Serving a six-year prison term for sexual battery and extortion, New Orleans rapper Mystikal was released from jail last week.
“My feet back on the ground. Man it’s been a long time,” Mystikal — famed for hits like “Shake Ya Ass” and “Danger (Been So Long)” — told New Orleans’ Q93 radio station.
“I’m back. I’m still trying to feel this reality. It feels like a dream. Watch how I’m going to shake this world up now. I want reparation!”
Mystikal, born Michael Tyler, was sentenced to six years in prison after being arrested along with two of his bodyguards for threatening to turn his former hairstylist in to police for cashing $80,000 worth of unauthorized checks from his bank account. The stylist said she was forced to have sex with all three men in exchange for their silence. As part of the plea bargain, all three pleaded guilty. Mystikal has five years of probation upon his release and has to be registered as a sex offender in Louisiana.
Although Mystikal pleaded guilty to forcing the female to perform sex acts, he initially denied the assault. Still, when asked if he feels rappers are targeted, he made no excuses. “I think we have to pay more attention to what we are doing to ourselves. We gotta take responsibility for what we do too,” he said. “That’s the easy excuse. We have to tighten up and not blame others. You can’t be foolish especially when you’re successful.”
Mystikal’s 2000 album, “Let’s Get Ready,” went multiplatinum and though his 2001 set, “Tarantula,” didn’t sell as well, he was planning on making a strong comeback at the time of his arrest. He said he has plenty of material written and record labels have expressed interest. He believed he owed one more album to Jive Records.
The Austin Times news service
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