The 50 must-have New Orleans records
Mystikal - "Let's Get Ready" - Jive - 2000
Mystikal had separated himself from Master P.’s No Limit company by the time he recorded “Let’s Get Ready,” and it shows. Mystikal brings his hard-rapping, grunting style to the 2000 album, dropping the thuggish No Limit sound for a more lavish production.
On the record are two of Mystikal’s biggest hits, “Shake ya ***” and “Danger,” that were top 15 singles on their release. The rest of the album is less club friendly but still features the wild rapper’s spontaneous hollers and howls. On “Ain’t Gonna See Tomorrow,” he makes a plea for a better society that he feels won’t happen until he's dead and gone. The album closes with “Neck uv da Woods,” which as an Outkast operation mixes it up a bit, sounding more like Mystikal is the guest artist and not the other way around.
“Let’s Get Ready” was the beginning of a bad period for Mystikal – he’s released just one album and spent six years in jail since the release – but here he’s on top of the hip-hop world. And with a recent Jazz Fest appearance under his belt and an album that is expected to be released in the next year, he may climb back to the top again.
- Chad Bower
Mystikal - "Shake it Fast"
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