The Geto Boys' Rocky Road To The Foundation

[Guest .::BeatFactory::.]

<span style="float:left; margin-right:10px;"><img src=http://www.beatking.com/image/geto_boys_album.jpg /></span>They may have a brand new album out, but make no mistake about it; the Geto Boys are not back together.

True hip hop fans know what’s up or at least they think they do. The Foundation, the first Geto Boys album of original material in seven years can only mean one thing, 'them boys are back.’ Scarface, Willie D, Bushwick Bill - the trio who legitimized southern hip hop – have gotten back together to take back their crown. “King of the South” debate be damned. Except, the day after their album hits stores, only two-thirds of the group has come together for a series of interviews with the press.

Willie D and Bushwick Bill sit in the lobby of the Edison Hotel in New York. Meanwhile, Scarface is taking care of a last minute medical emergency. But four days later, on a phone from somewhere U.S.A. one gets the feeling that even if Scarface was in good health that day, the last place he would’ve been is in the lobby with the rest of the group.

“This is my last Geto Boys album,” Scarface says. And now we know. Whoever thought the Geto Boys were back together, well, their mind was playing tricks on them.

From the minute their latest single “Yes, Yes Y’all” began surfacing on the Internet, the buzz about a Geto Boys reunion has been the talk of true hip hop heads everywhere. Sure, all three of them have released solo albums through the years and carved their own niche in the hip hop community. But it didn’t matter if you liked Bushwick more than Willie D or ‘Face more than Bushwick. What mattered was if you got the three of them together, you knew some great hip hop was going to be made. Simply put, a reunion would be good for nostalgia’s sake. If anyone understood this, it was Willie D. He’s the one who planned the album from the beginning.

“I called up Bill and he was down to do it from jump,” Willie D recalls about the album’s beginning stages. “But ‘Face,” he pauses for a few seconds. “‘Face was actually the one who had a hard time doing the record. Pretty soon it got to a point where I was playing mediator, lawyer, and group psychologist.”

When asked why he had reservations about the album, Scarface simply says, “Business had to be right.” And while Scarface’s attitude did rub Willie D the wrong way (“Man, I was mad as hell,” he says.), both he and Bushwick understood their fellow member’s dilemma. ”You have to understand that Scarface is an executive now,” Bushwick explains. (As president of Def Jam South, Scarface was the man responsible for signing Ludacris.) “So he knows how things should be and with that kind of perspective, he’s not going to jump right in and do something for the sake of doing it.”

In the past, both Bushwick and Willie have gone on hiatus from the group themselves, and even in those times, with various lineup changes, albums continued to be released under the Geto Boys moniker. At no time has the group released an album under their name with less than two-thirds of its members. So, is it really any surprise that the next Geto Boys album after The Foundation will probably be without Scarface?

“I mean Willie D was the first one to leave and made me get my solo career going,” Scarface points out. “I just can’t do this anymore. Setting up the schedules, working on other people’s time, it all gets to you after a while. I’m tired of that.” The “tired” Scarface is referring to is directed towards the album making process, not his group members.

“I have no hate in my heart towards any of them, I love those guys,” Scarface says. “It’s just time for a change…so, I can never do another Geto Boys album again.”

Meanwhile, Willie D and Bushwick Bill tell a different story, one that is based on the present more than the past or the future. For them, the new album was a necessary venture. In a rap game that has gotten so popular, the word “bling” can be found in a dictionary, the Geto Boys find their music even more of a necessity then it was back in the early 1990’s.

“If you can’t strike a chord and strike a nerve in someone, if I can’t make you question my knowledge so you can inform me, then I ain’t did shit,” says Bushwick. “I’m stuck with being born with that feeling, dying with that feeling, never growing beyond that moment. Geto boys are going to always grow beyond that moment. We’re not here just for the jewelry and the money.”

But make no mistake about it; The Foundation is not a soapbox for the three members to rip into rap’s new generation. “We’re not in the business of hating the young or the old,” says Scarface. “I love everyone who came before us and everyone who came after us.” If anything, the three men are grateful for making an album that has been in demand for some time now. “We’ve been in the game for 15 years,” Willie D points out. “There aren’t that many who can do that, especially when you haven’t done anything for seven years, and when you come back, it’s still as good as it always was.”

On The Foundation, Willie D’s point is clear. The Geto Boys still make great music, and even if you can’t get them together in the same place at the same time, they all can agree on one thing. For the Geto Boys, all that matters, all that’s ever mattered, is the music.

“You know, I wish N.W.A. got back together,” Scarface says. “I hope A Tribe Called Quest will get back together, because that’s what we did. The three of us made the sacrifices we needed to make. Put the egos aside so that we can say, ‘Hey, let’s do it one more time.’ And we did it, for the fans and for us.

Story By Jozen Cummings

From: Vibe Online

Wednesday, February 02, 2005 - 12:43 AM