As tipped here in December, Clive Davis' J Records has confirmed that it has signed rapper Busta Rhymes and will distribute his Flipmode Entertainment imprint, which includes Rah Digga and the Flipmode Squad, Billboard Bulletin reports.

Rhymes had been with Elektra since 1990, first as a member of the defunct Leaders Of The New School, then as a solo act. He formed Flipmode under Elektra in 1998 and released such albums as 2000's "Anarchy," which debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Chart and at No. 4 on The Billboard 200.

"I felt like with Elektra, we've grown to a point where we had to make some changes so we both could reach the level that we're both trying to get to," Rhymes tells Billboard Bulletin. "They're trying to do certain things to grow their establishment as a big, major corporate machine, and so am I."

Rhymes will join a J roster that also includes Luther Vandross, Deborah Cox, LFO, O-Town, Shannon Curfman, Jimmy Cozier, and Alicia Keys. On the heels of his appearance opposite Samuel L. Jackson in last summer's remake of the classic Blaxploitation film "Shaft," the flamboyant rapper is currently featured in "Finding Forrester," starring Sean Connery.