Twizzie - Animal

Hear The Track Here

The artist formerly known as Twisted Angel finally comes clean and admits that he's a bit of an animal, as if that would come as a surprise to those who know him through his music. Then the answer could only be 'well yeaaahhhh' or - even more succinct - 'duuuuhhh'. His music is raw, hard-edged, his lyrics have teeth and he most definitely is not afraid to stand his ground and roar defiance in your face. In other words, my kind of animal. Along with some other Soundclick rappers, Twizzie is slowly but surely putting the bones into his music that make it more immediate, accessible and - most of all - different. Yeah, yeah I see the Parental Advisory, but hey sometimes cursing makes another point...

**** knows what though....

Twizzie has always done it for me lyrically, and even his music choices interest me and not what you may normally would consider hip hop, especially the more commercial variety to which musicians like Twizzie are fast becoming the antidote. Casting my eye over past reviews I noticed this little gem in my review of Half Full (July 2010), 'This is a musician I have high hopes for this year' and Twizzie has more than fulfilled that promise although not to the point, it should be noted, where we are into Must Have territory. There isn't however much to worry about because with every release this rapper gets more and more confident in what he is doing. And, it has to be said, most people wouldn't notice anything amiss anyway.

Animal, like most of his tracks this year, is clever, fresh and rocking but still with an edge of roughness to the sound that shows where it's coming from, and that isn't a bad thing and only grumps and nitpickers like me would have the nerve to mention it. The fact is that Twizzie - despite the PA warning - is one of the brighter lights on the Soundclick hip hop scene and Animal only goes to show why. Musically diverse and lyrically precise, Animal is everything that I like in hip hop rolled up in one, but nowhere more so than on the intro where Twizzie lays out his 'this is what indie means' stall... Yay, go my man!!

Highly Recommended hip hop growler.