Tarantula, the fifth album from New Orleans-based rapper Mystikal, will hit stores December 18th. The follow-up to last year's Let's Get Ready, the album will feature some of the biggest names in the hip-hop business. Juvenile, Method Man and Redman all guest, and producers-of-the-moment the Neptunes -- with whom Mystikal worked on previous hits "Shake Ya Ass" and "Danger" -- put together the beats for Tarantula's first single, "Bouncin' Back (Bumpin' Me Against the Wall)."

Let's Get Ready, which has gone double-platinum, earned Mystikal a 2000 Grammy nomination.

AUGUSTIN K. SEDGEWICK
(October 29, 2001)