Photo by Aaron Knueppel
Twan Mack
Twan Mack
Late last year Milwaukee lost one of its most storied, artistically consistent and prolific hip-hop voices. The time has come to pay homage to Twan Mack.
Born Antoine Mack, the rapper to started his recording career in the early 1990s as one third of Kali Tribe; he went on to explore what he called adult contemporary hip hop as a solo artist until his death last November sue to a blood clot, possibly related to hip replacement surgery. He was 54.
“Twan started his hip hop journey as a beat boxer at a high school talent show with Milwaukee DJ Doc B,” says Ras Ameen, a representative for Mack's Kareem City Collective production company. Doc B is scheduled to be one of over 25 DJs and rappers, both local and global, set to honor Mack on Saturday, Jan. 11 as part of “The Sound of Kareen City: A Tribute to Twan Mack,” a free event starting at 3 p.m. at The Cooperage. The show will be recorded for a forthcoming documentary as well.
As for Twan description of his music, Kareem City's Chatfield says of adult contemporary hip-hop, “This means a music of what hip-hop truly is and is not. This is a way for positive, constructive messages of hip hop to go forth. He crafted a lane where conscious, mature and sometimes overlooked artists can feel appreciated and motivated to keep the genre of hip-hop alive and well.”
Mack’s efforts to advance hip-hop and preserve its authenticity also involved partnership with arguably the most internationally successful act in his genre to hail from Milwaukee. “He toured the world with his lifelong friend Speech, Todd Thomas, of Arrested Development. They played the 2024 Billboard New Year’s shows in Tokyo and Osaka, Japan,” Chatfield recalls of Mack’s last pulic performances.
As occasionally seen in Mack’s music videos, he wasn’t only a creator and patron of audio art. Chatfield shares of his late friend and fellow M.C., “Twan also loved visual arts. He collected art pieces from local and international talent.”
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Here Mack waxes autobiographical and reflective on his status among Milwaukee rhyme spitters from a few years ago on “Veteran”:
From 2023, here's some of his appearance with DJ Swadetrackz rocking the crowd at Lampa Fest:
And 30 years before that festival appearance, from Mack's early days as a rapper, the music video for Kaki Tribe's "Gettin' Bigger":
