finger to generate money, I just had to approve the clearances for the songs that I like.

And I actually want to send a huge shout out to all of the artists that didn’t just request to use it, because some of the requests got denied. If you didn’t do the classic justice, I can’t let you destroy the legacy of the classic.

How did it feel hearing Little Simz and Offset’s versions of the song?

When I heard their versions of the song, it made me like their versions as if it wasn’t my record. If you can make something from a classic, and then make it your own and then do such an amazing job with it that I can appreciate it as if it’s not mine or that I had nothing to do with it, that speaks volumes to me.

The next thing is, I am a huge fan of Offset, I’m a huge fan of Quavo and I’m a huge fan of Takeoff and the whole Migos movement. As a group, and individually, I love those brothers. I see a lot of myself in Migos and I think they see a lot of themselves in me. And I’m just grateful that I’m able to influence the generations after. I’m a huge fan of Coi Leray. I love what she did with the record and I love what she was doing before she got to my record.

I’m also a huge fan of Little Simz. I’m actually in the middle of collabing with her on songs, too.

What else can you tell us about this collab?

Well, what I can say is we just got off the phone last night and we’ve been collabing on the songs. This is probably the third song. I put two verses on two different songs that she sent me that we’ve been working on for the last couple of months. And there’s an adjustment that I need to make on the second song that we discussed just last night, and I’m going in there to fix it up tonight. And you know, if we nail it tonight, y’all are probably going to hear it before the summer is done.

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Finally, it was just announced that you will receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. What was your reaction when you first heard the news?

I’m not gonna lie, it was probably one of the most prestigious moments, one of the most emotional moments, one of the most dream come true moments. It’s really one of the things you never think you’ll ever get.

Some artists have never gotten the opportunity to have experienced seeing themselves receiving these accolades. There are incredible icons in this world that have never gotten a Grammy, they’ve never gotten an MTV Award. They’ve never gotten a Hollywood star. They’ve never been inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And they could’ve lived to be 90 years old and still never got it. They could have been professionally recording for 70 years and still never got it. It’s just such a profound moment for me, when I still am at a stage in my life where I am on an upswing of business, upswing of creativity, an upswing of happiness and upswing of joy. I’m probably in the best place in my life.

Shop through the Ray-Ban Meta Glasses featured in Rhymes’ campaign here, and shop through some of the best styles below:

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