Twiztid: История американского хип-хоп дуэта

American hip hop duo

Twiztid released their debut album, Mostasteless, in 1998. Since then, they have released 16 full length studio albums, 14 extended plays, 17 compilation albums, two mixtapes, and numerous singles. They were signed with Psychopathic Records from 1997 until 2012. Two years later, they formed their own label, Majik Ninja Entertainment.

Prior to Twiztid, Jamie Spaniolo and Paul Methric were members of the hip hop trio House of Krazees alongside Bryan Jones. They performed under the personas of Mr. Bones, Hektic, and The R. O. C. respectively. The group released five albums in the 1990s before Methric and Spaniolo departed in 1997. Jones continued using the House of Krazees name for a few years before turning to a solo career instead. After the split, Methric and Spaniolo sent a demo tape to Insane Clown Posse member Joseph Bruce (Violent J), which also featured their friend Chris Rouleau (Blaze Ya Dead Homie), under the name ISI (Infamous Superstars Incorporated). The demo contained the tracks "2nd Hand Smoke", "Diemuthafuckadie", and "How Does It Feel?". A few of the tracks were conceived while the duo performed under their old personas of Mr. Bones and Hektic, while the other tracks were finished by Mike E. Clark of Psychopathic Records. When Insane Clown Posse signed with Island Records, they helped get a deal for Twiztid as well. In his review of the reissued album, AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that "[Although] the thought of a group of Insane Clown Posse protégés isn't exactly inspiring", the album "may take you by surprise Mostasteless actually works better than most ICP records," that "Twiztid often is more convincing than [its] Dark Carnival colleagues," and concluded that "if you don't buy into the whole comic book horror schtick, Mostasteless will be irritating, but if you've bought into it, you'll enjoy this record as much, if not more, than most ICP albums". The reissue of Mostasteless peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart and at No. 149 on the Billboard 200 chart. After the release of the Mostasteless albums, Twiztid continued to build their fanbase within the juggalo community by performing at numerous shows and being involved with associated projects. Dark Lotus was the first project that emerged, as it consisted of the then current roster of Psychopathic Records. Although the debut album had been set for 1999 after the release of the single "Echo Side", the album was delayed and the song instead appeared on Insane Clown Posse's album The Amazing Jeckel Brothers. Another project formed was Psychopathic Rydas, which was a supergroup that consisted of Twiztid, Insane Clown Posse, Blaze Ya Dead Homie, and Myzery. The group took a satirical tone in the lyrics and used well known gangsta rap beats as the backing music. The group's debut album was released in 1999, titled Dumpin'. Twiztid was a headlining act at the first Gathering of the Juggalos in July 2000. The event was a success and Twiztid's presence continued for over a decade later. The duo also had made their acting debut in the comedy film Big Money Hustlas. The plot was conceived by Insane Clown Posse and Twiztid. The film was a success as the home video peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Music Videos chart. On October 31, 2000, Twiztid released their second studio album, Freek Show. In his review of the album, AllMusic's Brad Mills wrote that "this kind of music appeals to a small sector of hip hop listeners and will probably do well within [its] niche market, but the average hip hop listener will just have to understand that this is a different kind of album". The album peaked at No. 51 on the Billboard 200 chart. Mirror Mirror peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Top Independent Albums chart and at No. 103 on the Billboard 200 chart. AllMusic reviewer Rob Theakston panned the album, writing that it "is much, much better than the last ICP card record, but looking at the forest from the trees, that really isn't saying much anymore". The Green Book peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Top Independent Albums chart and at No. 52 on the Billboard 200 chart. While Man's Myth (Vol. 1) featured a hip hop oriented sound, Mutant (Vol. 2) featured a rock oriented sound. The album peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Top Independent Albums chart, No. 9 on the Billboard Top Rap Albums chart, and No. 57 on the Billboard 200 chart. A promotional EP titled Toxic Terror was released during the tour as well. On March 17, 2009, Twiztid released their seventh full length studio album W. I. C. K. E. D. (short for "Wish I Could Kill Every Day"). W. I. C. K. E. D. was Twiztid's highest charting album, peaking at No. 11 on the Billboard 200 chart, No. 4 on the Billboard Top Rap Albums chart, and No. 1 on the Billboard Top Independent Albums chart. The album peaked at No. 3 on both the Billboard Top Rap Albums and Billboard Top Independent Albums charts. From Twiztid and Blaze Ya Dead Homie's Psychopathic Records departure in 2012 up until 2016, they had continued to perform at the annual Gathering of the Juggalos. The 2016 event featured a prominent presence by MNE, as each artist released an EP at the event; Twiztid with Trapped, Blaze Ya Dead Homie with Dead Vulture, The R. O. C. with The Fucking Prey Lewd, and Lex "The Hex" Master with Mr. Ugly. At the end of 2016, it was revealed that former Psychopathic Records recording artist and in house producer Young Wicked had joined the MNE label under controversial circumstances. The signing had permanently severed all of Twiztid's ties to Psychopathic Records and Insane Clown Posse, including appearances at the Gathering of the Juggalos, studio collaborations, and tour plans. Shortly afterwards, Twiztid released The Continuous Evilution of Life's ?s. The album peaked at No. 28 on the Billboard 200 chart. Blaze Ya Dead Homie and Twiztid also released an album titled Triple Threat on September 1, 2017. The trio's name stemmed from the song "Triple Threat" off of 2005's Mutant (Vol. 2) album.

In early 2018, Twiztid hosted the first Astronomicon event. Astronomicon was focused on video games, horror films, comic books, and musical acts. Special guests included professional wrestlers such as Booker T, Scott Hall, Eric Bischoff, and Brother Love; horror icons such as Bill Moseley, Kane Hodder, and Tony Moran; comedic actors such as Brian O'Halloran and Jason Mewes; and metal musicians such as Carla Harvey. The event was a success as it was turned into a yearly event afterwards. Twiztid also announced a comic book series titled Haunted High Ons, written by Dirk Manning. The project was revealed alongside a Kickstarter campaign. Twiztid was invited to join Van's Warped Tour for the 2018 cycle, 15 years after the duo's last appearance. Due to the more positive reception than their 2003 appearance, they were invited back the following year; however, the 2019 cycle ended up being the final Van's Warped Tour since it was then retired as an entity. On April 26, 2019, Twiztid released their 12th full length studio album Generation Nightmare, a more rock oriented album than most of their previous releases. Generation Nightmare had featured the most variety of producers on a singular Twiztid album to that point, with seven different producers overall. It peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Top Independent Albums chart and at No. 51 on the Billboard 200 chart. On April 20, 2020, Twiztid released their 13th full length studio album Mad Season on their online web store without any prior promotion. A few days later, the album was made available on streaming services. The duo returned to a more horrorcore sound with a hip hop approach on Mad Season. Due to the lack of promotion, the album had found only minimal success as it peaked at No. 38 on the Billboard Top Independent Albums chart. On November 23, 2020, Twiztid announced their next album would be titled Revelashen. Similar to Mad Season, it received very little promotion or hype, and it was released merely four days after the announcement. In regards to prior albums, Revelashen was not as successful since it only appeared on one chart, the Billboard Top Current Album Sales chart, peaking at No. 57. Revelashen was more straightforward in its content, with the duo shredding the theatrical storylines and moving away from strictly horror themes.

Twiztid released the promotional EP Electric Lettuce on April 20, 2021, as it coincided with a 4:20 livestream event. Twiztid also formed another supergroup in 2021 named East Side Ninjas, which featured the duo, Blaze Ya Dead Homie, and Anybody Killa. Their debut album Pact of the 4 was released on June 5, 2021. Also in early 2021, Twiztid released the single "Rose Petal". It appeared on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart for over two months, peaking at No. 32. It was the duo's first appearance on a singles chart. Another single was released in May 2021 as a collaboration with Ice Nine Kills titled "Envy". It was the duo's second appearance on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart, peaking at No. 32 in October 2021 and staying on the chart for 15 weeks overall. The song (and the aforementioned "Rose Petal" single) later appeared on Unlikely Prescription, their rock oriented album that was released on September 10, 2021. Unlikely Prescription peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard Top Current Album Sales chart and, because of the duo's venture into the rock genre, at No. 20 on the Billboard Top Hard Rock Albums chart, which was their first appearance on the chart. On November 28, 2022, Twiztid surprise released an album entitled Glyph. It was exclusively released through their webstore on physical CD with no prior notice. It was added onto streaming services two months later, although Glyph ultimately became the first Twiztid album to not appear on any Billboard chart. Monoxide released his second solo album on February 29, 2024, titled Chainsmoker II. It arrived nearly 20 years after his previous solo album, 2004's Chainsmoker, and also became the first solo album from Twiztid in 18 years (since Madrox's Phatso in 2006). At 2024's Astronomicon, Twiztid confirmed that their rock oriented album with producer Zeuss (who has worked with Rob Zombie, Earth Crisis, Hatebreed, Chimaira, among other rock/metal artists) was due for release in 2024, entitled Welcome to Your Funeral. A picture disc vinyl was revealed for the album's first single.

Jamie Spaniolo described his lyrical style by saying, "Think of it as if there was a Halloween or Friday the 13th on wax and Jason and Michael Myers could actually rap, this is what their vibe would sound like". Twiztid's lyrics draw from themes which include anger, hate, AllMusic writer Bradley Torreano wrote that Twiztid's songs are "teenage anthems that actually have more than a passing similarity" to the songs of Detroit rapper Eminem, and that Twiztid's lyrics "[accurately portray] the mood of most unhappy young people". Spaniolo, a fan of comic books, often references comics in his lyrics; his stage name is taken from the Marvel Comics superhero "The Multiple Man" Jamie Madrox, and he has made reference to "The Multiple Man" nickname in Twiztid's songs. Twiztid's style has been described as horrorcore, and rap metal. Starting with their Abominationz album, Twiztid adopted a faster rapping style which allowed the duo to write more lyrics for the album than previous efforts. After Methric finally persuaded Spaniolo to listen to Run DMC, the group's Raising Hell album became the first rap album Spaniolo ever purchased, The duo has stated that they are collectively influenced by Rob Zombie, Sully Erna, Chester Bennington, Black Sabbath,