Twista Begins Whitney Houston Tribute

One of the aspects of Hip Hop that really annoys me is when like 15 different artists jump on a remix of an already over-played track to create a 10 minute megamix. Keep it to less than four features because I'm going to hit next track if it goes beyond that, no matter how great the beat is. There shouldn't ever be a Hip Hop track that is over 5 minutes long and having more features than needed puts that at risk.

What does this have to do with @twistagmg's tribute to Whitney Houston you ask? Well, I'm more than willing to make an exception to the bold statement I made above regarding the number of artists on a track with the tribute below. To this date, I haven't heard of any Hip Hop artist buying a card, writing his condolences on it, then passing it on to anybody willing to lend their thoughts over 16 bars. I say that because that's exactly what Twista did with the help of @traxster who did the beat. Not only did Traxster sample Whitney with class, but the heavy piano and rat-a-tat of the percussion was spot on.

I hope every rapper in Hip Hop leaves a mark on this open letter and blesses it with their own moving memories and thoughts on one of the most influential voices in R&B history. I'm crossing my fingers that a few in my live starting five like @Drake, @JColeNC and @bobatl take to the mic and celebrate her memory by joining Twista in grieving on wax. Keep it going y'all, don't be the dude who keeps passing the card because he "didn't know her well enough." You'd be fooling yourself if you weren't in some way moved by her legendary voice.

Bonus: Elton John speaks on Whitney's death and dedicates Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me to her...


Twista - Whitney Houston Tribute (prod by The Legendary Traxster)

"Yea Boy I Do, And You Should Do You, Why You Worried Bout Me, You Need To Worry Bout You"

You can't go wrong with Twista and The Legendary Traxster getting together on a track. From tracks like Yo Body with Do or Die and older tracks from his album Adrenaline Rush, Adrenaline Rush, Get it Wet and Emotions, Twista's unique flow has always had Traxster's well laid out canvas to work on. There's a good reason why I Twista's best album was Adrenaline Rush and that reason was Traxster producing every single track on the album.Sidebar: You also may not have associated Ludacris's new track, My Chick Bad with The Legendary Traxster, but he also produced that.

The sometimes haunting, but always simple and melodic beats from @traxster would be too simple for a lot of artists, but when combined with an artist like Twista whose talent is in your face, intense and uniquely fast, it just works. For Twista to sound like he's in his element and at his best, he's got to be the one that leads the way and set the tone for the track. Traxster's beats always allow him the ability to do that and that's why over the years they have been such a successful duo.

Fast forward now to 2010, where Twista is expecting a new album titled The Perfect Storm to drop on September 28. I've been reading some rave reviews from Fakeshore Drive regarding the album and based on The Legendary Traxster producing many of the tracks reviewed, I can see why. The song below which will probably be a single at some point off his new album, has the same sort of in your face, slower down sample that My Chick Bad has. It's every bit as intense and in your face as past Twista/Traxster collaborations with both beat and flow taking on an unapologetically uptempo feel. It seems like the Traxster has evolved a bit with his beat making though, opting for more attention grabbing beats like on I Do, which implore Twista to step his game up and evolve too.

...and step up he has, give the track a listen, you aren't going to find much better of a Hip Hop artist/producer match than with these two...

Twista - I Do (prod by The Legendary Traxster)
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