Artist: TwistaTitle: The Day AfterRating: 3 1/2 StarsReviewed by: Jessica Dufresne
Sometimes making it big suddenly is more trouble than its worth. Twista might know this better than anyone as he drops the follow-up to his platinum Kamikaze. Although he was already well known and respected for years before MTV cared, it wasnt until Slow Jamz and Overnight Celebrity that he saw mainstream love. Now, without the man behind those hits, and facing his own version of the potential sophomore slump, Twista proves that there is a tomorrow on The Day After (Atlantic).
Things start off eerily with a reporters voice stating that Twista smashed his car into a building, kamikaze-style and questions whether hell survive. The answer is yes, as our hero gets affirmation from Syleena Johnson on the proceeding title track. With her rich and passionate vocals, she lets Twista know hes gonna make it over a brooding piano-looped foundation. In Check That Hoe, he asserts his purpose by saying, I just wanted them to see what my CD was like/Hip-Hop is in a state as if it was a baby being murdered/I just wanna feed it poetry Pedialyte. In that medication is a mix of sex, pimpology, screwed, and more sex songs.
The lead single, Girl Tonite, features Trey Songz and uses 80s R&B group Ready For The Worlds classic Tonight to lay down how Twistas girl makes him feel and vice versa. It gets raunchier as the Queen Bee goes head to head (no pun intended) with the Midwest boss rhyming about how they couldnt help but Do Wrong and cheat on their partners. The Rev. Al Greens Love and Happiness provides the sample and its use would no doubt have the legend calling for atonement. The DJ Smurf produced Hit The Floor is another sexually charged track soliciting girls at the club to do just that, with a little Spanish flavor from Pitbull added to the mix. Things relax when the Neptunes take charge with the dreamy, African drum-beat on Lavish and then with the surefire monster club hit, Get You HomeA.I.O.U., featuring Pharell and Jamie Foxx on the hook.
Although the content can get monotonous (was he horny when writing the album?), Twista definitely has plenty of singles here thanks to production by The Neptunes, DJ Smurf, and Scott Storch, among others, and not to mention all the guests. The Day After proves that he was no overnight mainstream celebrity last year, and that he doesnt need his Windy City pal to move units.