Busta Talks Tour, Upcoming Album

Author: Slava Kuperstein

Busta Rhymes has a busy summer planned. Not only will he be releasing his eighth studio album, Blessed, but he will also be performing on the main stage of this summer's Projekt Revolution tour - which also features Linkin Park, Chris Cornell, the Bravery, Ashes Divide and more.

The move isn't particularly surprising, as Busta's new single, "We Made It," features Linkin Park, and will be on Blessed.

"It made perfect sense for us to be on the tour together, so we could perform ['We Made It'] and bring it to life for people every night," said Busta, according to Billboard.com.

The Projekt Revolution tour will hit 24 U.S. cities, beginning July 16 at the Tweeter Center outside Boston and ending August 24 at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in Houston.

With all the recent talk of how elaborate Kanye's live show is, Busta made it clear that his set will not be as flashy. "I'm really one that loves the traditional sense of Hip Hop," he said. "I like microphones and turntables."

Busta then continued to speak on Blessed, Busta's first album since 2006's The Big Bang. "This album is Busta Rhymes in a mastered way," he said. "I think [Dre] felt like it was time to allow me to spread my wings and take the best of what I learned from my experience in doing The Big Bang to this new album."

Also featured on the new album are T-Pain, Ludacris, Lil Wayne, Akon, T.I., Jamie Foxx, Mary J. Blige, John Legend, Common, J. Holiday, and Nicole Scherzinger, among others.

Busta's inspiration for this album was "my own personal experience, like a lot of sh*t I've been through for the last two years," he said.

"I'm also giving people my perspective on what my experience was, because I never really made time to communicate with the people about my perspective, especially when a lot of the heat was going on with my situation. I'm able to properly control the way everything is addressed on my album."

Busta will also be headed overseas to headline an arena tour. "We're starting in Europe and then bringing it back to the U.S.," he said. "We're still coordinating the lineup right now."