(From We Can’t Be Stopped, Rap-A-Lot, 1991) A period piece for certain, but a brilliant one which featured Scarface’s iconic opener: “I sit alone in my four-cornered room, staring at candles.” Drawing on slasher flick imagery and never letting an opportunity for shock value slide, Mind of a Lunatic may have been a ploy for attention, but it was as successful one, getting the group signed to Rick Rubin’s American Recordings and jump-starting the Rap-A-Lot empire. Instead, what set the group apart from their coastal peers were lyrics so violent they made controversy magnets NWA look like PM Dawn in comparison. Even at this early stage, the Geto Boys’ sound could compete with anything coming out of New York or LA, but it wasn’t yet evoking a unique Houston identity. Scarface joined the Geto Boys following the group’s first incarnation as a RUN DMC clone, shifting their musical focus towards the noisy, sample collage style popularized by The Bomb Squad and Dr. (From Grip It! On That Other Level, Rap-A-Lot, 1989) So rather than attempting to document every album he’s ever been associated with, this guide seeks to highlight some of the best music from Scarface’s various phases: his proto-horrocore gangsta rap as part of the Geto Boys, his gothic southern funk with N.O Joe and Mike Dean, his outreaches to New York and LA with alongside those regions’ stars, and his late-period triumphs at Def Jam. With a career stretching into its fourth decade and a label that hasn’t shied away from releasing outtakes in search of a quick buck, Scarface’s discography is far from user friendly.
He’s also an extremely underrated musician with a longstanding love of classic rock, and he’s co-produced a shocking number of hit records – though you’ll rarely hear him brag about it. His music is universally respected, and you’ll find Scarface fans everywhere from the hood to Hollywood thanks to his ability to juxtapose street rap specifics with universal truths: love, sadness, betrayal, paranoia, and above all, death. He put Houston on the map years before Southern hip-hop became a mainstream concern, linking up with North Houston’s Rap-A-Lot records in an era when the fashion, drugs and gangs cleaved his city in half.
Whether solo or as part of legendary gangsta rap act Geto Boys, Scarface has written everything from macabre shock rap to political missives, from Top 10 chart hits to deep cuts about depression, from West Coast funk to East Coast boom bap. So it’s to Brad Jordan’s credit that he’s not only carved out his own identity under the alias but is now the first person rap fans think of when you mention the name. You can’t just move weight, commit violence or command attention – you’ve got to live up to the impossibly high standards set by Al Capone and Tony Montana, gangsters genuine and fictional that have captured the popular imagination for decades. He captioned the images, "This is Geto Boys for life.The name Scarface comes loaded with expectation. (The post was soon deleted.)įellow bandmate Willie D also fanned the flames by sharing pictures of the group on Instagram Sunday. On May 27, he shared a picture of himself lying in a hospital bed and revealed that he was suffering from complications after undergoing chemotherapy treatments, including pneumonia, an infection in his lung and a possible infection in his blood.īill was an original member of iconic Houston rap group the Geto Boys, alongside Willie D and Scarface. He was widely reported to have died Sunday morning after Scarface wrote "RIP Bushwick Bill…," on an Instagram post. Related: DJ Ready Red, hip hop group Geto Boys' first DJ and producer, dead at 53 And with your support and prayers, I'm gonna beat it too." The Jamaica native shared his diagnosis with his fans early May, writing on Instagram, "I'm going to fight this cancer. Bushwick Bill, a founding member of the Houston rap group Geto Boys, has died at age 52.īill's publicist, who was identified only as Dawn P., told the Associated Press that the pioneering rapper died at a Colorado hospital Sunday at 9:35 local time, surrounded by family.Įarlier in the day, the publicist was disputing reports the rapper had succumbed to cancer, saying he had been placed on a ventilator as loved ones raced to his side.īill, whose legal name was Richard Shaw, was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer in February, according to his Dallas-based business manager, Pete Marrero.
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