"Gimme Some More" is a song by American rapper

Busta Rhymes Trevor George Smith Jr. (born May 20, 1972), known professionally as Busta Rhymes, is an American rapper, singer and actor. Chuck D of Public Enemy gave him the moniker Busta Rhymes, after National Football League, NFL and Canadian Football Lea ...

. It was released as the second single from his third studio album '' Extinction Level Event: The Final World Front'' on October 26, 1998, by

Flipmode Entertainment The Conglomerate Entertainment is a record label founded by Busta Rhymes. The label was established in 1994 as Flipmode, the name Conglomerate was later adopted in 2010. Company history Elektra (1996–2000) Dallas Austin helped Rhymes land a p ...

and

Elektra Records Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the ...

. The song was written by Rhymes and its producer

DJ Scratch George Spivey (born June 21, 1968), known professionally as DJ Scratch, is an American hip hop music, hip hop DJ and producer from Brooklyn, New York. DJ Scratch is the 1988 New Music Seminar Battle For World Supremacy DJ champion, the 2010 M ...

. The violin riffs that accompany the main beat are sampled from the opening theme to

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ...

's 1960 film '' Psycho,'' composed by

Bernard Herrmann Bernard Herrmann (born Maximillian Herman; June 29, 1911December 24, 1975) was an American composer and conductor best known for his work in film scoring. As a conductor, he championed the music of lesser-known composers. He is widely regarde ...

. It is often considered to be the very summit of Busta's complex, breathless, high-speed rhyming delivery, which was most prominent in his early work. In 2000, it was nominated for

Best Rap Solo Performance The Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance was awarded from 1991 to 2011, alongside the Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. Previously, a single award was presented for Best Rap Performance. In 2003, this award was split into separate a ...

at the

Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

, but it lost to

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time, he is credited with popula ...

's "

My Name Is "My Name Is" is a song by American rapper Eminem from his second studio album '' The Slim Shady LP'' (1999). It is also the opening song and lead single of the album. The song contains a sample from British singer Labi Siffre's 1975 track " I G ...

." Rhymes first performed the song live with

The Roots The Roots are an American Hip-hop, hip hop band formed in 1987 by singer Black Thought, Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and drummer Questlove, Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Roots serve as the house band on NBC's ''T ...

on ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

'' with "Tear da Roof Off" on February 13, 1999. He also performed the song live in 1999 at

MTV Spring Break ''MTV Spring Break'' refers to the channel's defunct annual spring break coverage, featuring numerous live performances from artists and bands on location. The annual tradition continued into the 2000s, when it became de-emphasized and handed of ...

, the 1999 Soul Train Music Awards, at the Knitting Factory

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

in 2008, and at

The Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival The Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival (BHF) is an annual celebration of Hip-Hop music and culture. It is produced The Bodega Agency a wholly owned subsidiary of Brooklyn Bodega, Inc. Overview According to the official BHF website, "Our aim is to highli ...

in 2012.

Composition

"Gimme Some More" was composed in time and the key of

B minor B minor is a minor scale based on B, consisting of the pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A. Its key signature has two sharps. Its relative major is D major and its parallel major is B major. The B natural minor scale is: Changes need ...

, with a

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given musical composition, composition, and is often also an indication of the composition ...

of 137 beats per minute. It has a duration of two minutes and thirty-nine seconds.

Music video

The music video for "Gimme Some More" was directed by

Hype Williams Harold "Hype" Williams (born August 1, 1970) is an American music video and film director, film producer, and screenwriter. Early life Williams was born in Queens. He is of mixed African-American and Honduran descent. He attended Adelphi Univ ...

along with Busta Rhymes himself, credited there as Busta Remo. Like many of Busta's earlier music videos, it is shot through

fisheye lens A fisheye lens is an ultra wide angle lens, ultra wide-angle lens that produces strong Distortion (optics), visual distortion intended to create a wide panorama, panoramic or Sphere#Hemisphere, hemispherical image. Fisheye lenses achieve extremel ...

in fast motion and is largely absurdist in nature. Opening up with a ''

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American media franchise produced and distributed by Warner Bros. The franchise began as a series of animated short films that originally ran from 1930 to 1969, alongside its spin-off series ''Merrie Melodies'', during t ...

''-like intro, the video begins with Busta Rhymes narrating in the background, recalling how he once bumped his head as a child. A little boy portraying Busta as a child acts this out. A woman runs out of house to the aid of him. Suddenly, the child turns into a hideous, little blue monster with big yellow eyes and sharp teeth, and chases the woman around and throughout the house. The story is intercut with scenes of Busta Rhymes and other members of

Flipmode Squad Flipmode Squad is an American hip hop collective formed and fronted by Busta Rhymes. History In 1993, Busta Rhymes first introduced the Flipmode Squad when he still was a part of former group Leaders of the New School, with the members bei ...

in various random costumes and situations. Busta is seen as a boxer, stock broker, police officer, miner, pistol-toting,

Yosemite Sam Yosemite Sam ( ) is a cartoon character in the ''Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Melodies'' series of short films produced by Warner Bros. His name is taken from Yosemite National Park in California. His real name is ''Aloysius Bartholamew Sam''. ...

-like

Texan Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous state in the South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the west, and has an international border wit ...

, body builder, pimp and a person tied up about to get run over by a train a la '' The Perils of Pauline.'' The video ends on an unresolved

cliffhanger A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious situation, facing a difficult dilemma or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode of serialized fiction or bef ...

, with the woman trapped on top of a refrigerator and the monster climbing closer and closer towards her. It was nominated for Breakthrough Video at the

1999 MTV Video Music Awards The 1999 MTV Video Music Awards, which took place on September 9, 1999 (informally known as the 9/9/99 MTV Video Music Awards), honored the best music videos released between June 13, 1998, and June 11, 1999. The ceremony was hosted by Chris Roc ...

. A VHS tape of the music video came free with a purchase of the album '' E.L.E. (Extinction Level Event): The Final World Front''.

Track listing

CD single

#"Gimme Some More" (Clean Version) #"Gimme Some More" (Dirty Version) #"Do It Like Never Before"

Chart

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 1998 singles Busta Rhymes songs Music videos directed by Hype Williams Songs written by Busta Rhymes Patter songs Psycho (franchise) Comedy hip-hop songs Songs written by DJ Scratch