Twista, who rhymes with the speed of an automatic assault rifle, says the music business is a no-win situation. Does that explain the title of the Chicago native's half-completed album, Kamikaze?

"There's a lot of meaning behind the title," lamented the 10-year mic veteran. "I realized I'm just a battered and bruised MC."

Maybe Twista feels shell-shocked because some call him the best rapper never to have made it big. His acclaimed flow, smooth wit and mic bravado have earned him a handful of guest appearances alongside such notables as P. Diddy (on both of his solo albums) and Jay-Z (on Memphis Bleek's "Is That Yo Bitch?").

The former Puffster was so high on Twista that he tried to sign him to Bad Boy Records. Unfortunately, Twista couldn't get out of a recording contract with the Creator's Way label, which he feels hasn't compensated him fairly. Twista also believes the Diddy and Roc-A-Fella camps have been scared off from releasing singles featuring him as a guest artist because of clearance issues.

"I finally got loose a little bit," Twista said of his obligation to Creator's Way, which released a Twista solo album, Adrenaline Rush (1997), and Mobstability (1998), a group effort with the Speedknot Mobstaz through Atlantic. After years of legal battles, Twista said he's close to inking his own deal with Atlantic.

Twista has been elbowing away outside help for the past three years, ever since he started his Legit Ballin' label. He released the compilation Legit Ballin' in 1999 and followed it with a second volume last year. Legit Ballin's next release will be a September album by Darkside Ballaz.

Hoping to release his solo album at the beginning of 2002, Twista has been approaching a dream list of collaborators consisting of Timbaland, P. Diddy, the Neptunes, Outkast and Keith Murray. He said producers Swizz Beatz and Kanye West (Jay-Z, Beanie Sigel) have already committed to lay down tracks.

"I ain't salty because I'm having fun," Twista said. "I'm watching artists go out there and do stuff I used to do. I'm trying to get to a level where I could rap strictly for the fun of it. If something comes out of it, cool; if not, cool. But I'm not going to lose my mind from it like I been doing."

Twista debuted as Tung Twista in 1991 with "Runnin' Off at Da Mouth," the title track of a 1992 album. The following year he was awarded a Guinness World Record for being the world's fastest rapper. Hip-hop loyalists, however, considered him little more than a novelty act. Not only did his album go virtually unnoticed, he was also scorned by some of his peers: "You can go tung twist your a-- back to Chicago," rhymed Treach on Naughty By Nature's 19 Naughty III (1993).

The nimble-lipped MC returned to the lab and remapped his strategy. After mindless battle rhymes such as "I get madder than Max, Diggem Smacks, if they try to tax, I play 'em like a sax," he came back "spittin' mo' game than a mouthful of poker chips" on his industry reintroduction, Do or Die's 1996 album, Picture This.

"I definitely feel that if I'd made certain moves in the game, I would've been at the top," Twista concluded of his long and frustrating ride. "It's like, 'Man, maybe if I would've worked with this person or spit over these tracks...'"