The Twin of Twins is a pair of Jamaican reggae/dancehall artistes and twins, Patrick "Curly Lox" and Paul "Tu-Lox" Gaynor, whose work consists of both musical pieces and satirical commentary on current events and popular culture within the Jamaican dancehall scene, as well as the latest scandals in both the worldwide music industry and politics, among other topics, and doing it all in such a way as to elicit Funny Moments in spades. They are best known for their ongoing Stir It Up series, in which they voice a wide variety of characters and character Expies to deliver said commentary in the context of a fictional radio talk show.
The premise of said fictional talk show: Ian Lyad (pronounced "lie-ad" according to the Jamaican patois) is the cultured and intelligent talk show host who has to put up with the antics of his co-hosts and guests, who all come from a wide cross-section of cultural, political and social divides. His major co-host, Mr. Muta (pronounced "moo-tah"), does most of the talking during the interviews, often antagonizing the guests and Ian himself, but also providing biting commentary on a lot of things wrong with Jamaica's developing musical and social culture and discussing methods to enact the much-needed changes craved by the country. Later in the series, the story shifts focus in a more dramatic direction by telling an original tale with the focus on the characters of Big Wayne, a Villain Protagonist whose actions are not played for laughs, and his nemesis Ankle Sox, a gangster whose morality is only slightly grayer at best.
The Stir It Up series is best known to fans from Volumes 4 to 8; Volume 4 was never officially released, but bootleggers helped to make it available to the public, thus sparking a demand for official releases of the Twins' work. As a result, Volume 5, "Crucifiction of the Ghetto" (pictured above), was released in December 2004, to much critical and commercial success, and followed thereafter by several other volumes.
The list of volumes are named below:
- Volumes 1, 2, and 3: The Beginning (done together as a single album)
- Volume 4: Lords of the Underground
- Volume 5: Crucifiction of the Ghetto
- Volume 6 (stylized as Sicks): The Resurrection of the Ghetto
- Volume 7: Till Death do Us Part
- Volume 8: Trial and Crosses
- Volume 9: Trial and Error
- Volume 10: Locked Up a Yaad (the beginning of the Big Wayne and Ankle Sox saga, where the series starts getting Darker and Edgier)
- Volume 11: Family
- Volume 11.5: Mawga Dog
- Volume 11 3.4: Quarter to 12
The series takes its name from the song "Stir It Up" by the late reggae artist Bob Marley (who is presented as one of the characters in the fictional talk show).
In addition to Stir It Up, the Twins also have a podcast, The Rebellious Truth, and a radio show series, In the Mean Time, which can be listened to via YouTube along with other videos of theirs. They have also done a Gag Dub film, Ching Pow Far East Yardies. This page will focus primarily on Stir It Up, unless otherwise indicated.
There is also a character sheet.
The Twin of Twins, the Stir It Up series and the fictional storyline within said series provide examples of:
- Actually Pretty Funny: On a meta level, this was the reaction of Ian Lyad's real-life inspiration, journalist Ian Boyne, to the Twins' portrayal of him. When they appeared on his TV show, Religious Hard Talk, he was quite impressed and had a laugh about it.
- An Arm and a Leg: The thug who seeks to rape Munchie gets a hand cut off by Ankle Sox in retaliation.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Big Wayne, the Villain Protagonist of Volumes 10 and 11, commits various atrocities to include robbing hapless victims, arranging drive-by shootings to get rid of enemies, poisoning the drink of a trusting patsy once the latter has outlived his usefulness, and skipping out on paying an exorbitant restaurant bill.
- Comes Great Responsibility: In Volume 10, Muta admonishes Vybz Kartel that, as a leading figure in the dancehall scene, he has a responsibility to use that status for the betterment of his fanbase and not merely to enrich himself, as Kartel has arrogantly admitted to doing without care for what the fans do or don't do based on his influence.Muta: Vybz Kartel, you is a very powerful artiste. You have power over a lot of people. Take some responsibility.
- Courtroom Episode: Volume 8, with Muta as the judge and Ras Whitey and Ian as attorneys; one of the cases dealt with is based on the feud between the Gully and Gaza factions on the Jamaican dancehall scene. There's also Volume 9, with Whitey defending Bounty Killa against accusations of Domestic Abuse committed on his girlfriend, who in turn is represented by Ian.
- Darker and Edgier: The series starts getting this way from Volume 10 onwards, focusing more on a storyline featuring Bounty Killa and several persons associated with him, to include loyalist Ankle Sox, his girlfriend Pinky, and his nemesis Big Wayne (and it's partially based on actual events such as the murder of dancehall artiste Kentucky Kid). To put it in perspective how much darker the series gets at this point, Muta only briefly shows up here and there and there's no sign of Ian anywhere.
- Disproportionate Retribution:
- Spragga Benz's Expy murders his girlfriend on-air for cheating on him. Muta approves.
- Mr. Adams once admitted to shooting his underage nephew for drawing and coloring a gun in his exercise book.
- Driven to Suicide: Kirk, the distraught final caller in Volume 7, after he walked in on his wife having wild sex with his best friend. Muta encourages him to shoot himself, and he does just that. Then the wife comes in moments later, and she's more dismayed at the fact that Kirk is getting blood all over her expensive Persian rug than over the fact that her husband just shot himself.
- Drop-In Character: In Volume 3, Bob and a couple of other previous guests invite themselves to Ian's house for Sunday dinner. Ian isn't amused.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Volumes 1, 2 and 3, which are pretty hard to find outside of YouTube, are very different from the rest of the series. The first two volumes run at a little over 12 to 15 minutes' length (including one brief commercial break in each), and feature Ian being in full control of the radio program, only interviewing Bob and Buju Banton in Volume 1 and Bob and Bounty Killa in Volume 2; and while Volume 3 breaks the formula by being set at Ian's house (against his wishes), he's still the de facto lead character. Also, there's no sign of Mr. Muta anywhere in these three volumes, nor is there any musical interlude at any point. As well, in Volume 1, Ian makes absolutely NO mention of his "being very intelligent" catch-phrase (that comes up in Volume 2).
- Expy: Of all sorts of people, from dancehall artistes Beenie Man and Bounty Killa to international superstars Michael Jackson and R. Kelly. Ian Lyad himself is an expy of journalist Ian Boyne, Mr. Muta is one of dub poet Mutabaruka, and Dear Pastor is one of advice columnist and talk-show host Reverend Aaron Dumas.
- Gangland Drive-By: Big Wayne engineers one in Volume 11 to dispatch one of his enemies while framing another person for it.
- Grass is Greener: Discussed in Volume 11, during Ankle Sox's court appearance with his girlfriend Pinky. The judge laments on how, despite Pinky being constantly subjected to abuse by Ankle Sox, she's pregnant for him with their latest child, perpetuating the constant cycle of violence, poverty, and irresponsibility that they live. Pinky counters that the judge can say anything she wants due to living a more upscale life with a good job, a big house and a nice car, compared to Pinky herself who lives in a ghetto area that constantly suffers violence. However, the judge immediately shoots down that viewpoint by revealing that her own life hasn't always been a bed of roses—her mother, who came from the ghetto, was raped and murdered when the judge was two years old, and she herself was put into foster care because her upper-class father refused to acknowledge her due to his relatives' lousy opinion of her mother's lower-class life.Judge: I made a simple choice to survive and not be a victim. Because that is where the problem is—a simple choice to fail or succeed, it is up to us.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Big Wayne in Volume 11 becomes envious of Bingie Roy's growing wealth from his mini-empire selling banana chips, even though he himself had turned up his nose at the entrepreneurship opportunity when Bingie Roy first offered to make him a partner in it. This trope also directly leads to Bingie Roy's death.
- Groin Attack: A particularly gruesome one in Volume 11's story, as a prisoner indicates that he got locked up after cutting out his girlfriend's entire vaginal area because she cheated on him with another man. The police then discovered the cut-out body part
stored in his fridge. - The Illuminati: In Volume 8, L.A. Lewis claims to be a member and that Rastafarians are involved, and on that grounds he denounces Muta as not being a real Rasta. Muta isn't amused, and declares Lewis as guilty of neglecting his senses, among other things.
- Jerkass: Most if not all of the characters, to varying degrees.
- Kick the Dog: Mr. Muta does this regularly.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": Beenie Man's demonic possession in Volume 7 elicits this reaction from the other panelists.
- Never My Fault: In Volume 11, Bingie Roy calls BS on this trope as it is often touted by gunmen in the area who refuse to take responsibility for their own sorry conditions.Bingie Roy: You know how much people get opportunity round here and nuh know wha' fi do with it and a blame other people for where them deh in life and wha' them nuh achieve, iyah?
- Police Are Useless: Exemplified in Volume 10, with a sprinkling of corruption thrown into the mix, as when a random woman calls the police for help because gunmen are in her yard threatening to break in and rape her, Mr. Adams says that there are no police vehicles available as those are only reserved for servicing the upper class.
- Police Brutality: Volume 10 has a random police officer, and then his superior Mr. Adams, beating the hapless Big Wayne for refusing to snitch on Bounty Killa as a suspected gun-owner.
- Politically Incorrect Villain:
- In Volumes 1, 2 and 3, Ian himself displays disdain for Rastafarians.
Ian: Rastas cannot read, and they seem to be vulgar and violent!- George W., an Expy of then-U.S. president George W. Bush, is accused of this by Muta. George W.'s attempts to deny this really don't help.
Mr. Muta: How come you have nothin' black inna di White House?George W.: I think you're mistaken. We have, uh, Condoleeza Rice, Colin Powell...we had to straighten out his hair a little bit, but he's still, uh, pretty black. And better yet, there's my dog, Barney! He's a good dog, and he's black! - Precision F-Strike: All over the place, invoked by almost every character. Including Dear Pastor, much to Ian Lyad's horror.Ian Lyad: Good lord, Mr. Dumas! You actually used the "F" word? A man of the cloth?Dear Pastor: We Christians f*ck too, you know.
- Prison Rape: One Iraqi caller, Abdul Hallakim el Dorad, accuses the American military forces of doing this to their Iraqi prisoners (among other degrading acts), including Saddam Hussein.Abdul: We fear that they have turned our beloved dictator into a dick-taker!
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: In Volume 11, two thugs target supporting character Munchie for murder on Big Wayne's orders, but after stabbing her, one of them proceeds to...ahem...try going a lot further despite her pleas. His crony is bewildered and disgusted enough to flee the scene.
- Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Ian Lyad.Ian: Being very intelligent, I'm going to simmer down to gravy and pot's gravy.Muta: You don't have to do that, 'cause you know sey it's a whole heap a thump [you're gonna get].Ian Lyad: As a result of the benevolence of my licensed firearm, you know, your efforts to do so would prove a colossal failure!
- Shoot the Hostage: Mr. Adams makes it clear in Volume 4 that he will do this, because "once they take you as a hostage, I don't care about you, you know, sah."
- Shout-Out: To numerous entertainment figures, both locally and abroad.
- Skewed Priorities: During Ankle Sox's robbery spree in Volume 10, one victim he's about to shoot asks if, before Ankle Sox shoots him, he could retrieve some money that a nearby cook-shop owner owes the guy. Ankle Sox himself lampshades the ludicrousness of the request, considering the guy is about to die at his hand and the money will be useless to him at that point.
- Take That!: Lots of this, too; directed mainly at homosexuals and other sexual deviants, oppressors of the black race and the poor, and in one instance George W. Bush's presidential office.
- Token Minority: Ras Whitey, the only white Rastafarian in the series.
- Where da White Women At?: Michael Jackson, according to Muta.
- You Need to Get Laid: Muta rather indelicately tells Michael Jackson to go have actual physical sex with a woman, while declaring that Michael's kids were born from test-tube breeding.
