Twiztid

Twiztid

Twiztid is a hardcore hip hop/horrorcore rap group from Eastpointe, Michigan, formed in 1997. Twiztid was originally called House of Krazees, which consisted of Mr. Bones, Hectik, and The R.O.C. After the break up of HOK Mr. Bones and Hectik renamed their duo Twiztid. The group consists of Jamie Madrox and Monoxide. Since their 1998 debut, the group has become the second most popular group on the Psychopathic Records (after Insane Clown Posse), and has a loyal following of Juggalos of their own.

Biography

Early history (1992–1999)

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Prior to Twiztid, Madrox and Monoxide were members of the rap trio House of Krazees, using the names Mr. Bones and Hektic. The band released five albums before splitting up in 1997. The two formed Twiztid, signing with Psychopathic Records that same year.

Twiztid's 1998 debut album, Mostasteless, was originally released independently by Psychopathic. When Insane Clown Posse signed with Island Records, they helped get a deal for Twiztid as well. Mostasteless was pulled, and re-released on Island in 1999 with somewhat different track listing. That track listing included brand new songs, leaving tracks like "Murder Murder Murder" and "She Ain't Afraid" because of Island Records' standards of material on the original Mostasteless release.

Freek Show era (2000–2002)

In 2000, the group released Cryptic Collection, which is Twiztid's Version of Insane Clown Posse Forgotten Freshness. Its features Some New Tracks, Rare Tracks, and Unreleased Tracks.

Twiztid released their second album, Freek Show, on October 31,2000 —the same day Insane Clown Posse released their Bizaar/Bizzar albums. Freek Show became the group's breakthrough album, giving the group their first taste of chart success, and proving the group could do well on their own.

The group released the Mirror Mirror EP in 2002. It received little promotion and is the group's only studio EP. A second Cryptic Collection also came out, featuring the Mostasteless tracks that don't appear on the Island re-release..

The Green Book era (2003–2004)

The Green Book was released in 2003. The album was notably darker than previous albums and introduced a change in sound for the group, who described the album as a more personal work. This Album came from the eyes of Jamie and Paul instead of The Juggalo's eyes.

Twiztid's appearance also changed for The Green Book. Jamie Madrox now had bright green contacts and bright green hair, and Monoxide had virtually no makeup on whatsoever; neither wore any white face-paint. From this album on, Twiztid changed their appearance to match their current album. It also featured Other Non-Psychopathic Records artist like E-40, Bushwick Bill and the start of many collaborations with Tech N9ne.

Twiztid also began releasing a series of half-hour episodes of what they called The Purple Show on the internet. All three original episodes, plus an unreleased fourth episode, were later released on DVD. A fifth episode appeared on the group's website in 2004, and a sixth, Halloween-themed, episode was released on the Mutant Vol. 2 bonus DVD.

Twiztid started their own label, Majik Records, with producer Tom Dub, but quickly drifted back to Psychopathic after a Fall Through.

In 2004, Twiztid released their third Cryptic Collection album, which included a cover of Steve Miller's "The Joker", which they performed at the 2004 Gathering of the Juggalos.

Also, in November of 2004, Monoxide released his debut solo album, Chainsmoker LP.

Man's Myth / Mutant era (2005–2006)

In the summer of 2005, Twiztid released two albums—Man's Myth Vol. 1 and Mutant Vol. 2, released within a month of each other. Man's Myth was a typical Twiztid album, while Mutant was featured more of a rock and roll sound. Jamie Madrox had been questioned about it actually being the long sought after Black Majik project that Twiztid had been working on at the Gathering of the Juggalos 2006. In this response, Madrox replied "Just picture Mutant with a Black Majik logo on there and call it whatever you want. It's something all Twiztid but with the flavor we wanted to do with Black Majik all along since it fell through."

Each album included a DVD; The Man's Myth DVD had footage from the group's live performance at The Gathering of the Juggalos 2004, and commentary by Jamie and Paul about their discography. The Mutant DVD had the music video for "Story of Our Lives", behind-the-scenes footage of the making of the video, and a sixth episode of The Purple Show.

In 2006, Jamie Madrox released Phatso, his first solo record since 1995's Sacrifice. A limited edition version of the album, Phatso: Earth 2 Version—with alternate mixes and one new song—was released a week after the original.

Independents Day era (2007–present)

The album Independents Day was released on July 3 2007. Nearly every track features an independent guest, hence the title. Guest artists include Tech N9ne, Potluck, Proof and Bizarre from D12, (həd) p.e., Tha Dogg Pound, DJ Quik, The Dayton Family, DJ Clay, Insane Clown Posse and Blaze Ya Dead Homie. Proof and Bizarre's participation marked the first time Shady Records and Psychopathic artists appeared on record together, due to the recently-ended long-standing feud between Eminem and ICP. E-40, Too Short & Master P were also slated to appear on the album, but did not appear on the released version. In an interview with Monoxide, he stated that some people "didn't cut the mustard" and were left off the album.

The album peaked at #57 on Billboard magazine's Billboard 200 chart, reaching as high as #4 on Top Independent Albums and #9 on Top Rap Albums.

Unstable Rituals Era (Future/2008)

In the month of September 2007, It was announced that Twiztid's planned nationwide "Toxic Terror Tour" was cancelled due to an accident on the set of the video shoot for "Raw Deal" (The Juggalo Song), in which Monoxide tore his MCL. The tour resumed in Spring 2008 after Monoxide took time off to fully recover from his injury. The group's "Toxic Terror Tour" EP was sold exclusively at tour stops around the country. Madrox announced that after the Toxic Terror Tour, Twiztid would go straight into studio to work on their next planned project entitled "Unstable Rituals".

Style

Twiztid is known for their varied and sporadic style of rap, performed typically over what would seemingly be "un-rappable" style background beats. At the beginning of the group's history as Twiztid (i.e. around the Mostasteless era), both Monoxide Child and Jamie Madrox typical delivered rhymes at more or less the same speed and consistency. As the group progressed, Jamie Madrox developed into a more-forceful version of the style he used as Mr. Bones in the House of Krazees while Monoxide Child began rapping with more of an out-of-rhythm delivery, similar to the style used by Violent J of the Insane Clown Posse in the most recent era of that group's history.

Discography

Albums and EPs

• Mostasteless (1998)
• Cryptic Collection (2000)
• Freek Show (2000)
• Cryptic Collection Vol. 2 (2001)
• Mirror Mirror EP (2002)
• The Green Book (2003)
• 4 tha Fam (2003) (download only)
• Fright Fest 2003 EP (2003) (only available at Fright Fest)
• Cryptic Collection Vol. 3 (2004)
• Season of the Pumpkin: HOK Re-Release (2004) (only available at Fright Fest and online at the now defunct twiztidshop.com)
• Man's Myth Vol. 1 (2005)
• Mutant Vol. 2 (2005)
• Fright Fest 2005 EP (2005) (only available at Fright Fest)
• Cryptic Collection Halloween Edition (2006) (only available at the 2006 Hallowicked show)
• Independents Day (2007)
• The Toxic Terror Tour EP (2008)
• Unstable Rituals (2008/2009)

Singles

• "Rock the Dead" (1999)
• "We Don't Die" (2000)
• "Afraid of Me" (2003)
• "Darkness" (2003)
• "Story of Our Lives" (2005)
• "Raw Deal (The Juggalo Song)"(2007)

Compilations

• "Psychopathics from Outer Space" (1999)
• "Psychopathics from Outer Space Part 2" (2003)
• "Psychopathics from Outer Space Part 3" (2007)

• Dark Lotus- "Tales From The Lotus Pod" (2001)
• Dark Lotus- "Tales From The Lotus Pod Revised" (2002)
• Dark Lotus- "Black Rain" (2004)
• Dark Lotus- "The Opaque Brotherhood" (2008)

Internet and concert singles

• "Wrong with Me" (2001)
• "A Very Twiztid Christmas" (2001)
• "Green Pumpkinz" (2002)
• "SWK: Nosferatu" (2002)
• "Christmas in the Hood" (2003)
• "Murder City Christmas" (2005) (w/ICP)
• "Necks" (2006)
• "Knock Knock" (2007)

Filmography

• Big Money Hustlas (1999)
• Born Twiztid: Behind The Freekshow (2000)
• The Purple Show (2003)
• Go To Hell With Twiztid (2007)
• 5 Minutes of Fury (2007)
• Big Money Rustlas *Pre-Production* (2008/2009)
• Road Rage (2008/2009)

Collaborations

Collaborations include:

• (həd) p.e.
• Anybody Killa (ABK)
• Axe Murder Boyz (AMB)
• Bizarre
• Blaze Ya Dead Homie
• Boondox
• Bo$$/Bo$$ Alini (recorded, but never released)
• Bushwick Bill
• DJ Clay
• DJ Quik
• E-40
• Esham
• Insane Clown Posse (ICP)
• Jumpsteady
• King Gordy
• Kottonmouth Kings
• Layzie Bone
• L.A.V.E.L.
• Master P
• Motown Rage
• Mars (but the track was never released)
• Myzery
• Paris
• Poe Whosaine (recorded, but never released)
• Potluck
• Project: Deadman
• Proof
• Prozak
• Subnoize Souljaz
• Tech N9ne
• Tha Dogg Pound
• The Dayton Family
• The R.O.C.
• Three 6 Mafia
• Too Short (but the track was never released)
• Vampiro
• Wolfpac
• Zug Izland

External links and references

• Twiztid official site
• Template:Myspace
• Template:Amg
• Psychopathic Records official site (portal)
• Behind the Paint, Violent J with Hobey Echlin. ISBN 978-0345447623/ISBN 978-0974184609