This weekend, Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars made a funktastic musical appearance on Saturday Night Live. Aside from bringing down the house with their new single, “Uptown Funk,” they also brought out a hip-hop legend who we haven’t seen—or heard from—in forevs, to perform the groovy “Feel Right.”
Ladies and gentlemen, Mystikal!
In case you’re brain is too full to remember, the N’Awlins native was all over the radio in the early 2000s, thanks to club bangers like “Danger (Been So Long)” and “Shake Ya Ass,” both of which boasted the rapper’s signature growl. (A music video for the latter also introduced the world to a certain hip-hop model named Karrine Steffans, who would go on to appear in over 20 music videos and pen the salacious memoir, Confessions Of A Video Vixen. If you watch the clip, she’s the one in the chaps and pasties.)
So where has Mystikal been for the last 14 years?
Well, in 2004, he was sentenced to six years in prison after being convicted for sexual battery and extortion. Apparently, he and some of his cronies forced his hair stylist to perform unwanted sex acts. ( Extremely not cool, Myst.) The rapper served all six years in prison and was forced to register as a sex offender upon his release.
Then, two years later in 2012, Mystikal was arrested again for violating his parole after being involved in a domestic dispute with a lady friend. This time around, he only served three months.
While many of his former hip-hop cohorts distanced themselves from the rapper, Mystikal was embraced by an unexpected group of people: Insane Clown Posse fans. In fact, he played the 2011 Gathering Of The Juggalos festival and it was glorious.
This year, Mystikal released Original, his first album in more than a decade, and traded his doo-rag for a fedora by embracing a more funkadelic sound.
Sadly, the LP made little more than a whisper upon its release, but the chance encounter with Ronson in a Memphis recording studio that led to the two collaborating on “Feel Right”—off the famed producer’s upcoming album, Uptown Special—might just be the second chance Mystikal has been waiting/hoping for.
Do you think the rapper’s recent SNL performance will spark a full-blown comeback or is his collab with Ronson just another guest feature?
Yes, please let’s keep forgiving violent men like Mystikal and Terrence Howard, but Katherine Hiegl needs to be publicly shamed for being “difficult”…
“Not cool” wow, harsh criticism indeed.
I loved the growl in his voice when he sang. I like it less now that I know he’s a rapist. He can growl at home from now on, as far as I’m concerned.
so…what exactly is the talent-to-rape ratio needed to make people not want to work with or promote CONVICTED SEX OFFENDERS anymore?…like, how many actual people do you have to rape, versus, how many Grammys you’ve won? 3:1? 4:1? Do kids count as more? Do AMA’s count as less? To CMA’s not count at all? What about prison rape? (or is that a free pass?). I’m really tired of hearing “ps this guy raped this girl this one time but boy is he good at music / movies / sports”.
so…what exactly is the talent-to-rape ratio needed to make people not want to work with or promote CONVICTED SEX OFFENDERS anymore?…like, how many actual people do you have to rape, versus, how many Grammys you’ve won? 3:1? 4:1? Do kids count as more? Do AMA’s count as less? To CMA’s not count at all? What about prison rape? (or is that a free pass?). I’m really tired of hearing “ps this guy raped this girl this one time but boy is he good at music / movies / sports”.