Mystikal

On Let's Get Ready , Mystikal is unruly yet razor sharp, chopping the Neptunes' production into small slices of funk with a flow that sounds like a cross between James Brown and Donald Duck. Pharrell's thin falsetto on the hit single "Shake Ya Ass" is the only thing that keeps the track from spinning into a strange stratosphere of pure, syncopated energy; while rattling bongos, sweaty verses and surf guitar riffs anchor the appropriately titled "Danger." It's nearly impossible to sit still while listening to this one.

With the dissolution of Master P's No Limit army at hand (Mystikal as well as production
troupe Beats by the Pound and a number of B-level artists have either gone AWOL, been
insubordinate or wound up in trouble with the authorities), Let's Get Ready . . . , the fourth
album by Mystikal, New Orleans' hyperactive rap star, may be relegated to footnote status
in Colonel P's ongoing saga. That would be a shame; Let's Get Ready . . . has the... More >

Gangsta sh*t finally beneath him, he bids to become pop's scariest party animal ("Shake Ya Ass," "Big Truck Boys," "Family"). (Grade - ***)