Busta Rhymes may be a prolific rapper and producer, but his real hustle is being a father of six.
The 53-year-old hip-hop legend is getting the inaugural Rock the Bells Visionary Award at the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards on Sept. 7. But it’s the bond he shares with sons T’ziah Wood-Smith, T’khi Wood-Smith, Trillian Wood-Smith and Sacario Smith, as well as daughters Mariah Miskelly and Cacie Smith, that sends him over the moon.
“THERE IS NOTHING GREATER IN THIS WORLD,” Busta (born Trevor George Smith Jr.) posted to Instagram on Father’s Day, captioning a rare photo of all the siblings together, “THAN BEING A FATHER TO YOUR BEAUTIFUL CHILDREN THAT LOVE YOU SOOOO UNCONDITIONALLY AND MAKE YOU PROUD TO BE THE FATHER THAT YOU ARE AND WAS ALWAYS SUPPOSED TO BE TO THEM.”
The Brooklyn native’s now-grown kids—from four different relationships—were raised primarily out of the spotlight in respective households, and only recently has his sprawling family started blending in public.
“I’m looking at my kids, for the first time all together at such a prestigious moment in my life,” Busta told Entertainment Tonight after he was honored for lifetime achievement at the June 2023 BET Awards. He missed some milestones when they were growing up, he acknowledged, and “I lived with that guilt for a long time.”
“But as they got older,” he continued, “they understood. And I’m super grateful…to see how proud of me they are now.”
Still, Busta noted, “It was challenging to look at them so happy and still feel like I got work to do to make them happier.”
And bringing them together admittedly wasn’t easy.
“You’re dealing with four mothers all having you in court systems, all getting significant amount of money for child support, all not in the best place relationship-wise with you,” Busta said on a November 2023 episode of The Diary of a CEO podcast. “Your kid didn’t ask to be put in a situation that you cannot do what you’re supposed to do for them. That’s not their problem. You have to find a solution. It’s a lot.”
But whenever Busta spends time with his kids, it’s a party. Read on for more details about his six children:
T’Ziah Wood-Smith
Busta Rhymes and high school sweetheart Joanne Wood welcomed son T’Ziah Wood-Smith in February 1993.
When it came to having kids, “With the mother of my three boys, I was excited,” Busta he told Angela Yee on Way Up in December 2023, “’cause we was in love like that.”
But he admittedly sacrificed family time for his career.
“In order to be a good provider,” the rapper told Men’s Health in 2023, “I had to miss magical moments with my baby.”
So, he explained, “Being able to wake my son up, give him breakfast, dress him, take him to school, go to work, come home at five, help with his homework, read him a bedtime story—I didn’t have a skill set that allowed me to deliver in that way.”
T’Ziah followed in his father’s ambitious footsteps, graduating from Quinnipiac University in Connecticut with a degree in marketing, per his LinkedIn page, before serving as Busta’s road manager for several years and working as an A&R consultant for Roc Nation. His most recent job was internal wholesaler at asset management firm BlackRock.
And he’s a huge fan of his dad, captioning a photo from Busta’s August 2025 induction into the Hollywood Walk of Fame, “Still processing the moment. I take nothing for granted. I thank my father for all he has done and I thank him in advance for what he will continue to do. I love you champ.”
Mariah Miskelly
Jill Miskelly had daughter Mariah Miskelly in 1998—and a paternity test confirmed the following year that Busta was the child’s biological father, according to the Associated Press.
In 2017, Mariah posted a photo of herself in cap and gown at her high school graduation with her dad and T’Ziah.
“It’s been a long road but I did it and to see you two after two long years and being on good terms again feels so good,” she captioned the pic. “I love you both and I only hope God further brings us joy and happiness.”
She studied business administration and management at Southern New Hampshire University and these days, per her Instagram bio, is a pianist, writer and artist.
As RAI, she played piano and sang on her dad’s 2023 track “LEGACY,” on which Busta reflected, “It’s crazy how I used to go in the studio to make these tracks so I could feed my children. Now I’m making these songs with my children.”
T’Khi Wood-Smith
Busta and Joanne welcomed son T’Khi Wood-Smith in September 1999.
“This is one of my grown, incredibly hardworking sons,” the rapper said in introducing T’Khi to his audience at a 2023 show in Minnesota. “I love you, kid.”
T’Khi studied computer science and played football at New York’s Pace University, graduating in 2023.
Cacie Smith
Busta’s fourth child, daughter Cacie Smith, is close to T’Khi’s age. (Her mom’s identity is not public.)
Performing as Cie, she guested on “LEGACY” with Mariah and their brother Trillian Wood-Smith, and she’s pursuing a career as a solo artist.
“I AM JUST FILLED WITH JOY AS I SIT BACK AND WATCH HER MAGIC IN THE STUDIO AS SHE WORKS ON HER ALBUM COOKIN’ UP UNBELIEVABLE HEAT!!,” Busta posted to Instagram in April 2025. “I’M SOOOO PROUD OF YOU MY BEAUTIFUL YOUNG QUEEN!!”
When Busta got his star on the Walk of Fame, Cacie wrote, “Life for you has been nothing but love and light lately…its been your mantra, its been the intention behind the way you’re trying to lead this new era of life, it’s what you’ve received and exuded.”
Trillian Wood-Smith
Trillian was born in 2000 to Busta and Joanne.
He graduated from Lincoln University in 2024 with a degree in mass communication/media studies and has been working on his own music career ever since.
Two years after his dad was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2023 BET Awards, Trillian performed during the event’s pre-show.
“THE YOUNG KING AKA THE PEOPLES CHAMP @originaltrillian TORE IT DOWN,” Busta praised his son in 2025.
Sacario Smith
Fans got a rare glimpse of son Sacario Smith when Busta included images of all of his kids in his 2024 “LEGACY” video.
Busta first shouted out his youngest in June 2022, writing on X, “My young King Sacario I love you sooooooo much!! I’m so over protective I wait to share what’s most important to me with the World.” Since then, he’s been on hand for a few events, but missed the sibling reunion at the 2023 BET Awards.
And while Busta focused on business when the kids were little, not least because he had child support to pay, he doesn’t think the time with them now would be possible without the hours he put into his craft then.
“I’m in a different place now in my life than I was at that time,” he explained on Diary of a CEO in 2023. “The mentality that I have now didn’t exist then.”
And Busta would advise any one of his kids that the key to success is to be “selfish as hell” about their passion.
“Find it, love it, identify with what you love, become one with that thing, pursue it to the point where you become so engulfed in it, you don’t know nothing else other than that,” he said. “Walk in your purpose.”
