Geto Boys - S/D, and furthermore, C/D

"Mind Playing Tricks On Me" is top 10 hip-hop track of all time for me.

search too: fuck 'em. and quite a few scarface tracks, diary of a madman especially.

I don't even need to give props to the GeeBeez.

TS: The version of "Gangster of Love" with the Steve Miller "Joker" sample vs. the version with the "Sweet Home Alabama" sample (the same song featured different samples in different pressings of the cassette -- must have been a copyright issue).

Not so incongruous... they're both from Texas. And twentysomething dudes with office jobs do listen to a lot of gangsta rap.

Scarface's The Diary is great too.

"the resurrection" is a yawn-fest. except for the opening track and the bushwick suicide one.

i like bushwick's first two solo albums - his debut "little big man" in particular. "ever so clear", "dollars and sense" and "skitso" particular favourites (the latter has his two 'mind of a lunatic' verses slowed down to a narcotic pace, it's seriously creepy).

Not only do I not "get it", but I can't see a need for it.

Southern Rap prior to 1989 was in-flux. Groups like Gregroy D and Mannie Fresh and MC Shy D tilted towards sounding like Miami. After NWA/Eazy E blew up, many Southern groups altered direction to sound like West Coast gangsta rap (sic) if they already didn't have a strong hold in Miami.

Shy D continued the Miami sound, whereas Gregory D and Mannie Fresh switched gears and made songs about Uzi Automatics and Beepers...

I saw Geto Boys as nothing more than a group to come along after NWA doing something similar to NWA/Too Short/Ice T, although, they seemed more dramatic (legit?) than other Southern followers of the time.

Regardless, I saw it as unneccesary, and ultimately, poorly dressed. I just skipped it. It sat alongside Gangsta P-A-T...or was that Gangsta N-I-P. I don't even remember which one was which anymore.

It probably didn't help that my black friends in the Hip-Hop community ignored it too, while the white guys blasted it from their low-rider trucks.

Too Short got much play though.

Then Mind Playing Tricks on me came aorund and made overnight fans in many cases...but so did Ed OG and Da Bulldogs.

I think the thing that tipped the scales in favor of Geto Boys being classics may be "I'm not from Houston, but I rap-a-lot, pack a gat alot..."

I might need to revisit, but I have a feeling I'll see it as "you had to be there." I wasn't there then.

I posted a thread a long time ago about Shy D, but didn't get much response....is he worth checking out? I've only heard of him in vague references like "somethin something the homie Shy D" in "Welcome to Atlanta"....whats the 411?

also, I love the Geto Boys. Alot.

things in their favour:

compelling group dynamic: manic depressive drug dealer / suicidal womanising midget / broad-shouldered misogynistic semi-pro boxer - the force of personality doesn't get much bigger than this.

gothic florishes: see "chuckie", "skitso", "i wanna die".

dark hilarity: "gangster of love", "i'm not a gentleman", "the other level", "let a ho be a ho"

productions? the only really great-sounding stuff is on the self-titled record. "we can't be stopped" is poppier and the humour and personality is great, but the beats are pretty meh. "dollars and sense" is a really interesting one though, from the first bushwick record, really creepy, bubbly, off-kilter tune. i think the langorous g-funk stuff on "phantom of the rapra" suits bushwicks delivery very well also.

i should probably get something by scarface, seeing as i like the gb's so much.

Anyway, when I say "had to be there", I meant I wasn't in the mindframe at the time to accept the seemingly applied direction that a lot of Souther rappers were taking. There was such a flood of gangsta rap after NWA, and the Southern version of it just seemed more transparent to me then than West Coast stuff.

RE: Shy D

Shy D is, for the most part, the most consistant Miami Bass (via Atlanta) rapper there has been. I dropped out of the Bass scene around 1992, but even much of his post-1992 stuff has caught my attention.

Search (for enjoyment):

1987: Gotta Be Tough (whole album 5 stars! the debut single and its b-side were the beginnings of his great work. Extra points for the EWF sample.)

1988: Comin'Correct in '88 (album is slightly less consistant, but the whole thing is still worthwhile. Most famous for the song "Shake It", which is his biggest hit to date.)

1993: True to the Game (5 star single: this is what most people think of when they think Miami Bass...R&B samples tweaked for rhythm, joined with Planet Rock loops. This maybe his best song.)

1995: Keep Doin' It (4 star single: basically, a follow up to True to the Game, but slightly less effective. Still great, especially in a period when almost all bass music sucked)

1996: True That (another 4 star single that sticks to his early 90's formula and pulls of yet more quality.)

Search (for history):

1985: Rapp Will Never Die (his debut single commonly referred to as The Pink Pnather. Released on 4-Sight records, the label that pretty much invented bass right after the release of this. It was produced by Frank Cornelius, who is the youngest sibling of the Cornelius brothers & Sister Rose family famous for 'Treat Her like A Lady'/'Too Late to Turn Back Now')

1986: Shy D is Back (his only other single for 4-Sight, commonly referred to as Fred Sanford. Also produced by Frank Cornelius, although talk in Bass circles credits one of his childhood friend's for the beat. The b-side was a 2 Live Crew inspired foul mouth [by 1986 standards] beatbox rap.)

The rest you can take or leave, but unlike most Miami Bass, the bad is still decent.

And thanks so much for the kind words. I'm not sure I deserve them!

also search Scarface's "The Fix", surprised me how hot that was, I hadn't really checked him in a while aside from guest appearances.

and I know what PW is saying, other than obv. LOVING Minds Playing Tricks I discounted the Geto Boys the same way overall at the time until I heard some stuff off the subsequent album and Scarface's flow revealed itself.

...and "havin' thangs." i wonder if any of his other solo albums are worth checking out.

hey pappa, have you revised your earlier sentiment? i thought you were being unduly harsh on geto boys where you seem to have a place in your heart for many by-the-numbers east coast acts. could just be my preferences though, i think you're underrating them.

not a good look, willie d

waht

did his Azerbaijan real estate investments not pan out?

Bushwick Bill in danger of deportation. Man...fuck this. Some of Bushwick's down-so-low-can't-get-lower stuff has seriously saved my ass a bunch of times. There's an email address of a lawyer where I guess people can send testimonies/letters of support. Let's do so imo.

He's not a US citizen? Nuts.

that sucks :(.

btw, The Resurrection is awesome.

yeah I love the hell out of that record. so, so many good tracks on it, and a solid play-through. willie d completely kills it on that record too. but I am a huge gb stan, I'll listen to all their records and enjoy at least 2/3 of what I hear

just sent an email of support

:(

http://clatl.com/atlanta/bushwick-bill-teeters-on-the-brink-of-deportation/Content?oid=2038807

But in mid-May things went horribly awry. Bill fell off the wagon and was arrested by police in DeKalb County. After being brought into custody, his immigration status was revealed — he has a green card, but is not a U.S. citizen — and, due to previous convictions, he now faces the very real threat of deportation. Bill's lyrics have always been full of battles between good and evil, and his life has often imitated his art. Just as he was making his best effort yet to redeem himself, it seemed his demons had seized control.

oh damn, didn't even see this had been revived

anyway, i just found out and i am bummed

BILL IF YOU'RE READING THIS YOU CAN COME AND STAY AT OUR HOUSE IF THOSE FUCKERS DEPORT YOU

not a good look, willie d

― worm? lol (J0hn D.), Friday, May 15, 2009 11:29 AM

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7277819.html

oh, willie.

cannot tell you the excitement that rushed thru me when my Bandsintown app gave me an update that these dudes are doing a show 2 hours away.

looks like Ima get to see the Boys in Sept!

Bushwick Bill is playing a dive bar in town Wednesday and I'm kinda thinking about going. If it was the whole crew it would be a no brainer.

weird! wonder if he's gonna do Phantom of the Rapra stuff.

wonder if they're gonna do solo shit at the shows the whole gang is doin.

given the legal troubles Willie and Bushwick (and even FAcemob) had recently, amazed this is happening at all.

That's one of the reasons I'm thinking about going. This may never happen again.

What troubles has Scarface had? The last thing I saw of him was a Vine that Mike Judge Tweeted of Scarface playing some Zeppelin on an acoustic guitar in some small room. It was pretty great.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v165/noodle_vague/1239387_639613299382992_1471813561_n_zps825f5ed0.jpg

Isn't that Scarface second from the left? What does his identifying thing say? (His real name is Brad, right?)
Also, that's amazing (where is it from?!) and that's Willie D on the far right, right?

it came up on my Facebook this afternoon via PE, it's from a website called Houstonia. great pic isn't it?

http://www.houstoniamag.com/arts-and-entertainment/articles/the-geto-boys-and-public-enemy-together-august-2013

What does his identifying thing say?

Might be Akshen? That was his other pseudonym for a bit ("Akshen is my identity - so whoever you be don-don-don't fuck with me").

yeah it is, it's his pre-Scarface name

From this (v. good) piece on bootleg rap/r'n'b vinyl releases:

An unlicensed version of the Geto Boys' We Can't Be Stopped attempts to reconstruct the original cover—a photo of Bushwick Bill after he was shot in the right eye, sitting in a hospital bed flanked by Willie D. and Scarface, his injured face exposed and swollen. But the new art is a mind-boggling Photoshop collage that super­imposes a clumsily doctored (and much newer) photo of the group on a hospital hallway. Willie D. and Scarface have been given hats that sort of match what they were wearing on the original cover, but their clothes are completely different—and in Scarface's case the new hat has been pasted in atop the backward baseball cap he was already wearing. Bill, who's been Photoshopped into a hospital bed even though he's clearly standing up, has his eye patch on, so a gory eyeball has simply been dropped over it.

http://i.imgur.com/zvbDxst.jpg

oh man i saw that & was so confused

like… 'is there… is that… maybe i don't remember……?'

https://instagram.com/p/3-bPonF1GI/

Heard Damn It Feels Good the other day, first time in a while, somehow it didn't hold up for me.

weird! wonder if he's gonna do Phantom of the Rapra stuff.

wonder if they're gonna do solo shit at the shows the whole gang is doin.

given the legal troubles Willie and Bushwick (and even FAcemob) had recently, amazed this is happening at all.

― Neanderthal, Saturday, July 27, 2013 10:33 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i didn't go after all :/

I missed him the other night in DC with go-go group the Backyard band. I wonder how his memoir book is?