Geto Boys: We Can’t Be Stopped Vinyl LP Geto Boys

The pinnacle of the Geto Boys’ career! The trio of Willie D, Scarface and Bushwick Bill found platinum success with We Can’t Be Stopped. The original cover featured Willie D and Scarface escorting a bloodied Bushwick Bill on a hospital gurney. Bill, in either a suicidal or drunken rage, or perhaps both had pressured his 17 year old girlfriend to shoot him. It’s unclear with she shot him or if he shot himself, but the incident brought the Geto Boys further into the public sphere. Seeking to capitalize on the moment the Geto Boys and their management took Bill out of the hospital to shoot the cover. In later years Bill expressed regret over the cover, perhaps that explains the remade cover art for this reissue. Aside from controversial cover art there’s plenty on the album to take in. From their artistic peak with “My Mind Playing Tricks On Me,” to the anti-war “Fuck A War” the Geto Boys had a torrent of lyrics to spit. The title track is a rebuff against Geffen Records, who had refused to distribute their self-titled LP. “Chuckie” features Bushwick Bill taking on the persona of the horror movie doll. They even close the album out with a track expressing their frustration at not getting recognition from music awards shows. But perhaps the greatest and dirtiest cut on this album is the Bushwick Bill solo effort, “The Other Level.” Nothing like Bill rapping about his sexual fantasies over a loop of “Love Hangover!” This reissue includes two bonus mixes of “Mind Playing Tricks On Me” and the instrumental for “I Ain’t With Being Broke.” Digitally remastered double LP pressing.

• music lable: Rap-A-Lot 2013

reviewed by Kool Moby 09/2013