It might not be the absolute very best way I can think of to drive around Houston, Texas. (That might not be the absolute very safest link to click on if you're at work, by the way.) But if I do ever find myself cruising that famous suburban sprawl, I would be sure to cue up local rap legend Scarface as a soundtrack. The title track to his latest mixtape features B. James and Monk Kaza, and was co-produced by Seattle's Jake One, who has been doing such great work with Philadelphia's Freeway recently. Driving music always travels well.
Monday, June 14, 2010
8
Is this mixtape in stores or downloadable on the interwebs? I'll gladly pay for it, but I don't want to buy it in the stores if Scarface has already released it for free download, like Drake did. Not that I would ever download/buy a Drake mixtape. I'm just saying.
And... if I were to purchase this mixtape in a store, would I be able to purchase it in a local establishment or is it one of those extremely rarely released joints that I'm better off just buying off Amazon? I'm just trying to save myself a trip out of the house here...
Scarface used to be my favorite rapper twenty years or so ago. He went down the drain with the rest of them about fifteen years ago. This is shit. Suburban sprawl? What happened to 5th Ward? Got ripped off and sold. Fittingly.
Erroneous! On both counts...
Scarface has always remained dope. By that I mean a skilled rapper. Subjective, but still.
And he never sold out, when he very easily could have. Well, there was that one time. But we won't count that because it was actually a dope song (produced by Kanye, no less!). If you're going to call somebody in rap a sellout, Scarface should be at the bottom of the list.
If you think this (and all the rest of his recent shit) comes anywhere near anything on Mr. Scarface Is Back (one of the best albums ever - period), you must be "smoking dope". He may not have sold out for big bucks (he may not even be able to, even if he tried), but he does keep churning out things which roughly fall in line with what others are doing, where he used to do shit that was unmistakably his own. Why?
Dude. Scarface never once rapped about the 5th Ward. He's from South Acres. He's rolling through Riverside Terrace, off of MacGregor, in this video. If you didn't know that Wille D and Bushwick were the ones from 5th Ward, which is considered Northside, while Face was from the Southside then you aren't qualified to opine on his tracks.
My intention with that 5th Ward comment was a bit more meaningful than a mere hood name drop, which I'm going to admit is a game I'd definitely lose to you, dude. I'd be a lot more impressed if you could tell me with a straight face that this shit here measures up to what he used to do a long time ago.
Yeah, he's no longer in his prime. But he has had a long and distinguished career of the sort that looked very, very unlikely if you listen to how unhinged he was in the early Geto Boys days. Growing up in Houston, which I obviously did, Scarface was the King. Everybody looked up to him -- he never got into stupid shit like Willie D (who is in jail now for fraud, after a failed boxing foray) and he was never a gimmick like Bushwick. Plus he never screwed children like Southpark Mexican, never talked empty shit like Mike Jones, and never tried to go Top 40 like Chamillionare. The only local legend that even comes close is Bun B.
But he's over 40 now and pretty well settled. He never sold out. He always stayed in Houston. He's actually become, hilariously, a big golfer now. I still love his voice -- it's so unique that you know instantly who is on the mic. I'm glad he's still alive and putting out the occasional mixtape, even if you have to go to the flea market to get it.
Ha. Thanks for all that cool info. I suppose he did better than most (and not just in Houston either), but I didn't mean to take a swipe at him as a person anyway. All I'm saying is... rap isn't what it used to be. That may be OK, but who's turning the kids away from major labels and the evils of the corporate mass production dominance? That's what 5th Ward used to stand for me. As an idea.