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Sean John Combs
A slower Twista still spewing raps
A slower Twista still spewing raps

Just as James Brown had to spend his old age attempting to do the splits, 40-year-old Twista has to remember and recite lyrics that once made him the fastest rapper on earth. In his teens, the Guinness Book of World Records honored him for spewing out 598 syllables in less than a minute, but the Chicago native finds it impossible to keep pace with his younger self. "The memory of the youth today is amazing. I would walk around ready to battle anybody, with about 30, 40, 50 verses in my head to just shatter your world," says the rapper, born Carl Mitchell, best known for 10-year-old hits such as "Overnight Celebrity" and "Slow Jamz." "Now I'm...