Like the exotic craftsmanship of the Lamborghinis Trevor Smith dreamed about growing up in Brooklyn, it’s hard not to be mesmerized by his superstar persona. Smith is best known as “Busta Rhymes,” who has fulfilled his Lambo-fantasies, adding his own wild flavor to the bevy of cars that are undeniably Busta-mobiles.

Parallel to his fabulous rides, Busta has stage presence. It starts when he unleashes a relentless freestyle flow and follows up with infectious hooks that have defined his career since the days of Leaders of the New School. He’s been at it since 1989, but he’s far from tired in at 34, evidenced in his latest hit “Touch It,” yet another dizzying club banger that has all the elements of a classic Busta track—creative, fierce, and edged with that inexplicable woo-ha spirit he’s locked in.

He’s changed up some things since his last release three years ago—adding a new Interscope label imprint and a slicker, tailored style sans the dreadlocks akin to his Jamaican heritage—but he’s still Busta, articulate and engaging. Flipmode Squad might be a name he chose for a portion of his work, but it fits Busta’s multifaceted identity like a set of black Maya Maido Edition GR5 wheels on his black 2005 Lamborghini Murciélago Roadster.

The crew at Roadstar Motorsports added the GR5s in a staggered fitment of 19x8.5 inches up front and 20x13 inches in the rear with high-performance Pirelli P Zero Rosso tires, 255/35R19 up front and 345/35R20 in the rear. Roadstar also upgraded the audio system with a package that includes an Alpine CDA-9855 head unit, a pair of Alpine MRD V12 amplifiers, MB Quart PCE-213 speaker components, and a 12-inch Critical Mass subwoofer. Roadstar also smoked the taillights and added a Capistro exhaust to let you know Busta’s coming through.

“I’m the dude that invented putting the color of your car on the wheel,” he explains. “My rim became a navy blue with chrome rim, which you were unable to buy anywhere because that wasn’t a thing they were doing in 1995.”
For Busta, customization is more about experimenting with creativity than being lavish. “I had one set of rims that I would rock a certain way for a couple months and then when I felt like I needed to put a new look on it, I put a custom paint job so it looked like a whole other set of rims,” he says. “People were trying to keep up with me buying rims, going broke when I was trying to do it the cost effective way.”

Window tint is high on his list. “I did my front windshield so when it was nighttime and I would drive my car, people would think that the car was driving itself,” he says. “I got that idea from watching commercials for vehicles. A lot of times, when you’re watching a commercial they don’t usually let you see the driver.” With a mischievous laugh he adds, “Of course it ain’t legal to do that sh*t, but I was like, ‘F*ck it, I’m going to do it anyway.’”
“It’s hard for me to let go of things that I love, so I don’t ever really change my look; I just add onto my look. Every vehicle that I bought I still own,” he says.