Twista Hosts A Masquerade Party In “It’s Yours” Video

The release of Twista's Dark Horse album is set to release on Aug. 12. Today, the fast-rapping Chicago MC debuts the video for his single "It's Yours" featuring Tia London. The clip is directed by Matt Swinsky and shows him seducing a certain love interest he feels is the one. Pegged as the first official single off the LP, Twista is taking it back to the vibe of successful singles like "Overnight Celebrity" and "Wetter" to deliver something just to please his female audience. Just weeks before the "It's Yours" video dropped, XXL spoke to Twista about the concept behind "It's Yours," the variety of songs on Dark Horse, and more.--Interview By Eric Diep

XXL: When did you first hear of Tia London?
Twista: I heard her from my buddy Traxster. That’s the artist that he is working with for a while. She is actually on  Perfect Storm also on a song called “2012.” She just gets it crackin’. It was more than perfect to have her on the single.

What are you speaking about on “It’s Yours?”
Really, [its] just a song for the ladies. If you follow that traditional Twista sound when it comes to the singles, you know that I make those smooth, laid-back, melodic songs for the ladies that they always turn up to and kind of want to make YouTube videos to. It’s just following suit. Doing what I do, making one of them jams for the ladies they love that they always drop before the release of the album. This one is like a lady singing in a nice tone and telling me that it is mine. So it is me telling you that it is yours. I think people can appreciate a vintage Twista, ya dig?

How will this introduce you to newer fans?
This is something that they are not used to hearing. That a fortunate thing about having longevity is what you naturally do, [you] tend to be you after people listen to a certain sound or vibe for a minute. Right now, just everybody being into that whole turn up sound or drill sound. I think its something different and new for them that they’ll gonna be like, “Oh!” I’m always gonna come with it, so as long as you come with it lyrically, people are gonna have to pay attention. I am comfortable in my skin to know that when I deliver, “Oh, shit? Twista coming with it.”

Who thought of the video concept of “Its Yours?”
It’s like a masquerade party. Usually I do straight out videos all the time. Like, I never really use a concept or take it somewhere different, but I just feel like it was time to give a little sexy twist to it. That whole masquerade concept, the way it was sounding to me. The room and how the sexy feel was. It kind of felt like the song to me so I just rolled with it. I’m hoping everybody can dig it.

Why did you choose this name Dark Horse for the album?
‘Cause I am the dark horse of the industry. The one that’ll come out with that album or single or verse that you least expect to hit you over the head real fast. You always got a bunch of rah rah, a bunch of stuff in front of it. It’s just like “Bam!” Twista just hit you like “Whoa!” You least expect it like, "What? Twista? Who’s song is that?"

What kind of songs are you offering on Dark Horse?
For me, it’s vintage Twista giving you some feel-good songs. Meshing with people in different aspects of hip-hop. Like people might say, “Man, I want to hear Twista and Tech N9ne just rip it on a track together.” So I give you that. If you are into that laid-back or getting high vibe, you like that Wiz Khalifa vibe, me and him got the joint in there where we getting in. You on that turn up drill vibe, you gonna hear me and Chief Keef getting in on the album. Besides all of that, I am still giving you that vintage Twista sound where I am just being me. You know, I might be talking about anything from the streets to parallel universes. The subject matter is everywhere with it.