Busta Rhymes is the gravel-voiced rapper who's these days as famous for his frequent run-ins with the NYPD as for his music.

Trevor Smith Jr. was a childhood basketball champ in Brooklyn and Long Island before forming the hip-hop crew Leaders of the New School and inking a record deal at 17. In 1996, just seven years later, Busta released his first solo record, The Coming, which featured the hit single "Woo Hah!" The video for the song was shot entirely with a fisheye lens and showed off the goofiness that would become Rhymes' trademark. Nearly a dozen albums later, Rhymes had the biggest hit of his career in 2010 on Chris Brown's track "Look At Me Now," and his now notorious Christmas collaboration with Justin Bieber.

If Rhymes's rap sheet proves anything, it's that he hasn't yet learned to keep his hands to himself. After several cases of assault against his fans, in 2007, he took Boxing Day a little too literally when he pummeled his former chauffeur because of a financial dispute. He also drew the ire of the NYPD for refusing to cooperate with an investigation into the shooting death of one of his bodyguards. Later in 2007, he blew up a plea agreement when he was arrested for driving with a suspended license, and three months later he was pulled over in Hell's Kitchen and arrested on suspicion of drunk driving. After that incident, though, he's been staying out of trouble.

Busta has three children-T'ziah, T'Khi and Trillian-with ex-girlfriend Joanne Wood. His current girlfriend is rumored to be Deelishus, the curvy "winner" of the VH1 reality show Flavor of Love 2. [Image via Getty]