Busta Rhymes to Stand Trial for Assault Charges

Well known east coast rapper Busta Rhymes was denied a plea bargain today and will face trial for two counts of assault.

Busta is charged with assaulting both his former driver and an enraged fan.

The alleged attack on his driver occurred last December. The victim was his 39 year old driver, Edward Hatchett. Busta reportedly punched the driver in the face and neck and continued to beat him up, including kicking him in the ribs. Apparently the dispute was over back pay owed to Hatchett.

The assault incident with a fan of the rapper leads to third degree assault charges and Busta Rhymes arrest in August of 2006. Busta took matters into his own hands after the passing by fan spit all over Rhymes vehicle. This was after his performance at the Amster Jam music festival.

When Busta went to court to face the above charges back in February, Manhattan criminal court Judge Tanya Kennedy had initially offered the rapper a plea bargain that would include probation, community service and speeches to troubled youth. This would be in exchange for Busta's admittance to guilt in the assault charges, and then would be filed as a misdemeanor charge. According to his lawyer, Robert Kalina, Rhymes was planning on accepting the offer.

But then Busta was pulled over for running a red light and arrested for driving with a suspended license. Today he showed up in court only to hear Judge Kennedy retract the offer for the plea bargain. Getting caught driving illegally changed her mind.

Prosecutors followed up with an offer of 1 year of jail time for each assault (so the rapper would be in prison for 2 years in a row) as well as a $500 fine for the suspended license charge. Busta Rhymes refused to accept that and has decided to face trial, date to begin tentatively set for May 8, 2007.

34 year old Busta Rhymes, born as Trevor Smith in Brooklyn, New York and then moved with his family at the age of 12 to Uniondale in Long Island. There he met up with other then aspiring rappers in the community such as Jay-Z and Notorious B.I.G. He was a basketball player and graduated from high school.

His first album was recorded in 1989 with the group Leaders of the new School. Soon after the release, the group joined forces with A Tribe Called Quest and became even more popular after their collaboration of the single song "Scenario" which is though to have pushed Busta into his successful solo career.

His first album alone was when Elektra Records released The Coming in 1996. The CD was a hit and included the top 10 song "Woo ha!! Got you all in Check".

Since then he has released 6 other albums which have successfully sold to fans and he has worked with several other popular recording artist as well as switching around to different labels.

Busta definitely has a following of devoted fans that love him and his music but will the recent assault charges lead to the popular rapper serving jail time? Only the outcome of the Trial will tell but for those who are in support of the artist, they hope it all works out in the end.

Sources:

Associated Press. "Rapper Busta Rhymes to go on trial" Newsday.com

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/am-busta0327,0,4947430.story?coll=ny-top-headlines

Wikipedia. "Busta Rhymes" wikipedia.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Busta_Rhymes