Today in Hip-Hop: Twista Drops ‘Category F5′ Album

On this day, July 14, in hip-hop history...

2009: Twista was five years removed from the platinum peak he'd reached on Kamikaze when he dropped his seventh solo album, Category F5.

With Kamikaze's breakout success commercially, on the strength of hits like "Overnight Celebrity" and "Slow Jamz," the Chicago rap veteran had followed a similar formula of radio-friendly ditties mixed with tales from the gang-affiliated streets of the Chi on follow-up projects The Day After and Adrenaline Rush 2007. F5 called on a similar playbook with big singles "Wetter" featuring Erika Shevon and "On Top" with Akon leading the way.

The album also featured guest appearance by Kanye West, Boosie BadAzz, R. Kelly, Gucci Mane, Busta Rhymes, OJ Da Juiceman and others. A bevy of producers touched the LP including 'Ye, No I.D., The Legendary Traxster, Zaytoven, Toxic, John Gant, Tight Mike, Solo and more.

Scribe, Jesse Sewer, reviewed the album for XXL at the time, stamping the LP with a Large rating. "Returning to more-personal terrain reinvigorates the Po Pimp on the solidarity-minded 'Talk to Me' and 'Wanna See ’Em Buss,' a by-any-means-necessary ode that finds him weaving between a slower delivery and his trademark double-time flow," he noted. "Unfortunately, these inspired moments are the exception, and not the rule, on the pop-filled Category F5. More often, Twista is content to merely go through the motions with a rotating cast of R&B collaborators, like R. Kelly ('Yellow Light'), Akon (the titty-bar-targeting 'On Top') and the late Static Major ('Gotta Get Me One')."

The album scored a Top 10 debut on the Billboard 200, landing at No. 8, moving 45,300 copies in its first week out, according to the Nielsen SoundScan.

Twista followed F5 up the next year with the album The Perfect Storm.

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