You never know what other talents rappers may have hidden away and Twista is showing off his impressive ventriloquist skills. The Chicago icon is known for his record-holding, quick-rhyming bars that have captivated Hip Hop for decades, but in a recent feature with Pitchfork, Twista elaborated on expanding his showmanship with the help of a ventriloquist dummy. It’s an unexpected skill to see for those who have followed Twista’s career, but with “Groucho” by his side, the rapper is making new moves.
According to his feature with Pitchfork, Twista was first inspired to get into ventriloquism after watching an Anthony Hopkins horror film named Magic when he was a teenager.
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“I would learn by watching television. I was into music so I would closely watch the puppeteer of Madame from Solid Gold and I also liked the Muppets on Sesame Street. Actually, a dream of mine was to do voiceovers for cartoons, but I really didn’t practice puppeteering much until I got older.”
He added that his Groucho Marx-inspired puppet isn’t his final partner in his latest venture; “Lil Twista” is in the making and real-life Twista wants to learn how to make his puppet rap at his speed. The design has set him back a few thousand dollars, but Twista believes it’s worth every penny.
“My goal is to be able to make a puppet rap, but not like any rap—in the Twista style. I also want to use it to teach kids how to be safer: I could make educational videos about the universal safety rules and color-coding, things that could help in a crisis.”
Check out Twista flexing his skills below.
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