LL Cool J, Busta Rhymes Pursued as Gubernatorial Candidates for New York's New American Party
August 14, 2018 | by James Greene, Jr.
Republican congressional candidate Jineea Butler, who seeks to represent New York's 13th District this year, believes a number of urban issues in her state are being ignored. That's why Butler is spearheading the foundation of the New American Party, a line that will place focus on repurposing hip hop's "absolute freedom of speech" to put forth a "strong agenda that addresses economic disparity and prosperity-driven initiatives."
To that end, Butler and associates have reached out to two genre luminaries, LL Cool J and Busta Rhymes, to gauge if either would be interested in a run for New York governor as a New American Party candidate. The gubernatorial primaries are less than a month away, but so far neither LL or Busta have responded.
"We're looking for somebody that can energize the vote," Butler says, "so we can clear the 50,000 [required] votes and someone who resonates with millennials and young folks....this could work right now in America. America needs something else. We're fighting against each other. We've come too far in this country to go back to racism. Hip hop brought people together."
A beautiful sentiment, but it remains unclear if Butler and the New American Party will be able to secure the 15,000 signatures necessary to officially bring their party to life by the deadline of August 21, let alone snag a powerhouse candidate to send to Albany.
Who would make the better governor — LL Cool J or Busta Rhymes? Difficult to say. While Busta's "Woo Hah!!" policy changed our lives for the better, his legacy is haunted by a series of food-related meltdowns. In 2013, Rhymes kicked up a stir at Cheeseburger Baby in Miami when he attempted to cut in line; upon being confronted, the rapper made a homophobic remark and exited the building. Rhymes stormed back in once he'd received his order, livid that his burger fixin's had been served on the side, not on top of the burger. Threats were made to involve the cops but Rhymes vanished before such escalation.
Two years later, Busta Rhymes was arrested in New York for assaulting his personal trainer. Part of this altercation involved Rhymes throwing a protein shake at the victim, forever trapping Rhymes in a scandal we call Shakegate.
History illustrates that LL Cool J has remained calm, cool, and collected in all culinary dealings. However, in his 1998 memoir I Make My Own Rules, LL spilled the fucking tea on Robin Williams for having too powerful a musk. "[Robin] would show up to the set [of Toys] all funky, smelling like a wild boar, like a truckload of hot garbage. And I was thinking, Damn, this guy is really regular."
Folks, it's anybody's race.
