by Michael GallucciBusta Rhymes' rap posse (which includes newcomers Rampage, Lord Have Mercy, Spliff Star, Rah Digga and Baby Sham, as well as Busta himself) bust out the jams on this audacious debut, which mixes Busta's typically tight beats and surrealistic words with a wise-ass street savvy usually reserved for his best singles. But The Imperial drags on a bit too long, filling its 73 minutes with partial track ideas (including the prerequisite, and ineffective, between-song skits) and lyric and melodic fragments that seem to have no beginning or end -- unsurprisingly, not unlike Busta's solo work. Still, Busta has always dropped a couple of decent cuts per album, and The Imperial is no exception: "Everybody on the Line Outside" (a sort-of sequel to Busta's own "Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See"), "Cha Cha Cha" and "Everything" are lightning-quick attacks of hip-hop aptitude.