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Busta Rhymes Shares Kendrick Lamar Collab Origin Story

It’s always welcome to see two hip-hop greats unite on a singular duet, and today marked the arrival of Busta Rhymes and Kendrick Lamar’s incredible “Look Over Your Shoulder.” Though some managed to snag a leaked version a while back, the official version — which comes complete with a fully-cleared Michael Jackson sample — feels like a victory lap ahead of Busta’s upcoming ELE2 album. And given how emotional Busta was upon its completion, expect this one to be a major showing from the Flipmode legend.

Busta Rhymes Kendrick Lamar Look Over Your Shoulder

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Today, Bus-a-Bus hit up Zane Lowe to open up about his new single with Kendrick Lamar, revealing a bit about the circumstances that led to its creation. “The incredible coming together of this record was a true magical experience,” explains Busta. “It started off one time with me being stuck in the studio, in Quad Studio, in Manhattan in New York. I had gotten a batch of beats from Nottz, who produced this track, and he’s been significant in a lot of the production for all of my solo albums. But he had given me this batch of beats probably five, six months before I actually even listened to it because I get so many beats from Nottz that sometimes I don’t get around to listening to all of his shit.”

“Finally, we are in a snow storm in New York and they declared it a national emergency and gave everyone a curfew,” he continues. “I refused to accept the curfew so I stayed in the studio. So I stayed in the studio, they shut the Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge down, they shut the Midtown Tunnel down, so I couldn’t leave the city anyway once it passed 11 o’clock. So I was like, “Fine. I’m going to stay in the studio tonight.” I stumbled on the beat. When I looked at the date of when I got the beat from Nottz, I couldn’t believe that I had this shit so long the whole time. So I ended up putting a verse on it. I sent it to Kendrick. Kendrick bodied the verse, sent it back.”

“And I got to big-up Kendrick, I got a big-up Top Dog, the whole TDE family,” says Busta, showing some love to Kenny’s label. “I got to thank all of the people that was involved with clearing this sh-t for me and giving me their blessing on being able to use this. And it just was unbelievable, and incredible, and just profound for me to be blessed with this gift.”

Be sure to catch “Look Over Your Shoulder” right here, and check back at midnight for the release of Busta Rhymes’ Extinction Level Event 2: The Wrath Of God. Are you excited to catch this upcoming project, which happens to boast an incredibly stacked tracklist?

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Kyle Ashen’s sun-drenched recollection with new release “That Local Girl”

Kyle Ashen’s latest release, “That Local Girl,” is a gorgeous trip down memory lane, a country single that explores that golden glow of memory, like flipping through old photographs touched by salt air and summer sunlight. It’s warm, cinematic, and deeply relatable, a song about the kind of love story that never quite goes away, even as time moves on.

“That Local Girl” is filled with imagery that quickly takes the listener into a world they can walk right into. You got a blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl on a boardwalk street by the ocean, a souped-up truck driving through town, neon lights reflecting off the ocean breeze, and the electric innocence of young love burning in the background.

But under all that cutesy trapping is something more than that, longing. Some people, some places that leave permanent marks on Kyle Ashen and us know that. What’s so brilliant about this song is that it marries those two ideas, making love and hometown memory feel beautifully inseparable. Sometimes you miss a person. And with that person, you miss an entire version of life. “That Local Girl” is more than a country love song from Kyle Ashen. He is a living postcard from the past, sun-faded, bittersweet, and glowing with feeling. A reminder that summers pass by, but some memories stay with us forever.

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ECHOFLIP inspires faith and fire with triumphant anthem on “Kingdom Rise”

ECHOFLIP marches forward with commanding purpose on “Kingdom Rise,” a single that not only demands attention but also commands it. Driven by pounding drums, soaring melodic textures, and full-conviction lyricism, the song arrives like a battle cry with the heart of worship. Bold and energized and spiritually charged from beginning to end.

“Kingdom Rise” is street realism meets kingdom vision at its heart. It’s got grit in its pulse but grace in its message as well. Each bar rings with resilience with ECHOFLIP, a record that embodies struggle, perseverance, and steadfast faith in the face of adversity. The result is music that is rooted in reality while reaching for something much larger.

What makes the single particularly compelling is how seamlessly it combines high-energy Christian trap with uplifting spiritual themes. The hard-hitting production has edge and urgency, and its faith-centered focus gives it soul. It’s motivational without being pushy. Worshipful without momentum loss, without losing authenticity. Ideal for trap gospel, inspirational rap, and urban playlists that aim to uplift as much as energize, “Kingdom Rise” delivers on all fronts. It moves the body, it sharpens the mind, it stirs the soul.

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