Mystikal's back on his grind with an upcoming Mardi Gras performance, but...can he really make a comeback in THIS rap game after a seven year hiatus?

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New Orleans' own Mystikal, just released from jail two weeks ago, is headlined to perform at the Mahalia Jackson Theater of Performing Arts Feb. 16th for a Mardi Gras celebration.

The quick-spittin' Southern MC, born Michael Tyler, was incarcerated on sexual battery and extortion charges in 2003 and later pled guilty to two federal misdemeanor counts of failing to file tax returns in 1998 and 1999. Tyler served that sentence along with the state charges.

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Now the million dollar question is: Can Mystikal make the big comeback after a seven-year stint? It's tough enough now for rappers to stay relevant on a song to song basis these days. Mystikal is trying to attempt the impossible in some people's eyes. His tracklist has been proven though with commerical hits like Danger, Shake Ya Ass and Bouncin' Back. Even classics like Still Smokin', Here I go and The Man Right Chere give him the hit-making credibility. But let's remember, that was in '98, '99 and 2000. A lot has changed in music since then. If you consider more dancing gimmiks in rap now then actual lyricism, which Mystikal has always effortlessly portrayed, a younger audience growth, and let's not forget to mention the ever-so-popular, used by all rappers, autotune.

Seriously folks, could you picture listening to Mystikal 'goin' in' on a track, I mean killing it with his lightning-quick lyrical assault...IN AUTOTUNE?! God, I hope not! But it's definitely going to be a comeback worth looking forward to I think. However, another aspect working against Mystikal is the fact that fast spittin' rappers aren't really poppin' right now if you think about it. Well, you do have Twista but hey, he only had one single really pop off his last album F5, and that was a "ladies track" with Wetter. Anything else he might've dropped would've probably not been as receptive by the rap world as sells depict anyway.

Other examples we could examine, hmmm...Bone Thugs-N-Harmony...ummm...yeah. Haven't seen those guys in a while aside from their new group member and their legal issues. But they are planning to release an album early this year.

But back to the lecture at hand, in all honesty, today's rap fans seem to lazy to acccept a wordsmyth like Mystikal. It appears we rather would hear some of Gucci Mane's sporadically gestured "Brrr's," Drake's slowly drawn-out flows, punchlines and ballads, Jay-Z's ocasional dumbed-down content and of course Weezy F. Baby's beautifully, autotuned, chalkboard-scratching, melodic serenades.

As a true fan of Mr. Tyler, I truly hope we will get the chance to hear his genuine, sincere work. None of that 'diabetic music' where it's sugar coated or watered down. And maybe he won't sell much (hell, who is?!) but I just hope he makes good, classic, southern music like he has always given his true fans. We might not get an Unpredictable, Ghetto Fabulous, or Let's Get Ready...

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We might just get something a little more...mystical.