Outkast was booed off the stage at the 1995 VMAs because their debut Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik was considered an affront to hip hop, and an unwelcome third party in the climaxing West Coast-East Coast rivalry.
Other than Outkast, the most important rap group who put the South on the map was Houston's Geto Boys. In its many iterations, (the classical lineup: Scarface, Willie D, and Bushwick Bill) the group burrowed into the darkest corners of its psyche to write alluring song about gore, sexual violence, and what it means to stand on the brink of insanity.
This article revisits 10 of the Geto Boys' best songs from 1990 to 2005. Click through the image gallery to listen.
"Assassins" (1988)
"Assassins" originally appeared on the Geto Boys' 1988 debut album Making Trouble, when the original lineup of Prince Johnny C, Jukebox Slim, DJ Ready Red, and Bushwick Bill was still intact, and later revamped by Rick Rubin on the 1990 album Geto Boys. Considered by some to be the first horrorcore rap song ever recorded, "Assassins" finds Bushwick Bill running through prostitutes with chainsaws. This would be the beginning of a trend...
"Mind of a Lunatic" (1989)
"Mind of a Lunatic" details Scarface and Willie D's PCP-fueled murders and Bushwick Bill's lurid descent into rape, slaughter, and necrophilia: "Had sex with the corpse before I left her/ And drew my name on the wall like Helter Skelter." According to Rick Rubin, "Geffen refused to put out the Geto Boys because of 'Mind of a Lunatic.'"
"Mind Playing Tricks On Me" (1991)
Widely considered the Geto Boys' best song and one of the best hip hop songs of all time, "Mind Playing Tricks On Me" is an expression of paranoia made dissonant by a smooth, self-assured Isaac Hayes sample. “At night I can’t sleep, I toss and turn / Candlesticks in the dark, visions of bodies being burned / Four walls just staring at a nigga / I’m paranoid, sleeping with my finger on the trigger."
“When I wrote ‘Mind Playing Tricks on Me’ I'm pretty sure I was high," Scarface told Complex. "I know I was high on alcohol and maybe like a fucking drop of something crazy. I mean I did a lot of fucking dope, man. I mean like, ‘Holy Fuck!’ I got real high and maybe that put a lot of the darkness that came out in my records back then."
"Damn It Feels Good To Be A Gangsta" (1992)
"Damn It Feels Good to Be a Gangsta" gained newfound popularity when it appeared in the 1999 dark comedy "Office Space" as the musical philosophy of the post-epiphany, no-fucks-given iteration of the movie's protagonist Peter Gibbons, who parks in his boss's parking spot, goes fishing with Jennifer Aniston, and freely guts fish on his desk.
"Six Feet Deep" (1993)
Scarface on "Six Feet Deep," which he dedicated to a murdered friend, as told by Complex:
“Growing up, I thought about being in darkness. I always imagined waking up alive in a coffin. I'm six feet under the ground so I can’t get out and I just live there forever, until I die again. I would imagine being in darkness and you can’t move, the darkness is stopping and altering all your movements. You can’t touch, you can’t feel, you can’t see, you can’t move, you’re just in darkness."
"Straight Gangstaism" (1993)
Big Mike replaced Willie D on the 1993 album Til Death Do Us Part. In the opening lines of "Straight Gangstaism," he plainly explained the appeal of the gangster lifestyle to the kids in the neighborhood:
"Seven years old, I'm lookin up to the gangstas in the hood
Cause to me and my cousins, yeah, they represented good
Even when we played cops and robbers on the block
Nobody wanted to play the cop, dig it
Cause the cop was a pussy-ass bitch
And if you played the cop, nigga, you got yo ass kicked"
"The World is a Ghetto" (1996)
Scarface on "The World is a Ghetto," as told by Complex:
"The inspiration behind the verse was Nas. I'm a huge Nas fan. I bite Nas any chance I get. I bite Nas, I bite Cube, I bite Jay-Z. I'm a fucking biter. I would never use none of their words but I'd be like, ‘Man that shit was dope, I'm gonna bite that shit'... As far as skill and delivery, I can honestly say that New York rap molded my awareness of what skill meant in hip-hop. I always wanted to be very skillful."
"Still" (1996)
"Still" appeared in the most iconic scene in "Office Space," when our three heroes take a Louisville Slugger to their mortal enemy: the fax machine.
"Yes Yes Y'all" (2005)
The Geto Boys began to fracture in the early- to mid-'90s, and the ended a 9-year hiatus in 2005 when they reunited on an album called The Foundation. On "Yes Yes Y'all," Bushwick Bill is as unabashedly belligerent as ever, voicing his dislike of The Beatles, gay people, and politicians.
"G Code" (2005)
"G Code" is about law enforcement's unquenchable thirst for black flesh pushes Scarface to embrace the code of the streets. The song uses a flashier, more modern production style than most of the Geto Boys' catalog without sacrificing any of the raw grit.