Geto Boys

Geto Boys
Origin	Houston, Texas, U.S.
Genres	Hip hop
Years active	1986–1999; 2002–2005; 2009
Labels	Rap-a-Lot/Asylum/Elektra Records Rap-a-Lot/Noo Trybe/Virgin/EMI Records Def American/Warner Bros. Records
Website	Official website
Members
Bushwick Bill Scarface Willie D
Past members
Prince Johnny C The Slim Jukebox DJ Ready Red Big Mike

Geto Boys (originally spelled Ghetto Boys) is a rap group from Houston, Texas, consisting of Scarface, Willie D and Bushwick Bill. The Geto Boys earned notoriety for its lyrics which included misogyny, gore, psychotic experiences, and necrophilia. Despite the explicit content of their songs, critic Alex Henderson argues that the group "comes across as much more heartfelt than the numerous gangsta rap...wannabes who jumped on the gangsta bandwagon in the early ’90s."^[1] The Geto Boys broke new ground with their soulful southern sound (a precursor to the Dirty South style).

History

The original Ghetto Boys consisted of Prince Johnny C, The Slim Jukebox, DJ Ready Red, and Little Billy, the dancer who later came to be known as Bushwick Bill. The group released an album titled Making Trouble in 1988, which got very little attention. The group broke up shortly after and a new line-up was put together with the inclusion of Scarface and Willie D, both aspiring solo artists. This new line-up recorded their second album, Grip It! On That Other Level, which was released in 1989. The group's 1990 album The Geto Boys caused Def American Recordings, the label to which the group was signed at the time, to switch distributors from Geffen Records to Warner Bros. Records (with marketing for the album done by WB sister label Giant Records) because of controversy over the lyrics.

In the early part of the decade, several American politicians attacked gangsta emcees, including the Geto Boys. A high-profile incident in which Bushwick Bill lost an eye in a shooting with his girlfriend helped boost sales of its third album, We Can't Be Stopped. The album cover had a picture of the injured Bushwick being carted through a hospital by Scarface and Willie D. On the album's title track, the group responded to Geffen Records ending its distribution deal with Def American. The album featured the single "Mind Playing Tricks on Me", which became a big hit in the hip-hop community and even charted well on the pop charts reaching #23 on the Billboard Hot 100.

All three members began solo careers, but Willie D. was the only one who actually left the group. Scarface and Bushwick Bill continued with the Geto Boys, adding Big Mike for Till Death Do Us Part in 1993. Although Till Death Do Us Part was certified gold it was not as well received by fans, as the lyrically gifted shoes of Willie D who also wrote for Bushwick, proved too big to fill for Big Mike. It did spawn one top 40 hit in "Six Feet Deep", which peaked at #40 on the Billboard Hot 100. Subsequently, Big Mike was dropped and Willie D returned for 1996's critically acclaimed The Resurrection and 1998's Da Good Da Bad & Da Ugly which Bushwick was not a part of. After three years on hiatus, the group reunited in 2002 to record its seventh album, The Foundation, which was released on January 25, 2005. The Geto Boys were featured on Scarface's My Homies Part 2 album.

The song "Street Life" from the album Till Death Do Us Part was featured on the motion picture South Central. A video clip for the song with footage from the film was released.^[2] Although the band rarely releases albums or perform together, the interest in the group has never wavered as fans anxiously await one more album or performance. However, the group did come together for a much anticipated reunion at Cypress Hill's SmokeOut festival in San Bernardino, CA on October 23, 2009.^[3] In 2010, Richard Stephen Shaw (Bushwick Bill) was threatened with deportation to Jamaica.^[4]

Lyrics and influence

The group's name, Geto Boys, comes from a deliberate misspelling of the word Ghetto. For its first two albums, Making Trouble (1988) and Grip It! On That Other Level (1989), the spelling was the English standard "Ghetto Boys". For their third album, The Geto Boys, they changed it to the "Geto" spelling, which the group has used since. The Geto Boys's lyrics push gangsta rap themes to extremes, and sometimes focus on rape, necrophilia, murder, explicit sex, cartoonish violence, and hostility toward women. The group is credited for putting the South on the hip hop music map and inspired a legion of acts including 2Pac, The Notorious B.I.G., UGK, T.I., Goodie Mobb, OutKast, 50 Cent, Chamillionaire, Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, Young Jeezy, Juvenile, Mystikal, Esham^[5] and Insane Clown Posse.^[6]

Insane Clown Posse's Violent J (Joseph Bruce) described the Geto Boys as the first rappers to perform horrorcore, with their song "Assasins", released on their debut album, Making Trouble.^[5][7] Bruce says that the Geto Boys continued to pioneer the style with their second release Grip It! On That Other Level, with songs such as "Mind of a Lunatic" and "Trigga-Happy Nigga".^[5] The Geto Boys' popularity was boosted somewhat in 1999 by the prominent use of two songs—"Damn it Feels Good to Be a Gangsta" (released as a promotional single for the 1992 compilation album Uncut Dope^[8]) and "Still" (from The Resurrection)—in Mike Judge's film Office Space, now considered a cult classic. The song "Mind of a Lunatic" has been covered by many recording acts including Marilyn Manson in 2003, as a b-side off the album The Golden Age of Grotesque. The single "Damn it Feels Good to Be a Gangsta" has also been covered by the band Aqueduct and country singer Carter Falco.^[9]

Discography

Main article: Geto Boys discography

• Making Trouble (1988)
• Grip It! On That Other Level (1989)
• The Geto Boys (1990)
• We Can't Be Stopped (1991)
• Till Death Do Us Part (1993)
• The Resurrection (1996)
• Da Good da Bad & da Ugly (1998)
• The Foundation (2005)

Band members

(1986–1988)	Prince Johnny C The Slim Jukebox Bushwick Bill DJ Ready Red
(1988–1992)	Bushwick Bill Scarface Willie D DJ Ready Red
(1992–1995)	Bushwick Bill Scarface Big Mike
(1995–1997)	Bushwick Bill Scarface Willie D
(1997–1999)	Scarface Willie D
(1999–2002)	Split up or on hiatus
(2002–present)	Bushwick Bill Scarface Willie D

See also

	Houston portal
	Biography portal
	Hip hop portal

• Houston hip hop

References

1. ^ Henderson, Alex. "Review of We Can't be Stopped". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r27898. Retrieved 2007-12-21. 
2. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnyC-NPEPtk
3. ^ http://www.kroq-data.com/htmlletter/smokeout/smokeoutinfo.pdf
4. ^ Carroll, Susan. "Houston's own Geto Boy faces deportation." Houston Chronicle. July 19, 2010. Retrieved on July 20, 2010.
5. ^ ^{a b c} Bruce, Joseph; Hobey Echlin (2003). "The Dark Carnival". In Nathan Fostey. ICP: Behind the Paint (second ed.). Royal Oak, Michigan: Psychopathic Records. pp. 174–185. ISBN 09741846083. 
6. ^ Joseph Bruce (performer) (2010-06-08). The Opening (song). Hatchet House/Psychopathic Records. Event occurs at 0:54. "Much love to Cube, Awesome Dre, The Geto Boys, and Esham / for making us want to be rappers, self employed, and the bomb" 
7. ^ Weingarten, Christopher (October 28, 2011). "Insane Clown Posse's Violent J Picks 11 Horrorcore Classics". Spin. http://www.spin.com/articles/insane-clown-posses-violent-j-picks-11-horrorcore-classics?page=0%2C5. Retrieved 4 November 2011. 
8. ^ http://www.discogs.com/Geto-Boys-Damn-It-Feels-Good-To-Be-A-Gangster/release/1267770
9. ^ "Aqueduct - "Damn it Feels Good to Be a Gangster"". Youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjgWgjOyhuo. Retrieved 2007-12-21. 

External links

• Official website