Busta Rhymes has spoken of the pain and guilt that he has felt ever since the murder of his bodyguard, Israel Ramirez.
Ramirez died from a gunshot wound on February 5 this year on the set of Bus-A-Bus’Touch It (Remix) video shoot.
Up until today, Busta has refused to speak to police on what he saw that fateful night, and has only now revealed that he didn’t actually see the incident take place.
“I really didn’t get a chance to see what went down,” said Rhymes, born Trevor Smith. “When we went outside, that’s when we saw my friend on the ground, dying slowly.”
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“If I didn’t ask him to come to work, he’d have been at home with his family. That’s the only guilt I live with, but still in that sense I don’t have any guilt, because that was the way we made money together.”
“He always came to work and got home safely, because I don’t condone that kind of activity and I’m not a person that has a reputation of violence in my life.”
While police are still investigating the murder of Ramirez, their work has been hindered by the reluctance of several rappers to come forward to give witness statements.
Over 500 people were on the set for the video shoot in Brooklyn, New York, and authorities believe that an altercation took place between Ruff Ryders’ Swizz Beatz and Tony Yayo of G-Unit. The argument is then thought to have led to a shootout between the entourages, in which two weapons were fired, killing Ramirez, 29.
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Rhymes initially told police that he had been inside the studio with other artists when the incident happened. Yet, the NYPD had reason to believe that Rhymes was only feet away from Ramirez when he was shot.
The murder investigation continues…
