By channelling his rapid-fire flow into outrageous hits, Busta Rhymes provided a raucous template for other MCs to follow. His idiosyncratic bars and rowdy beats were a precursor for Nelly, Ludacris and Ja Rule on their own sweaty club anthems, and members of his rap crew the Flipmode Squad studied his methods, too: Witness how lieutenant Rah Digga echoes his dance-floor-friendly style with the tweaked-out electronic riff of “Imperial”.