What Happened to Twista? Still Rapping Amid a Tax Case in 2026

If you spun the radio in early 2004, you couldn’t escape “Slow Jamz” — and the machine-gun verses came from a Chicago rapper who once held the Guinness record as the fastest on Earth. Twista was everywhere: a #1 single, a #1 album, and a delivery so fast it felt like a magic trick. Then the mainstream spotlight faded, even as he kept working. So whatever happened to Twista? In June 2026 his name was back in headlines — this time in federal court. Here’s where he is now.

01Profile

Full name

Carl Terrell Mitchell

Stage name

Twista (formerly "Tung Twista")

Born

November 27, 1973 (52 years old)

Birthplace

West Side of Chicago, Illinois, USA

Occupation

Rapper, songwriter

Best known for

"Slow Jamz" (2004), "Overnight Celebrity" (2004), the album "Kamikaze"

Claim to fame

Held a Guinness World Record as the fastest English-speaking rapper

A few things about that profile jump out. He is a genuine Chicago institution, a hometown hero from the West Side who has spent more than three decades in the game. And that Guinness record — clocked all the way back in 1992 — is the kind of legacy detail that still opens any conversation about him.

02The Rise: The Fastest Rapper Alive

From “Tung Twista” to a world record

Carl Terrell Mitchell grew up in the K-Town section of West Garfield Park on Chicago’s West Side and started rapping as a kid. He first recorded as “Tung Twista,” releasing his debut album, “Runnin’ Off at da Mouth,” in 1992. That same year, Guinness World Records recognized him as the fastest English-speaking rapper on the planet — a title built on his ability to fire off syllables at a speed most listeners could barely follow, let alone reproduce.

The speed was never a gimmick for its own sake. Twista built entire songs around dense, tightly wound flows that packed twice the words into every bar. In a genre full of distinctive voices, his was instantly recognizable: a rapid-fire delivery that still, somehow, stayed melodic and clear.

Grinding through the ’90s

Success didn’t come overnight. His planned second album, “Resurrection,” ran into label and marketing problems in the mid-’90s — including a title clash with fellow Chicago artist Common — and got only a limited local release. For a stretch, Twista was a regional name more than a national one.

That changed after he appeared on Do or Die’s 1997 single “Po Pimp,” a Chicago hit that put his voice back in rotation. He signed with Atlantic Records, released “Adrenaline Rush” in 1997, and formed the group Speedknot Mobstaz. By the end of the decade he was one of the most respected technical rappers in hip-hop, even if the mainstream hadn’t fully caught up. That was about to change in a very big way.

03The 2004 Peak and the Long Road After

For most of his early career, Twista was a rapper’s rapper — admired for skill, not chart position. Then 2004 arrived and rewrote everything.

• 2003"Slow Jamz," featuring Kanye West and Jamie Foxx and produced by West, is released as the lead single from his album "Kamikaze."
• Feb 2004"Slow Jamz" hits #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 — the first chart-topper for Twista, West, and Foxx.
• Jan 2004"Kamikaze" debuts at #1 on the Billboard 200, selling over 300,000 copies in its first week; it later goes double platinum.
• 2004Follow-up single "Overnight Celebrity," also produced by Kanye West, reaches #6 on the Hot 100.
• 2010sKeeps releasing music independently: "The Dark Horse" (2014), the EPs "Livin Legend" and "Withdrawal," and collaborations with a long list of artists.
• 2024Celebrates the 20th anniversary of "Kamikaze" as the album reaches double-platinum certification.

The one-two punch of “Slow Jamz” and “Overnight Celebrity” — both tied to a rising Kanye West at the peak of his early production run — turned Twista from a technical legend into a bona fide pop-radio star. “Kamikaze” remains, by a wide margin, the commercial high point of his career.

After that peak, Twista did what many veterans do: he stopped chasing the charts and built a sustainable career on his own terms. He released album after album, stacked features with everyone from Lil Jon and DJ Khaled to Tech N9ne and Mariah Carey, and stayed a fixture on the Chicago scene. He never disappeared. He just moved out of the mainstream glare — which is part of why his 2026 headlines caught so many people off guard.

04The Federal Tax Case

In the summer of 2026, Twista’s name returned to national news for reasons that had nothing to do with music. This section reports the legal facts as stated by prosecutors and mainstream outlets; the case has been resolved by plea but not yet by sentencing.

What he pleaded guilty to

On June 24, 2026, Carl Mitchell pleaded guilty in federal court in Chicago to five counts of willfully failing to pay income tax, according to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and reporting by the Chicago Sun-Times and The Associated Press. The charges covered the tax years 2019 through 2023.

Importantly, the charge is failure to pay — not failure to file. According to prosecutors, Mitchell earned income across those years from concerts, album sales, streaming, and royalties, and both the IRS and his own accountants repeatedly notified him of his obligations, but he did not pay what he owed.

The amounts and the allegations

Prosecutors said Mitchell failed to pay roughly $175,000 in income taxes over the charged period, and that his total tax liabilities — dating back to 2011 — exceed $440,000. According to court documents cited in reporting, during the years in question he spent about $310,000 on vehicles, including a Corvette, a BMW i8, a Tesla, and a Jeep, and arranged to receive advances on future royalties from a third-party company in a way prosecutors said was structured to avoid IRS collection.

“If you willfully refuse to pay your taxes, we’ll follow the money and bring you to justice.” — IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Adam Jobes, June 2026

As of this writing, Mitchell’s attorney had not commented publicly, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, which noted his lawyer could not be reached for comment.

What comes next

Sentencing is scheduled for October 22, 2026. Each of the five counts carries a maximum of one year in prison, meaning Twista faces up to five years total, though sentences in tax cases frequently fall well below the statutory maximum and depend heavily on cooperation and restitution. As part of the plea, he has agreed to pay approximately $440,000 to the U.S. Treasury, plus interest and penalties, according to reporting. Until the sentencing hearing, no prison term has been imposed.

05What He Is Doing Now

Still recording and performing

Legal troubles aside, Twista has kept working as an artist. He has continued to release music into the 2020s and remains an active live performer, with a schedule of 2026 shows spanning clubs, casino lounges, and festival-style appearances across the United States. For a rapper more than three decades into his career, staying on the road is a statement in itself — the audience for his catalog, and for classics like “Slow Jamz,” hasn’t gone anywhere.

A living piece of Chicago hip-hop

Twista’s stature in Chicago has only grown as the city’s rap scene has flourished. Younger Chicago artists routinely cite him as a foundational influence, and “Overnight Celebrity” in particular has been embraced as a hometown anthem, with the local scene publicly honoring the record’s legacy. He now occupies the role of elder statesman — the guy who proved a Chicago rapper could top the national charts long before it became common.

An unresolved chapter

The honest answer to “where is Twista now?” is that he stands at a genuine crossroads. On one side is a secure legacy: a Guinness record, a #1 single, a double-platinum album, and a catalog that still fills rooms. On the other is a serious federal matter awaiting sentencing in October 2026. How that hearing goes will shape the next stretch of his story. For now, he remains a working, touring artist — with a court date on the calendar.

06Summary

Twista’s career is a rare thing in hip-hop: three-plus decades of relevance, anchored by one blockbuster year and sustained by sheer craft. The 2026 tax case is a sober turn in that story, but it doesn’t erase what came before it.

Twista built his name on speed, but his career has been a marathon — a technician who outlasted trends and briefly ruled the pop charts. The chapter now unfolding in a Chicago courtroom is one he’ll have to rap his way out of the old-fashioned way: slowly, and with the whole city watching.