Twista's 'Kamikaze'; Classic!, Dope, Regular, or Garbage?

Chicago legend, Twista, has been putting it down since the release of his 1992 debut, Runnin’ Off at da Mouth. Admittedly, I became a fan after hearing him rap on fellow Chicagoans Doe or Die’s “Po Pimp” and listening to his 3rd release, Adrenaline Rush, which featured the hit, “Get It Wet.”

Around my neck of the woods, Adrenaline Rush was considered a hood classic. However, I’d wonder could Twista come out with an album or song that would put him under mainstream’s radar. Linking up with rapper/producer, Kanye West, another Chicagoan, to create Kamikaze would do just that.

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Coming off a seven-year solo hiatus, Twista released the long-awaited album in 2004. It was met with much hype due to the two Kanye-produced singles, “Slow Jamz” and “Overnight Celebrity” which both reached number one and six, respectively on Billboard Hot 100.

My personal favorite, “So Sexy” featuring Chicago vocalist R.Kelly, represented the more positive side of the Chi. In addition, proving that successful and beautiful black women not only resides in Atlanta.

“All the shrimp and lobster honeys, downtown shopping honeys, staying on the grind, gotcha own car and crib honeys. Dro puffers, Remi sippers, V.I.P. real honeys; No dummies, taking no sh*t from a n***a that’s full of sh*t honeys,” Kels sings.

Aside from the singles, I admired other songs on the album which help formulated a more balance project. For example, Twista catered to the booty club attendees with songs, “Badunkadunk” and “Like a 24.” He touched on the pimp game alongside 8 Ball and Too Short in “Pimp On” which featured vocals from Westside Chicago pimp, Bishop Don “Magic” Juan.

More often than not, I found myself hitting the slab in my old hood while listening to “Still Feels So Good”

Twista shows a sensitive side in “Hope.”

Although Kanye would produce for two of the album’s most notable songs, other producers such as Frederick “Toxic” Taylor, also from Chicago, and Jazze Pha assisted as well.

Kamikaze reached number one on both US Billboard 200 and US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, In addition, reaching the Platinum status (over a million copies sold), his first to reach all 3 status.

In hindsight, I was impress with the album. Even to this day, I jam to it — and one of my personal criterias to identifying an album as a classic is the desire to jam to it 10-20 years later. So, what you guys think?