If you thought Busta Rhymes‘ 2023 collaborations with BIA, Coi Leray and Shenseea were indicative of his support for women rappers, you thought right. While on the red carpet for the MTV Video Music Awards, he shared with ABC News that he’s fan of the abundance of women emcees and the work they’ve been putting in.

“I am the biggest advocate for the woman MC, the female MC,” he said, adding, “I don’t even like calling them female or woman emcee. I just like to call them dope emcees.”

He noted that a lot of the women actually outperform the male rappers, and he’s quite fond of that because “steel sharpens steel.”

“It’s quite obvious that they ain’t playing and they ain’t been playing,” he continued of women in the rap game, shouting out the first female emcee Sha-Rock, Megan Thee Stallion and GloRilla.

“I might be a little apologetic that it took this long, but when it was supposed to happen, it’s happening in an abundant way and we’re super rooting for all of them,” Busta said, concluding, “All I want to do is get on records with them.” 

Busta teamed with BIA, Coi and Shenseea on “Beach Ball,” “Luxury Life” and “Open Wide,” respectively, all songs on his latest album, Blockbusta. The project came out in November 2023.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.