"You gotta suck the head off dem dere crawfish." That was one of the milder visuals in the New Orleans rapper Mystikal's exceedingly graphic breakthrough song, 'Shake Ya Ass.' A bit of Louisiana folk wisdom, the saying had another, very different pop culture presence as one of the prerecorded messages on a novelty key chain called Cajun in Your Pocket. When 'Shake Ya Ass' blew up, the key chain maker sued the rapper for copyright infringement. Mystikal's lawyer was indignant. "To suggest that Mystikal's song went multiplatinum because of these gizmos defies explanation," he said.

That's probably the most comical episode in the relatively short but seriously checkered career of the attack-dog rapper, who showed up on hit singles by Master P and Snoop Dogg before busting out on his own with 'Shake Ya Ass.' That song cleared the path to his first R&B No. 1, 'Danger (Been So Long).' In 2001, Mystikal had another hit with 'Bouncin' Back (Bumpin' Me Against the Wall),' a song about resilience that might be due for a resurrection: Just a few years after being nominated for a Grammy, the rapper born Michael L. Tyler is in the midst of a six-year incarceration after pleading guilty to sexual assault.

Unlike the Cajun in Your Pocket flap, much of Mystikal's life has been no laughing matter. After serving in the first Gulf War, he returned to his native New Orleans and started releasing records. Almost immediately, he found himself in a feud with several members of the Cash Money crew. His second album, 'Mind of Mystikal,' featured a tribute to his sister, who was stabbed to death by her boyfriend, Damion Neville, grandson of Charles Neville of the Neville Brothers. She was killed on her brother's 24th birthday. "That was my birthday present," he recalled bitterly. "Happy birthday to me."

Though they were raised by a strict, churchgoing single mother, after 'Shake Ya Ass' broke Mystikal got a little carried away with success. When he and his bodyguards accused the rapper's hairstylist of stealing $80,000 worth of checks, they forced her to perform oral sex on all three men. Mystikal initially denied the charges, but when investigators discovered a videotape of the incident, he changed his plea. To the judge, it seemed as though the defendant felt he could take the law into his own hands. "Mystikal mystified my client," said the victim's lawyer when the verdict was handed down, "and today he was mystified by the court system."

Compounding his legal issues, in 2005 the rapper was charged with two counts of failing to file tax returns for 1998 and 1999. He served his one-year sentence concurrently with the six years he continues to serve for sexual assault and extortion. "We gon' pass good time, yeah, cher," as the key chain says.