The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 making it Busta's first number one album, selling 209,000 copies in its first week, and certified gold by RIAA.
The tracks "I'll Hurt You" featuring Eminem and "Where's Your Money?" featuring Ol' Dirty Bastard both leaked but received lukewarm responses. The first single was "Touch It" and reached number sixteen on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. "Touch It" featuring a sampled portion of Daft Punk's "Technologic", also garnered a major remix. The second single "I Love My Chick" features Kelis and will.i.am. Stevie Wonder plays piano and sings on "Been Through the Storm". The song "Get Down" was featured in the movie "Step Up 2: The Streets" but was not included on the soundtrack.[13]
Legacy
Busta Rhymes was really pleased with the album: "I would not have changed The Big Bang album for the world. It's still one of my if not the favorite album of mine from a lyrical standpoint, a conceptual standpoint and a musical standpoint." He praised the Dr. Dre produced song Legends of the Fall Off for the "gravediggin beat with the shovel in the dirt" calling it "unbelievable". He also praised You Can't Hold a Torch, Don't Get Carried Away and Gold Mine. He also said "The only thing I probably would have changed is I Love My Chick would not have been on that album. I probably would have put "I Love My Chick" on another album
that it would have been more appropriate for."[14]
The song Legend of the Fall Offs received further notice from hip-hop fans alike especially for its production. Mitch Findlay from hnhh said: "While hardly a banger in the traditional sense, Dre proves why he's one of hip-hop's most cinematic producers, deftly arranging foley-esque heartbeats and shovels into the mix. Once again, the line between hip-hop and horror are blurred, though few would be quick to hit either Busta or Dre with the “horrorcore” label. Yet “Legend Of The Fall Offs” seems tailor made for an equally disturbing visual component. But why is such a simple beat so evocative? Is it the melodic structure, which employs repetitive use of the same few notes? For whatever reason, the sound of a piano's lowest octave seems to evoke a profound sense of hopelessness. Dr. Dre understands that better than most."[15] On his Dr. Dre's top 10 haunting beats, he said: "A masterclass in minimalism, Dr. Dre closed out Busta Rhyme's Aftermath debut The Big Bang in a truly disturbing fashion. Conjuring imagery of a moonlit cemetery, Busta plays the role of Death himself, ushering in the bleak tidings to those already lost. With a shovel making for the main percussive track, Dre's steady piano and cricket-fueled ambiance cast a spell of existential dread. Throw in a man legitimately pleading for his life in vain, and "Legend Of The Fall Offs" makes for the darkest song of Busta's career."[16]
Dan Weiss from Billboard Magazine said: "Dr. Dre oversaw Busta's 2006 semi-comeback The Big Bang, which ends with an inspired horrorcore piece that uses Dre's dirgelike tendencies to its advantage. While Busta buries an unnamed rival in thick subliminal disses, the beat itself is literally comprised of shovels and dirt, followed by a pretty horrifying skit in which Busta buries a dude alive as the instrumental has foreshadowed the entire time. Gangsta bloodshed is rarely that thrilling or interesting, and ultimately this track could’ve taken on many more dimensions if a thespian like Eminem was at the helm, but hip-hop's never seen anything like it before or since and that alone makes it perfectly Busta."[17]
Commercial performance
The album became Busta's first and only album to debut at number one on the charts with over 209,000 copies sold during the first-week of release. On August 30, 2006, the album was certified gold for shipments of over 500,000 units. The album has sold 823,000 copies as of November 22, 2011[18] The album became Busta Rhymes' highest-charting album in the UK, debuting on the UK albums chart at number nineteen. His previous highest album peak was #3 for the album When Disaster Strikes, almost ten years before the release of The Big Bang.
Keyboards: Mark Batson, Dawaun Parker & Mike Elizondo
Cellos: Christopher Glansdorp, Claudio Jaffe, David W. Cole & Ross T. Harbaugh
Violins: Alfredo Oliva, Carol A. T. Cole, Dina Kostic, Geremy C. Miller, Glen Basham, Gustavo A. Correa, Huifang Chen, Joan E. Faigen, John DiPuccio, Kurt Coble, Lazlo Pap, Mei Mei Luo, Orlando J. Forte, Scott Flavin, Tina M. Raimondi & Yien Hung