The Day After [Clean] [Edited]

Performer: Twista
Engineer: Conrad Golding; Kameron Houff; Mike Houge; Andrew Coleman; Ari Raskin; Frederick Taylor
Producer: Toxic; Scott Storch; The Neptunes; Jim Jonsin; Cuzo; Rodney Jerkins; Toxic; Scott Storch; The Neptunes; Jim Jonsin; Cuzo
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: Personnel: Twista; Wendell Ray (vocals); Brian Fontinelli (flamenco guitar); Jamie Foxx, Johnny P. , Juvenile, Lil' Kim, Mariah Carey, Pharrell Williams, Pitbull, Snoop Dogg, Syleena Johnson, Trey Songz, Sleepy Eyed Jones, Speedknot Mobstaz. Audio Mixers: Kevin "KD" Davis; Manny Marroquin; Dexter Simmons; Jean-Marie Horvat; Ray Seay; Richard Travali. Recording information: Chi- Rock Studios, Chicago, IL; Chung King Studios, NY; Dark Child Studios, Pleasantville, NJ; Hit Factory Criteria, Miami, FL; Record Plant, Los Angeles, CA; South Beach Recording Studios, Miami, FL. Photographer: Sacha Waldman. After nearly a decade as an underground favorite for his near-impossible rapid-fire raps, Chicago MC Twista suddenly exploded on the scene with one of the biggest hits of 2004, "Slow Jamz," and its accompanying KAMIKAZE, along with gaudy appearances on many other major R&B hits. A year later, Twista returns with THE DAY AFTER, a consistently solid record that echoes the sound of its predecessor. THE DAY AFTER's title track starts things off, as a flurry of chaos gives way to a soulfully panoramic, strikingly earnest view of a near-fatal experience. Twista follows with the extraordinarily sinister, predatory "Check That Hoe," perfectly exhibiting his hypnotically appealing slow-fast attack, rife with his head-turning lines. Twista moves beyond his high speed rhyming abilities, which once seemed just an impressive gimmick, to achieve a masterly blend of playful rhymes and dark gangster visions of street hustling and immense sensuality. Picking up where 2004's Kamikaze left off, The Day After is heavy with R&B, slickness, and hooks. In other words, it's the kind of album the hardcore lovers of Adrenaline Rush are going to sneer at while the radio heads and clubbers go nuts for it. You could be cynical and say the album is Kamikaze all over again with Pharrell and the Neptunes replacing Kanye West for the singles, but if The Day After is a contrived attempt at going platinum again, it's an inspired one. With its smoother-than-smooth chorus courtesy of Trey Songz, "Girl Tonite" could melt the paint off the walls twice as fast as Kamikaze's "So Sexy." "When I Get You Home" with Jamie Foxx and Pharrell could be "Slow Jamz"'s little brother, but "I'm a Winner" tries a shade too hard to recapture "Overnight Celebrity"'s fire. The opening "The Day After" is the only other time the album sounds forced, as it tries to push and shove the listener into believing Twista is the same old thug he's always been. He's not, and winning tracks with Mariah Carey and Snoop, plus a successful nod to the reggaeton phenomenon with Pitbull, are arguments that he shouldn't be and that superstar collaborations are what he does best, at least for now. The thumping "Heartbeat" and the easy rolling "Chocolate Fe's and Redbones" are where the meat of the album lies, both marrying old-school Twista with new-school, platinum Twista. An album of those kind of tracks and he'd have a classic, but for now, you'll just have to settle for great singles, worthy filler, and a couple missteps. [The Day After was also made available in a clean version, with all explicit material removed.] ~ David Jeffries

Vibe (p.148) - 3.5 discs out of 5 - "[H]is sexually charged rhymes successfully mesh with the climactic cooing of Trey Songz on 'Girl Tonight'."

Chicago rapper Carl Mitchell, better known as Twista, once made it into the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's fastest rapper (not for nothing was his original moniker Tung Twista). An influential artist since the early 1990s, Twista combines his lightning-quick rhymes with a combination of Southern jeep beats, East Coast gangsta themes, and West Coast G-funk. In the notoriously fickle rap world, he's prospered through several different eras of hip-hop, collaborating with everyone from Puff Daddy to Timbaland and always keeping his name in the game.

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