Working with those guys like that-Chief Keef being like a face of Chicago right now to youth. “On the simplest level you got me, Stunt Taylor, and Chief Keef on a song, so that’s one thing. Now we’ve evolved to things like the Expo, charity basketball games, and so many other things.” It started out with just rap shows, talent shows, and things like that. I think just with age and over time, in a position to do different things to come up with different ways to give back to the community. Me being from Chicago I definitely want to always give back. I think everybody represents the town they’re from, and it’s a part of their hearts-it’s just bigger than a location. On engaging the community outside of hip-hop Here are some select quotes from our conversation: We also spoke about the up-and-coming locals he listens to and what inspired the name of his new album. When I spoke with Twista on the phone a couple weeks ago I first asked him about his involvement in the community.

Twista’s been active in Chicago outside of the hip-hop scene as well-he’s organized food drives with south-side one-stop shop Exclusive773, and just last month he hosted a shoe convention called Sole Expo at Lacuna Lofts in Pilsen. He compared himself to the Higgs boson on Chance the Rapper‘s “Cocoa Butter Kisses,” laid out the realities of street life on the remix of Lil Reese’s “Traffic,” and rapped about bopping on Sicko Mobb’s “Bitches & Bikinis.” Mitchell recruited some younger artists for The Dark Horse: it notably includes “No Friend of Me,” a bonus track with drill rapper Chief Keef and Stunt Taylor, the west-side MC whose “Fe Fe on the Block” helped soundtrack the blossoming bop scene. Aside from releasing a mixtape (2012’s Reloaded) and an EP (last year’s Back to the Basics), Mitchell’s been consistently popping up on tracks by a younger generation of Chicago rappers. The new album is Twista’s first in nearly half a decade, and he’s kept busy since he dropped The Perfect Storm in 2010. More than two decades later and Mitchell is still at it-today he releases his ninth album, The Dark Horse. The tempo is remarkably fast-after all, the man otherwise known as Terrell Mitchell landed in the Guinness Book of World Records in 1992, the same year he released his debut album, Runnin’ Off at da Mouth. “I’m known for a certain tempo of music,” says Chicago hip-hop veteran Twista.

Twista album