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He projected his stories to maximum supernatural, or cartoonish, effect. Shaw was an unwanted man, between his dwarfism and his untethered youth, having been born in Jamaica, raised in New York and settled in Houston. Jordan, a bipolar kid growing up at a time when there were few services to accommodate his illness, projected his messed up insides outward.
THE GETO BOYS* – THE GETO BOYS FULL
Their approaches also were complementary: Dennis served up a bare-knuckled verite-type rap full of externalized anger. Willie D, Scarface (Brad Jordan) and Bushwick Bill (Richard Shaw) presented 14 tracks of anxiety and fury in an unflinching, unapologetic way.
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Even a quarter century later, the record sounds ominous and unsettling, but its provocation ran deeper than the caricature-ish dismissals would have you believe.
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No major record label wanted to touch it at the time, particularly Geffen Records, which dropped the Geto Boys like a hot iron. "We Can't Be Stopped," the album, came out 25 years ago this week. With news cycles full of rape and murder, his rap trio was being vilified and marginalized for being objectionable. That's Willie Dennis - at the time a hungry, fiery 24-year-old rapper from the Fifth Ward. Show More Show LessĪmid the protestations and boasts that inform the title track of the Geto Boys' "We Can't Be Stopped" comes a simple question that summarizes everything about the album: "Why can't I talk about it?" Betty Tichich/Staff Show More Show Less 5 of5 The cover of the Geto Boys' 1992 album "We Can't Be Stopped" featured a photo of Bushwick Bill after being shot by his girlfriend. The Geto Boys l-r: Willie D, Bushwick, D. Ben DeSoto/staff Show More Show Less 4 of5 CONTACT FILED: THE GETO BOYS. and Bushwick Bill, paved the way for many aspiring Southern artists. (Ben DeSoto/Houston Chronicle) HOUCHRON CAPTION () SECNEWS: LOCAL PIONEERS: Fusing gritty street poems and throbbing beats, legendary Houston rap group the Geto Boys, from left, Scarface, Willie D. Betty Tichich/Staff Show More Show Less 3 of5 CONTACT FILED: THE GETO BOYS. The Geto Boys l-r: Akshen / Scarface, D. Scarface, Willie D and Bushwick Bill. Ben DeSoto/staff Show More Show Less 2 of5 CONTACT FILED: THE GETO BOYS.