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The video for Busta Rhymes' "Arab Money" is now officially available online.

Yes, I know it's been on BET and YouTube for months.

Of course the BET version was always official. The other, not so much.

I raise this point because when I contacted Universal Records in November to get a copy of the video for Yahoo! Music, Busta was in the midst of controversy over the song which offended Muslims in the US and UK for misrepresenting the Middle Eastern culture, mixing sacred verses from the Holy Quran with secular hip-hop beats and rhetoric. I was told that the video was not being serviced at the time.

Over the last month, blogs addressed the controversy and Busta was even quoted in a few, expressing his sincere apology to those he offended.

There was so much outrage in the UK that popular Galaxy FM DJ Steve "Smooth" Sutherland was suspended after listeners complained about him playing the song.

A Dubai-based rapper Narcicyst got Busta's attention when he released his explosive response record "Real Arab Money" that opens calling Busta's version racist, claiming that the celebrated veteran rapper had not done his research and was even pronouncing Arab incorrectly.

In "Real Arab Money" the 26-year-old rapper said that pronouncing Arab as Ay-rab is the equivalent of calling an African-American the n-word. While Busta's song compares his hip-hop lifestyle to that of Arabian royalty, Narcicyst stressed that the analogy is off base because all Arabs are not rich.

In an interview on rapsearch.com, Narcicyst said that after he put out his song, Busta contacted him. "He called me personally and said he wanted to tell the Arab and Muslim community that he apologized," Narcicyst said. "He said he was grateful for their reaction and he would take whatever steps were required to clarify the situation. "

Narcicyst appreciated Busta's sincerity and was glad that the American rapper who is of the Muslim faith himself planned to pull the track.

While online promotion of the "Arab Money" had been on hold, this is no longer the case. Last week, a label branded version of "Arab Money" began showing up on sites, including this one. But it appears to be the same version of the video. The video version has always had an amended chorus featuring the correct pronunciation of Arab. However, featuring a brief disclaimer would a have been a good idea.

So what prompted the re-release?

Has Busta done enough damage control and effectively communicated to the Arab and Muslim communities the message that there was no disrespect intended with the track and has since received their blessing to fully distribute the video?

Did Busta just let the controversy calm enough so that he could take full advantage of an otherwise great, graphics-enhanced video with arguably more A-list cameos than any other video of the past year? Are the multiple remixes with Diddy, Bow Wow, Jim Jones, Juelz Santana, Akon, T-Pan, Swizz Beatz, Ron Browz, Lil' Wayne, etc. too good to toss, controversy or not?

Or has Busta just received enough support from fans who understand that he meant no ill will and was merely doing the ultimate hip-hop metaphor, bragging and boasting about experiencing all things lavish?

I think it's a bit of all three scenarios.

However, we have to keep in mind that this is his first single from his new deal with Universal Motown, following his exit from Aftermath/Interscope last Spring. He needs to take advantage of the hype, and the track is hot.