Carl Terrell Mitchell, better known by his stage name Twista, is an American recording artist. Born on November 27, 1973, he is best known for his chopper style of rapping and for once holding the title of fastest rapper in the world according to Guinness World Records in 1992, being able to pronounce 598 syllables in 55 seconds.
Twista grew up in the K-Town area of the North Lawndale neighborhood on the West Side of Chicago, Illinois, and began rapping when he was 12. In 1992, Mitchell released his first album called Runnin' Off at da Mouth under the name Tung Twista.
Twista's second album, titled Resurrection, was set to be released in 1994, but due to problems with his record label at the time Atlantic Records and marketing issues involving fellow Chicago rapper Common's album of the same name, the album was only released in the city of Chicago and thus got little national attention.
In 1996, he teamed with Chicago producer The Legendary Traxster and Cwal's Do or Die on the track "Po Pimp" produced by The Legendary Traxster, which became a hit single. This led to a Cwal's label deal with Atlantic Records, which released Adrenaline Rush in 1997. Twista had by then dropped the "Tung" from his stage name. Adrenaline Rush became Twista's first charting album, as it peaked at #77 on the Billboard Hot 200.
In 1998, Twista teamed with other Chicago area rappers to form the Speedknot Mobstaz. They released their first album, Mobstability produced entirely by The Legendary Traxster, in 1998. Twista then formed his own Legit Ballin' label, which released two compilation albums: Legit Ballin' in 1999 and Legit Ballin' Vol. 2: Street Scriptures in 2001.
Twista's album Kamikaze came out in 2004 and debuted at the top spot of the American Billboard 200 album chart. Its first single "Slow Jamz" (also featured on Kanye West's debut album The College Dropout),featured West and Jamie Foxx and became a number-one hit in the US. Other singles included "Overnight Celebrity" and "So Sexy" (featuring R. Kelly); the album sold around two million copies.
Twista's album The Day After was released in 2005. It featured the hit singles "Girl Tonite" featuring Trey Songz, "Hit the Floor" featuring Pitbull, and "So Lonely" featuring Mariah Carey. His next album, Adrenaline Rush 2007 came out in 2007. Its singles were "Give it Up" featuring Pharrell and "Creep Fast" featuring T-Pain.
Twista released his eighth solo album entitled, The Perfect Storm on Nov 9, 2010. The first single from the album, "Make a Movie" produced by The Legendary Traxster, featuring Chris Brown, was released on August 24, 2010. Two buzz singles were released, "I Do" produced by Traxster and "Heat" produced by fellow Chicago producers NO I.D. and The Legendary Traxster.
In January 2013, Twista was featured in a remix of Lil Reese's song "Traffic". As of 2013, Twista was working on his ninth studio album entitled Dark Horse. He also was rumored to be in the works of signing a record deal with Kanye West's music label GOOD Music, although in an interview with HipHopDX Twista denied the rumor.
The first single was "Throwin My Money", featuring R. Kelly and produced by Chris Millionaire. Twista appeared on the song "Jewels N Drugs" by Lady Gaga on the album Artpop. "It's Yours" featuring Tia London was released on May 6, 2014 as the second single of the aforementioned album. It was serviced to urban contemporary radio in the United States on May 27, 2014 by Capitol Records. Dark Horse released on August 12, 2014.
