Busta Rhymes was born Travis George Smith Jr. in Brooklyn in 1972. Shortly after that, he took on his first rap name: "Chill-O-Ski."
"I thought it was cool because at the time all of my favorites had three-part rap names like LL Cool J or The Fat Boys, right?" Rhymes says. "Prince Markie Dee or Kool Rock Ski or some of the pioneers like Grandmaster Caz or Grandmaster Flash."
As Rhymes progressed in the rap game, he was lucky enough to find a mentor in Chuck D, who would not only fine-tune his skills, but help him land on a legitimate stage name inspired by an NFL player.
"When Chuck met me I was about 13, 14," Rhymes says. "I'm so animated and energetic, I like to give it all to the people, and he just said, 'Yo, with this aggression that I ain't ever seen with your performance skill set, you're such a showman, it almost looks like you're playing football when you rhyming, so you should call yourself 'Busta Rhymes.'"
At the time, George "Buster" Rhymes was a wide receiver for the Vikings. He only played two NFL seasons, but as a rookie in 1985, George Rhymes set the then-NFL record for single-season kick return yards with 1,345.
"I hated the name," Busta Rhymes recalls. "Because Chuck D and them were the guys we wanted to be like and looked up to you usually wanted to try it, so I ran around for like three, four months and people fell in love with the name because it just matched -- 'Busta Rhymes' -- even without knowing about the legendary Buster Rhymes from the Minnesota Vikings. When you see me in this burst of energy, how I'm trying to bust through, it just made sense with just the way I displayed how I did my thing, you know? So it still worked for me even without knowing about the Buster Rhymes history."
Busta Rhymes went onto produce five platinum albums and earn 11 Grammy nominations, so the name worked out for him. At least the fans love it. But did it ever grow on the man himself?
"I love the name," Rhymes says. "To this day, as much as it's a joke from back in the days how I hated the name, I can't thank Chuck D enough. He was like my father, he gave birth to me and to the culture. He taught me everything."
Rhymes spoke to ThePostGame at Super Bowl LII Radio Row in Minneapolis while promoting his Doritos/Mountain Dew commercial. Missy Elliott, Morgan Freeman and Peter Dinklage were also in the ad.
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