Busta Rhymes is getting his flowers—literally. The legendary rapper will receive the ICON Award at Anti Social Camp's annual New York City songwriting event next month.
"Songwriting is such an important part of this business," Busta said in a statement. The rap icon will collect his prize and sit for a live interview on the art of songwriting at the festival's June 8 kickoff—the iHeartRadio Anti Social Music Conference—at NYU Steinhardt's Frederick Loewe Theater.
From "Woo Hah!! Got You All in Check" to "Gimme Some More," Busta's catalogue demonstrates precise wordplay and distinctive flows. Those tracks are also solid songwriting. Anti Social Camp recognizes that.
The five-day festival runs through June 12, with recording sessions, panels, and public events across the city. The lineup includes experimental R&B vocalist serpentwithfeet, Flatbush Zombies' Erick the Architect, Brooklyn indie act Pom Pom Squad, and roughly 200 other writers, producers, and performers.
Songwriter Danny Ross launched Anti Social Camp in 2021 during the pandemic, building on a New York producers collective. "The brilliant people behind our favourite songs need a sense of community as much as anyone," Ross said. The festival has expanded internationally, with a London edition that launched last fall (Jamie Cullum and Billy Bragg were among the headliners) and another U.K. run scheduled for November.
Registration opens soon for public access to the June 8 conference as part of New York Music Month.
