The “We Can’t Be Stopped” album cover breakdown by OGB
OGB up in this bitch!! That’s right, Ol’ Grumpy Bastard live and uncut.
Cop a squat and take notes young blood. You little fucks might not know this, but when I was growing up, the artwork of the album was just as important as the music itself!
There was a time when artists took their album covers serious! You little internet fucks might not care because you listen to songs on Youtube but this was important to us back in the days; The artwork, the photos, the credits the featurings, the producers, the publishing, the samples… we used to study that shit religiously, learn that shit by heart with passion. We didn’t have Google and Wikipedia… We listened to the songs until we knew the lyrics while checking the credits… sometimes we got lucky and struck gold; the artist would put lyrics in the cd booklet!! If not, we had to decipher the mathematics by ourselves, rewinding cassettes til they’d pop. We didn’t have no RapGenius like you little unappreciative millenials do today! So yeah, now would be a good time to listen up! You know that Supreme tee you tried to cop a few years back with the picture of that midget with the fucked up eye, half dead in the hospital? Well, that just happens to be one of the greatest hip hop album covers ever made by one of the realest rap groups to ever rep our culture!!!
Let me break it down for you real quick:
Before the whole Chopped n Screwed Codeine culture blew up, Houston, Texas was known for The Geto Boys. Besides that, we never really knew much about the The Lone Star State when it came to Hip Hop, except that they gave us Beyoncé, Erykah Badu, D.O.C. and DJ Premier… and, that they would still fry your ass on the electrical chair today if they could.
Also known as Texas Tea, Dat Purple, Syrop, Purple Sprite, Dirty Sprite, Sizzurp and whatever else kids call that shit nowadays, Lean has replaced blunts and weed smoke as recreational drugs us old heads used to take to the head. Before the 90s kids’ started putting gummy bears in the bottom of their double Styrofoam cups and started filling their shits with lemon flavored soda, Codeine was used by blues musicians in the 5thWard. Yup! The real OGs used to mix it with beer or wine and some fruit juice wayback in the 50s and 60s to get a cool little high and whatnot. That same 5th Ward was also home of a certain J. Prince. Remember that Biggie line in that “Flava In Ya Ear” remix? “Not from Houston but I rap a lot”… well, that clin d’oeil was for him. Not only is J. Prince the CEO of Rap-A lot Records, but he’s also very heavy in the street and used to be the Hip Hop Don King. He used to manage Floyd Mayweather Jr. back in the day but that relationship ended violently… (Google is your friend) He was also behind the undefeated and multiple world champ, Andre Ward and still promotes a few young guns nice with their hands today.
There is something special in that Prince DNA (pun intended), because J. Prince’s son Jas Prince is also heavy in the Entrepreneur game. Jas is the one who discovered this Canadien guy named Aubrey through Myspace. He hooked Drake up with a certain Lil’ Wayne and helped him become a mega superstar. He then later went on to sue Birdman for a few milli’s because, well, that’s just what happens when you deal with The Stunna… But fuck that, back the The Geto Boys.
Before I drop more of these jewels, let me start by giving a shout out to the first three original members of the group; Raheem, Jukebox and Sir Rap- A Lot (who is J. Prince’s brother, and not Sir Mix-A lot from Seattle)… You are appreciated. Long story short, Sir Rap-A lot went to jail in like 1988 and the crew basically broke up after recording some wackass album called “Making Trouble” that no one has ever really heard of. That’s when Willie D and Scarface joined Bushwick Bill who was a hypeman for the original Geto Boys before they blew up.
So, fast forward to 1991. Three crazy psychos in a group, brought together by the persistence and the beautiful vision of J. Prince. The Geto Boys were kinda like a Boys Band who happened to blossom into a southern version of NWA.; Sex, Drugs, violence, murder… but with more stress, more paranoia and more prostitution, and a bunch of schizophrenia, depression, and suicidal thoughts.
The group is best known for their Halloween anthem, “Mind Playin’ Tricks On Me”. That was originally a Scarface solo joint until J. Prince made Bushwick rap Brad’s last verse and asked Willie to scribble down his verse real quick.
Scarface (aka, Brad Jordan for you ignorant millenials out there who don’t appreciate greatness) was the natural leader, lyricist and frontman of the group. He’s the godfather of emotional reality rap… you know, that thing DMX, Joe Budden and Drake are pretty good at… except ‘Face is better. He’s been in and out of mental institutions his whole childhood. He also tried to commit suicide with a razor blade when he was 13. He’s also nice with the Bass Guitar. Willie D was a Golden Gloves Champion for the State of Texas and part time pimp. “I’m Not a Gentleman” was actually a response to Queen Latifah’s “Ladies First”. He doesn’t just rap, he fucking screams and yells at you. Every bar is a punch to the face. Bushwick Bill was the crazy Jamaican midget that used to just dance on stage before he started rapping. Willie D and Scarface have ghostwritten some ill shit for him… I mean, you gotta be ill if you don’t want the hip hop community to heckle you for being a midget, right?… And if you listen to “Chuckie” It’s fair to say he is the father of that gimmicky shit called Horrocore Rap… He also killed that dope “Stranded on Death Row” intro on Dre’s “Chronic” album a year later.
OK, now let’s get to the good shit:
Time to dive into this crazy-ass album cover. That’s why you’re reading all of this anyways, right? So, first of all, this is a real fucking picture. 100 emoji. This ain’t no photoshopped bullshit you would see on some corny Instagram account clout chasin an’ shit… The shit people will do for likes… So yo anyways, Bushwick Bill just got shot in his motherfucking eye and they made him hold a phone, on his gurney in his fucking hospital gown with a bleeding face, as to say: business as usual. And, if you look closely, you see Scarface walking with a cane in his left hand, which is a dope-ass metaphor for this album too. The Geto Boys literally couldn’t be stopped. They just kept on pushing forward, no matter the circumstances. Total life jewel: Shit happens but you keep it moving. The whole scene was perfect. This is true visual poetry in motion right here. I mean, who else you know could make walking with cane look cool besides Biggie in his “Hypnotize” video? Brad muthafuckin’ Jordan, that’s who!
But what you really wanna know is how this Bushwick midget got shot in the eye, n’est-ce pas? I can’t make this up, here’s what happened; He comes home one night drunk and high as fuck. He starts an argument with his girlfriend. He also said the weed he was smoking was laced with PCP in his blunt. So you know he’s tweakin’ high as fuck! He starts hearing voices telling him to shoot himself. He’s getting very suicidal. He starts acting crazy, starts throwing shit to provoke her. Threatens her, kicks her, punches her, picks up her baby boy and tells her he’s gonna throw him out the fuckin’ window. He’s doing everything to get her to shoot him but she still refuses. There’s mad confusion. They fight, they argue. He makes her put the gun to his head. They tussle and the gun goes off with both of his hands on it during a violent altercation. Baaaam, bullet to the dome!
Some say it was a suicide attempt, some say he was just trippin’ off that Angel Dust and Everclear…
So now, Bill has a bullet in his brain. Five doctors all around him and no one knows if he will survive. “We Can’t Be Stopped” is about to come out and the group still hasn’t done their photoshoot for the album. Label management is worried, and who better than a convincing Willie D to ask you to take off your eye patch for a few controversial pics down the hospital hallway?
There you have it, the crazy story behind the illest album cover ever. Now let me get back to my shit. I was listening to Willie D … “Gota Let Your Nuts Hang”.
You’re Welcome,
Ol’ Grumpy Bastard
https://genius.com/Bushwick-bill-ever-so-clear-lyrics
Willie D /Scarface intw on Vlad TV https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uhesu3mqikU
