Twista
by Believer on Jul.24, 2010, under Twista
Carl Terrell Mitchell, better known by his stage name Twista (formerly Tung Twista), is an American rapper and record producer.
Born 27th November 1973 in Chicago, Illinois, Mitchell signed to Loud Records in the early 1990s. He made his debut as Tung Twista with the 1992 album Runnin’ Off at da Mouth, which produced the singles Mr. Tung Twista, No Peace Sign and Ratatattat – although none of these charted. At this time Mitchell held the title for fastest rapper in the world as, according to the Guinness World Records, he was able to pronounce 11.2 syllables per second. The rapper, now known as simply Twista, subsequently released his second album Resurrection in 1994, although due to marketing conflict with fellow rapper Common’s album of the same name, it was only released in the Chicago area.
In 1996, Twista teamed with fellow Chicago act Do or Die on the Billboard Hot 100 Top 30 single Po’ Pimp, and earned himself a new contract with the major label Atlantic Records. He released his third album with the label, entitled Adrenaline Rush, in June 1997. It reached number 77 on the Billboard 200 and produced the Hot Rap Singles chart Top 15 hits Emotions and Get It Wet. This was swiftly followed by 1998’s Mobstability, which featured the hip hop group Speedknot Mobstaz and produced the number seventeen rap single In Your World, and in the late 1990s he also set up the label Legit Ballin’ and appeared on the compilation album Legit Ballin Vol 1: The Album.
Since the turn of the century Twista has released a further five studio albums – Kamikaze, The Day After, Adrenaline Rush 2007, Mobstability II: Nation Business (ft. Speedknot Mobstaz) and Category F5 – which have all reached the Top 10 on the Billboard 200 (with Kamikaze reaching the top spot). During this time he scored a Hot 100 number one hit – Slow Jamz (ft. Jamie Foxx and Kanye West) – as well as two further Top 20 singles – Overnight Celebrity and Girl Tonite (ft. Trey Songz) – and four Billboard Hot Rap Singles chart Top 20 hits – So Sexy (ft. R. Kelly), Hope (ft. Faith Evans), Hit the Floor (ft. Pitbull) and Wetter.
Twista’s eighth solo studio album The Perfect Storm is due to be released on 5th October 2010.
