Story By Gavin Philip Godfrey
Photos by Kahlill Van Zant for Steed Media Service
It’s 1997. The Notorious B.I.G. has been shot and killed in L.A. In Westminster Abbey, millions attend the funeral of Princess Diana of Wales. In a Denver courtroom, the crowd waits in anticipation as convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh is read his sentence for 15 counts murder and conspiracy. Against a backdrop of violence and chaos in the world around him, Westside Chicago native Carl Mitchell is in the studio putting haunting and vivid pictures on the wax of what would be his most critically acclaimed album to date.
Under the alias Twista, he created the appropriately-titled Adrenaline Rush, a 13-track disc filled with stories of gun violence, drug deals and brushes with death. Dubbed an underground classic, the album was full of dark subject matter playing to jazzy, funked out beats, accompanied by Twista’s ridiculously dexterous flow. From the heart-racing title track to the freaky bedroom gem, “Get it Wet,” Adrenaline Rush was able to show audiences that with his God-given, Guinness Book record-breaking talent; the world’s fastest rapper had something for everybody. Hip-hop heads praised his lyricism, thugs cheered his realism and ladies swooned over his sexually charged tracks like “Emotion” and “Get Her in the Mood.” The record went gold despite little promotion, and Twista gained the respect of his peers and the underground.
Pan forward 10 years and Twista is now a mainstream hit. His 2004 release, Kamikaze saw multiplatinum success with classics, “Slow Jamz” and “Overnight Celebrity.” Following suit, The Day After earned Twista another gold plaque. Today, Chicago’s underground king is a lyrical giant with commercial success to match. Though happy with his rise to the top, Twista admits that in 2007, selling records is harder than ever before with artists trying to move units with the digital age weighing down their shoulders.
“One thing I let people know when they say what’s different on Adrenaline Rush 2007 as far as the game – when the first Adrenaline Rush came out, we didn’t have iPods, we couldn’t download music,” he says in addressing the 10-year span between the two albums. “We’ve got so many ways to get music that the song becomes devalued, so we’ve got to work harder in the game to get people to really respect our music.”
What makes matters harder for superstar emcees like Twista, is the current climate of the United States. In the land of dogfights, iPhones and Bushisms, rappers find themselves used as scapegoats for many negative aspects of today’s society. Whether your record goes platinum, gold or coal, your lyrical content is put under government microscopes and Rev. Al Sharpton is likely to come banging at your door. “I feel like hip-hop always takes the backlash for everything that goes on in society,” Twista says, sounding slightly annoyed. “It’s just crazy how stuff goes from one thing and turns into something else and all of the sudden Twista’s got to suffer for it or some rapper’s got to suffer the consequences – let’s get back to the original issue.”
Currently, there are no issues for Twista – he’s got bigger to fish to fry. The new disc is in stores and Twista is working to keep his hot streak alive. “In the game, you have to really brand yourself because as soon as that record is gone, your career is gone,” he says. “You have to have good people around you and really be willing to be a businessman just as much you’re willing to be an artist.” Twista has literally taken that belief to heart. He has his own label, Get Money Gang, which features some of his old rhyme mates, B Hype and the Speedknot Mobstaz to go along with new faces, Scooter and Anya. In 2008, Twista plans to open his very own nightclub – he declined to give the name or location, but promises that architects are steadily at work on the project this very moment. Needless to say, for the kid from K-Town, the sky is the limit and he’s ready for take off. “You’ve got to try and do different things; you can’t just survive off [rapping],” he says of his new endeavors. “You might bite your tongue off, [the] label won’t push you; anything can happen. You’ve got try and do different things pertaining to music and outside of music, you can’t just hustle within the music.”
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Inside the music, Twista is banking that the masses will love his new album as much they loved the original. Adrenaline Rush 2007 represents the mind-set of an artist who has eaten the fruits of success, while never forgetting the environment that made him the person he is today. With that said, die-hard Twista fans who griped that they wanted to hear more of the old Twista on the new disc will have to accept the changed man for who he is. “Around the time I made The Day After, I heard people saying they wanted to hear the original Twista stuff,” he says.
This complaint has been prevalent in hip-hop today with the all of the ring tone rap and superhero dances taking over the airwaves. Artists, critics and fans have called out their genre and pleaded for its elder statesmen to assume responsibility. In the South, moans and groans can be heard from OutKast fans wishing Andre and Big Boi would take the music back to their Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik days. While Northern cats are hoping for another Ready to Die or Illmatic. At the same time, things have changed since the early ’90s.
Money is king and the artists are mere servants in the kingdom, trying to feed their own. Though you can’t call it selling out, artists are paying more attention to the audiences buying their albums, and suddenly, new songs are made to cater to the new audiences these musicians didn’t have 10 years ago.
“I think right now, hip-hop is trying to figure out what’s going to happen as far as technology and where we’re going to take it,” says Twista. “Music is so accessible right now. How are we going to sell music? I look at the state of hip-hop and see that we’ve got music, but we’ve got to package so many other things.”
Twista is a 16-year veteran because he has been able to withstand the grind and stay relevant while others have come and gone. “None of this means nothing if you don’t have a hot song,” he opines. “Make sure that when you’re in the studio you’re doing your best to put out some music that everybody’s going to love listening to and is going to be willing to purchase.”
Whether or not his new disc finds commercial success, Twista is just happy to still be making music that people care about. He has seen friends and colleagues fade away in the mix of all the fl ashing lights and he knows just how cruel this industry can be. “You’ve got to be ready to grind and grind,” he offers. “You’ve [got] to take pain, you’ve got to be strong in the heart because you’re going to get rejected and you’re going to shed some tears. You’ve got to stay organized and focused, you’ve got to have your vision intact and be really organized with what you’ve got going and line it all up.”
For Twista, the path to more greatness seems set. He likes what he sees in the music game and brags about having Amy Winehouse and Gnarls Barkley on his iPod. He is also looking into buying more real estate and just spreading his wealth throughout the country. Platinum plaques or not, 10 years from now, Twista will most certainly still be here.
