Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to engage in any form of hard, productive work.

1983		R. Klein Jailhouse Jargon and Street Sl. [unpub. ms.].
2001		(con. 1975–6) E. Little Steel Toes 139: You’re earning your dough, my brother, let’s hope ya never have to bust a grape.

2. to lose emotional control; to hit someone.

1971–2		C. Shafer ‘Catheads [...] and Cho-Cho Sticks’ in Abernethy Bounty of Texas (1990) 199: bust a grape, v. – to commit an irrational act out of desperation.
1997		E. Little Another Day in Paradise 69: Don’t none of us want to bust a grape, ’cause we got a couple tons of automatic weapons being delivered. [Ibid.] 213: Shit, don’t bust a grape, you’re drunk.
2002		J. Lerner You Got Nothing Coming 33: Punk touch my shit and I gonna bust a fuckin’ grape.
2009		Eminem ‘Hell Breaks Loose’ 🎵 You can’t cut the mustard, what’s your problem, can’t you bust a grape?

in neg. variations of sense 1.

1983		Akron Beacon Jrnl (OH) 29 Aug. 38/2: Asked if he played golf, James cracked up. ‘Why, I couldn’t even bust a grape with a club,’ he said.
1995		Jrnl News (White Plains, NY) 15 June D7/1: Luis has a lot of mouth [...] He sounds like a killer but he couldn’t bust a grape in a food fight.
2000		Akron Beacon Jrnl (OH) 5 Nov. 14/1: Marcus preferred running his mouth to using his fists. ‘He wouldn’t bust a grape in a fruit fight’.
2009		Tallahassee Democrat (FL) 7 Nov. 23/6: ‘Son, you couldn’t bust a grape!’.
2016		Indianapolis Star (IN) 19 Oct. C8/1: I couldn’t bust a grape a couple of years ago [...] and Emmanuel Steward taught me how to sit down on my punches.
2018		Times (Munster, IN) 6 Oct. A9/4: ‘Jamilia ain’t gonna bust a grape in a food fight’.
2021		S.A. Crosby Razorblade Tears 54: ‘He couldn’t bust a grape in a fruit fight’.