Janet Jackson hit New York’s Madison Square Garden Tuesday as part of her Together Again tour, and she received some gifts from special guest Busta Rhymes.
The rapper joined her for their first onstage performance of the 1998 hit “What’s It Gonna Be?!” and took advantage of the moment to give the singer her flowers, both figuratively and literally.
“Queen Janet. Queen royal empress Janet Jackson,” he said. “I don’t want to disrupt the programming too much, but I brought some gifts for you, queen. We’re going to give you your flowers. I’m going to give you your bouquet while you can smell them.”
Busta then went down memory lane, recalling the moment he heard Janet tell Angie Martinez that she’d like to work with him. He said he’d been driving on the Belt Parkway going from Long Island to Manhattan at the time and “almost crashed my f****** car.”
“To this day, our video is the most expensive hip-hop video made in the history of hip-hop culture,” he said of their collab. “You cannot play with the royal empress.”
Busta also wished Janet a happy birthday ahead of the actual day on May 16. He asked the crowd to sing the birthday song and gifted her with a cake to celebrate the occasion.
“Tonight was one for EVERY HISTORY BOOK!! FIRST TIME EVER THE WORLD GOT TO WITNESS THE BEAUTIFUL QUEEN @janetjackson & Myself perform ‘WHAT’S IT GONNA BE’ IN 25YRS SINCE THE CREATION OF THE SONG,” he reflected on Instagram.
“Thank you Queen for having me tonight and being apart of this Dream Coming true. I’m forever Grateful and I love you sooooo much. Happy Early Bday Queen and Happy Mother’s Day and Happy 25yr Anniversary to our Classic.”
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