Desert Storm veteran and former security guard Michael Tyler, known in the local rap community as Mystikal, was well into the recording of his debut album when his sister was brutally murdered. But he persevered, recorded a remarkably poignant tribute to her, and is now outselling Aaron Neville and most everyone else in New Orleans.

When you are the hottest rapper in a rap town, it doesn’t take long to draw a crowd. When Michael Tyler, known as Mystikal in the local rap community, stepped out of his 12th Ward home one recent afternoon to scowl for a photographer—he smiles often over the course of his day, but rarely in front of cameras—his street corner was deserted, save a couple of old ladies on a nearby stoop.

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A few minutes later, the women had retreated inside and the corner was bustling with activity. People on bikes, in cars, and on foot all stopped off for some face time with Mystikal. A carload of homeboys pulls up—they want to sell Mystikal an NBA jersey, an article of clothing that figures prominently in his wardrobe (eventually, he purchases a Chris Webber Bullets tank top). A group of former co-workers stop by and jokingly offer Tyler his old supermarket job. Two thirty-ish women in a sedan with three young children in the back seat stop and ask for an autograph; Mystikal obliges.

The kids in his neighborhood are more accustomed to his presence. A dozen of them gather to watch the proceedings and banter with the man whose music they hear on the radio and whose face they see on local cable-access channels. They eagerly pose with him for a picture, and are not shy about casting Mystikal as the neighborhood Santa Claus.

A plucky 10-year-old elicits a chuckle from Mystikal when she asks if he needs some more dancers. Another calls out, “Hey Mystikal, we need a swimming pool.” Counters another, “I just want a Land Cruiser.” Mystikal laughs at that last one. “I don’t even have a Land Cruiser.” Scenes like this are part of Mystikal’s daily existence. “It’s like that wherever I go,” he shrugs. His mother is famous by association. “He’s put me on the map,” laughs Marie Tyler.

“Everywhere I go—school, church, my children’s school, the grocery store where I worked. Some of them I have to convince: ‘You Mystikal’s mama?

Oh, that’s Mystikal’s mama!’ Yeah, I’m Mystikal’s mother.” Homegrown rap does big business in New Orleans, and top acts—be they “bounce” artists, who make a distinctly local rap-lite with repetitive, sing-along choruses, or more standard hardcore rappers—sell tens of thousands of cassettes and CDs. Mystikal’s self-titled debut album was released in late 1994 by Big Boy Records, a rap label based in Kenner. On it, he comes across with a bold, rough-edged, rapid-fire style of rapping that is unusual for New Orleans. “His voice control, what he can do with his mouth—you might listen to his CD and think you’re hearing sound effects, but it’s his voice,” says Robert Shaw, who heads up the management division of the Big Boy operation. Mystikal’s style has caught on with listeners big-time.

According to published Soundscan reports, the top-selling local release in New Orleans the second week of Jazz Fest was not the latest from Beau Jocque, or Dr. John, or Cowboy Mouth, or even Aaron Neville—it was Mystikal’s album. The following week, after Jazz Fest fever had died down and most local artists had fallen off the chart, Mystikal was still at No. 3 (Aaron Neville held steady at No. 5, and Big Boy rap act Partners N Crime stood at No.

At the end of May, Mystikal was enjoying its second run on Billboard’s national Top R&B Albums chart (it reached as high as No. Mystikal attracts proportionately large crowds when he performs. A huge throng turned out for his Jazz Fest set at the Congo Square stage. The following week, a capacity crowd was on hand when he became the first local rapper to headline the House of Blues, appearing on a bill with fellow Big Boy Records artists Partners N Crime, the Ghetto Twiinz and Fiend.

That Michael Tyler, a 24-year-old Desert Storm veteran, former security guard and all-around nice guy, was able to become a scowling rap sensation is all the more remarkable in light of the tragedy that struck while Tyler was trying to finish his album. Last September, Tyler’s 29-year-old sister, Michelle, was murdered in the Tyler family’s home. Compounding the tragedy was that Michelle’s boyfriend, who had been living with her and the rest of the Tyler family, was charged with the killing. And because that boyfriend was Damion Neville, son of Charmaine Neville and grandson of Charles Neville, the Tylers had to endure exaggerated media coverage of the subsequent trial (Damion Neville was acquitted; no one else has been charged with the crime). Thus, although he is flush with fame and success, Tyler still lives in his old room in the house he shares with his mother, younger brother and nephew. “We’re kind of sticking together for a minute,” Tyler explains.