Let's be honest here. The reason you're reading this has a lot less to do with Twista than with super-producer/rapper/genius purveyor of chipmunk soul Kanye West. I know because I'm here for the same reason. The album's first single is the inescapable "Slow Jamz", produced by and featuring fellow Chi-town native Kanye along with comedian Jamie Foxx on the R&B-loving; hook. This Luther Vandross-ripping soulfest has somehow placed Twista's third solo album at the top of this week's Billboard charts. Which is incredible on a few fronts. First and foremost, Twista is the ugliest man in hip-hop. Just peep the album cover: Dude's an acne-riddled Rescue Ranger. Second, after more than a year of delays, it's the Road Runner-rapping MC's first album in nearly five years.
This aside, Twista (formerly Tung Twista) sports perhaps the most dexterous flow since mid-90s Busta, and on "Slow Jamz", he wraps his voice around a supremely accelerated Burt Bacharach-penned sample. Unfortunately, based on the immediately quotable couplet, "Got a light-skinned friend look like Michael Jackson/ Got a dark-skinned friend look like Michael Jackson," Kanye outshines him completely.
While Twista could rely solely on his ridiculous verbal agility on posse cuts like Memphis Bleek's classic "Is That Your Bitch?", he hasn't got it in him to sustain an entire album. And if Kamikaze isn't an absolute abomination, its scope quickly reveals itself as limited: three songs about female ass (including the hilarious "Badunkadunk" and the R. Kelly event "So Sexy"), a sequel to a song no one's heard ("Still Feels So Good") and another about rims ("Like a 24", featuring T.I., who also has a single about rims in rotation right now-- sadly, his are only 22's). Topics like these have been drained of what little juice they might have had by, among others, the nefarious Nelly.
Aside from "Slow Jamz", Kanye's production appears twice more, on "One Last Time", and later, on "Overnight Celebrity", which outdoes his previous crate-digging by jacking Lenny Williams' 70s Motown hit "'Cause I Love You". Bombastic strings, heart-rattling urgency, and Twista's sharpest punchlines make it the star of the record. Elsewhere, the vaguely uplifting (but ultimately perfunctory) "Hope" fills Twista's "sensitive thug" prerequisite. Granted, any rap song that gives a hopeful shoutout to Christopher Reeve's ability to walk is going to seem strangely off-putting. Thankfully, Cee-Lo's shimmering chorus saves this borderline piffle.
On the strip-club anthem "Sunshine", Twista nearly pisses all over what little respect he's gathered to date, sampling Bill Withers' luminescent "Lovely Day". Good thing The Gap already raped the beauty of that song. "Drinks" compares fine ladies to-- naturally-- alcoholic beverages while Toxic, who produces nearly half the album, provides the best Dr. Dre-impersonation you'll hear this side of Scott Storch. Kamikaze ends with one last Roc-A-Fella posse cut, "Art & Life". The song, laced with a beat worthy of an NBA introduction ceremony, features strong verses from Freeway, Memphis Bleek and Young Chris, until Twista swoops in to smoke to whatever's left of the ominous beat. Obviously, Twista's not breaking down any walls with his wordplay on Kamikaze, but along the way he kicks over a few garbage cans while letting Kanye West, Toxic and the rest of his production crew move some crowds and elevate their status, one slow jam at a time.
