Busta News

Less than a year after releasing his eighth studio album, "Back on My B.S.," New York rapper Busta Rhymes plans to strengthen the state of the music industry, which he says is "dying like cancer is killing it," with his brand new effort, "The Chemo."

"I called the album 'The Chemo' because it seems like the industry and music overall is dying slowly," Busta told Billboard.com of the Flipmode/Universal Motown project, slated for an early 2010 release.

"The cancer that's stricken the business is killing the music, not only from a business standpoint, but also the value of the content and the creativity behind it. I just want to start the first stage of chemotherapy treatment that needs to take place and hopefully inspire others to do their part and contribute to different stages of the cure."

Still, Busta recognizes those artists who are taking a stand against the "dying industry" by putting out "great music," noting that "Jay-Z put out an incredible album this year and Lil Wayne put out an incredible album last year." Others he commends include Jadakiss, Drake and Trey Songz.

Busta's also played a role this year with the release of "B.S.," which debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 and reached No. 2 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, selling 135,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

A single hasn't been selected yet, but Busta says fans can expect new music to hit the radio waves and blogosphere in December. So far, featured artists on "Chemo" include Chris Brown, Trey Songz, Wyclef Jean, Sean "Diddy" Combs and his collective, Dirty Money.

(Editing by SheriLinden at Reuters)