February 27, 2001

Single Of The Week - MYSTIKAL : Shake Ya Ass

It's a sleazy voodoo-wop raunch-soul classic and by far the best thing on Mystikal's 'Let's Get Ready' album.

December 2000, New York City. NME is dispatched to the Big Apple to interview the phenomenon
that is Mystikal, the 28-year-old gravel-voiced
New Orleans rapper and former US Army soldier. We're there for four days. He never shows up.
No-one knows where he is, but he's rumoured to have been spotted in New Orleans, Mexico,
Puerto Rico and Chicago. Clearly, Mystikal
likes travelling as much as he likes the ladies. But not just any ladies - Michael Tyler is a committed fan of those blessed with a fuller figure, and the more voluptuous the better. So just when everything's turning predictably Nigella Lawson, 'Shake Ya Ass', very much a tribute to the Lorraine Kellys of the world, arrives, wiping the drool from its lips and fumbling suspiciously with its fly. Produced by über-hip R&B visionaries The Neptunes, it's a sleazy voodoo-wop raunch-soul classic and by far the best thing on Mystikal's 'Let's Get Ready' album.

He might not be the sharpest knife in the box, and he's frequently indecipherable, but Mystikal's excitable bark is positively, thrillingly primeval - the comparisons with James Brown's raw yelp are apt. So to recap: he's got his dick in his hand. He's "buying if you've got nice curves for your icebergs". And yes, he thanks the "heavenly Father God" on his album. Not that Mystikal would ever allow himself to be led astray...

Piers Martin