RIP Bushwick Bill

Bushwick Bill, grim rapper of hip-hop's Geto Boys, dies at 52
By Harrison Smith
The Washington Post

Bushwick Bill, a frenetic rapper who helped place the South on hip-hop's map as a member of the Geto Boys - the Houston-based trio whose violent and sexual lyrics made them one of the most controversial groups in gangsta rap - died June 9 at a hospital in Colorado. He was 52.

His publicist, known as Dawn P., confirmed the death to The Associated Press but did not say precisely where or how he died. Bushwick Bill had recently announced he was diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer.

The rapper was among the most distinctive figures in hip-hop, known for his diminutive size - he was born with dwarfism and stood about 3-foot-8 - and missing his right eye, which he lost in 1991 during an altercation with his girlfriend.

He had worked in the mid-1980s as a dancer for the Geto Boys (then known as the Ghetto Boys), before joining rappers Willie D (Willie Dennis) and Scarface (Brad Jordan) in the studio, forming the group's best-known lineup.

Backed on early albums by DJ Ready Red (Collins Leysath), they recorded classic tracks like "Damn It Feels Good to Be a Gangsta," featured in Mike Judge's 1999 workplace comedy film "Office Space," and "Mind Playing Tricks on Me," which topped the rap charts in 1991 and explored the desperation of life on the streets.

The single was named the fifth greatest hip-hop song of all time in a 2017 list by Rolling Stone. "In a genre where fear was not thought manly, 'Mind Playing Tricks on Me' was a classic of cracked ghetto armor and bloody surrender: proof that even the hardest of the hard have worried hearts," the magazine wrote.

Following in the footsteps of N.W.A., the West Coast rap group, the Geto Boys helped pioneer gangsta rap in the early '90s, and were among the first rap artists to emerge outside of New York and Los Angeles. They were also credited with developing the macabre hip-hop style known as horrorcore, in songs focused on grim stories of murder, dismemberment, necrophilia and rape.

Their explicit, coldblooded lyrics drew national attention in 1990 with the release of their major-label debut, "The Geto Boys." Produced by Def Jam co-founder Rick Rubin, it featured remixed versions of songs from the group's previous album, "Grip It! On That Other Level" (1989) - as well as a disclaimer on the cover, noting that the album's distributor found its contents "violent, sexist, racist and indecent."

 

The whole “the thug life chose me” genre got old pretty quickly, but the Geto Boys were really good at it. On top of that “Ever So Clear” was played on a near endless loop on The Box (a hip hop video station) and the whole story of how he got shot was too absurd not to be real.

RIP

 

I was a freshman in high school when My Mind’s Playing Tricks On Me came out. My friends and I thought it was a comedy song because of the video. I watched it again a ew months ago...definitely not comedy.

 

I actually thought he had died years ago. They had some true hip-hop classics.

 

St. Peter be in for a squabbin' no doubt ...

 

And yeah, it's a deeply layered song with brutal honesty.

 

Meh, lyrics. I would say "squabble". In any case a beautiful, lyrical, rhythmical, poetical use of "nigger". Spellings and sounds are not inherently offensive.

RIP