JiggyJay's Full Review: The Green Book [PA] by Twiztid
Introduction
Not so long ago I got into Insane Clown Posse, the legendary rap group who raps with clown makeup on, and in doing so also got into all of the groups that were a part of their record company or friends of the group like Blaze Ya Dead Homie, Esham, Dark Lotus, Psychopathic Rydas, Kottonmouth Kings, and last but not least, the reason you are reading this review, Twiztid, the two part rap group fresh out of Detroit, Michigan. Back when Twiztid was part of an underground rap group called The House of Krazees (I think that’s what it was called), Shaggy 2 Dope and Violent J (the members of Insane Clown Posse) discovered them and brought them a contract with their record company, Psychopathic Records. Twiztid, to this day, have released six albums with The Green Book being their latest. And guess what? Dbbum, the original Epinions Psychopathic Writer (Rider), didn’t review it first, so I have it for the taking and I just have to tease him about it that I’m the first one reviewing it when he knows everything about the Psychopathic Universe. So, Dbbum, ha-ha-ha-ha!
Twiztid consists of two members—Jamie Madrox and Monoxide Child. They don’t sound at all like Shaggy 2 Dope and Violent J. The Green Book was my first Twiztid album I ever got and I always got Jamie and Monoxide’s voices mixed up because their voices sound so similar to each other that it’s scary. Once I picked up their Freek Show and Mostasteless records, I was already used to their voices, but when you hear them for the first time, you might get annoyed or taken off guard by their tobacco-smoke-thickened throaty cackles. If you like Insane Clown Posse then you will love Twiztid, but don’t expect Twiztid to be at all like ICP. Instead of the hilarious lyrics that ICP are famous for or the same writing style as them, you get clearly humorous lyrics (just not laugh-out-loud funny), dark lyric writing, and a different flavor of beats that is really unfamiliar to ICP’s style—and this is a good thing since they step a little bit out of Insane Clown Posse’s shadow. Speaking of lyrics, they are catchy—and completely familiar to any fan of ICP or similar groups. They talk about all of the normal subjects like Faygo, Juggalos, and smoking dope, but they also bring subjects in that have never been touched before by any group of the genre dealing with a lot of unique things. I didn’t laugh at any of the humor, but that doesn’t mean you won’t.
The Green Book came out in June/July of 2002, it was highly anticipated and the hype was being blown way out of proportion with eager fans saying it was going to top all of their records including Mirror, Mirror and both of their Cryptic Collections CDs (that are Twiztid’s versions of Insane Clown Posse’s Forgotten Freshness albums). I wasn’t into Twiztid at that time last year. Hell, I wasn’t even into Insane Clown Posse until about February of this year. I did some back reading on this mofo. The Green Book differs from all of the other Twiztid CDs I own mostly because of the booklet. It is grade-A unique. It’s in a slip out case and inside there’s a thick, laminated booklet with hidden crap all around. Inside are the credits, props, and detailed descriptions of each song. It also tells about Monoxide Child and Jamie Madrox. The booklet is fun to read and very informative. It’s a must read for everyone. As for The Green Book, I think it’s a great direction for the group offering the group’s finest and most mature (in an awkward sense) lyrics they’ve ever created. As for the color that they picked, I love green and it’s a perfect color for the CD and a great theme. Also, did I tell you how long this The Green Book is? There’s twenty songs and the length is pretty wide—perfect for any road trip, and I’m saying this because I’m going to Yellowstone in a week and this is the perfect example of what kind of CDs I’m going to be bringing with me on my trip (expect a full “report” once I get back, of course).
Now, without further ado, why don’t we get to my favorite songs? First of all, I love the song On The Other End. This song starts abruptly after the Intro and remains one of my favorites despite its shortness. The lyrics are really good even though I don’t know what the overall meaning of it all is. It’s a great start to the album, but it sort of has an Eminem-vibe to it meaning that it sounds like an Eminem song. On The Other End is really catchy and the lyrics are easy to learn. By the second listen I was already singing along. Afraid of Me comes next. I love this song just because how personal it is and how sentimentally written it was by Jamie Madrox and Monoxide Child. Instead of the slapstick, or dark humor, you get an actual serious song by the group about how people are afraid of them just because of their beliefs and how they look (face paint with large blue contacts in their eyes). The song goes to an all-new level of what you can expect by Twiztid. Another favorite of mine is a song called I’m The Only 1, which has my buddy Shaggz rapping along with Twiztid straight out of ICP. This is one of the funny songs on the CD with a great drumbeat and lyrics centered on—you guessed it—sex. The song isn’t laugh-out-loud funny, but it can make you smile and open your eyes in wonder at how clever it was written. The song is too short. When Shaggy 2 Dope comes in I almost had a spasm because he’s so cool and he fits the song perfectly since this is what StretchNutz is always talking about.
The World Is Hell features Esham and was the first Twiztid song I ever heard and it’s probably my favorite off of the album. It’s a dark song, but there’s comic relief every now and then from the Monoxide Child. The lyrics aren’t violent, but they are certainly blacker than black. During the chorus, you get familiar Dark Carnival themes with tiny voices spitting out the chorus and grotesque turntable scratching. The lyrics are really catchy and were very well written. When I first saw the name of the song, I thought it was going to be Twiztid’s version of Insane Clown Posse’s Terrible song, but it isn’t at all, but it still carries that flavor telling about how the world is hell and bad and there’s even a line dedicated to the World Trade Center. There’s also a part making fun of R. Kelly and Michael Jackson for “touching little children”. The song is awesome, ‘nuff said. Nikateen is also a really good song, but it’s really short. All it is is Jamie Madrox talking about how smoking sucks—but how he’s still addicted. The song could really hit a cord with smokers…Okay, where are we? What are we talking about? Oh, yeah! Okay, my next favorite song is a little song called Marsh Lagoon and guess who’s in it? None other than the more-than-hilarious Violent J. Marsh Lagoon is also one of my favorite Twiztid songs of all time. Judging from the title, you can only guess what it’s about: killing people and dumping them in the marsh lagoon (which is exactly what the chorus says). The song has a serious interface with violins and keyboards as music with a really sweet melody, but once Twiztid and Violent J start rapping, you know that it’s not a serious song from the violent and goofy lyrics. This is also a catchy song and one, which I know all of the words to by heart!
Track Listings:
1. The Green Book [4/5]
2. On The Other End [5/5]
3. White Trash Wit Tat-2’s [4/5]
4. Afraid of Me [5/5]
5. Wondering Why?[4/5]
6. Call Me [4/5]
7. I’m The Only 1 (featuring Shaggy 2 Dope) [5/5]
8. Speculationz (featuring E-40) [4/5]
9. The World Is Hell (featuring Esham) [5/5]
10. Nikateen [4/5]
11. U Don’t Wanna B Like Me [5/5]
12. Serial Killa (featuring Tech N9ne) [4/5]
13. Marsh Lagoon (featuring Violent J) [5/5]
14. Bobby’s Dad [4/5]
15. Hydro (featuring Lazy-Bone) [5/5]
16. Frankenstein (featuring Colton Grundy) [5/5]
17. Everybody Diez (featuring ABK & Bushwick Bill) [4/5]
18. Fat Kidz [4/5]
19. Hom-Sha-Bom [5/5]
20. Darkness [4/5]
Conclusion
As you can probably obviously tell, I’m trying a new format for this review. I see how a lot of my fellow reviewers have shorter reviews, so I’m thinking “Am I overdoing it? Do people like reading really long reviews?”. If this doesn’t work out, I’ll restart the review and post a long version of the review, but if this does work, I have less to write and less to edit! I want you to get this straight: Twiztid isn’t at all like Insane Clown Posse so it’s up to you whether you like them. Twiztid’s music is rougher around the edges and a little more hardcore and not as immature as ICP. Jamie and Monoxide’s voices are much different than Shaggy and J’s and the musical style is much different with a lot of more mature guitar work and heavier drumbeats. Personally, I loved The Green Book. It’s a CD where I can listen to it and forget about everything that’s going around me. This was my first Twiztid CD and I think that if you want to get into Twiztid’s music than you should immediately buy The Green Book or their first album Mostasteless (a tip directly from Dbbum). I now own all of Twiztid’s CDs (except that blasted Mirror, Mirror album…er…) and I’m very glad I got into them. So, yes, I am green with envy because The Green Book was one of the best records of 2002 (along with Insane Clown Posse’s The Wraith: Shangri-La CD). My final advice to you is that you should buy it because it’s cheap ($13 bucks!) and it’s long. I got my money’s worth and that’s all that counts. Thanks for reading and have a Twiztid day!
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