#THE GETO BOYS* – THE GETO BOYS FULL#
#THE GETO BOYS* – THE GETO BOYS TV#

#THE GETO BOYS* – THE GETO BOYS FULL#

Nationally, rap music was still very much in its post- Chronic moment, with Death Row running the show, and music full of G-funk production hallmarks-live instrumentation slinky, sinister worm synths big, round, rubber-band bass lines drum patterns that conjured a slow roll down the strip in a convertible rather than a ride uptown in a cramped, claustrophobic subway car-had been coming out of cities all over the country, cities never before known for rap. The Resurrection is the Houston group’s greatest achievement.įor some reason, probably having to do with the aforementioned matter of perspective, it was hard to reckon the greatness of The Resurrection when it came out. It’s a Rushmore-status type album for me, perhaps the rap album that I’ve listened to more than any other ( Strictly Business? The Low End Theory? The Chronic? The Infamous? Cuban Linx…? Aquemeni?), and it epitomizes the power and meaning and ugly/beautiful emotion there is to find in the (fairly dominant) subgenre know as “gangsta rap.” In that light, with 20 years having passed since Houston rap trio the Geto Boys released their fifth album, 1996’s The Resurrection, I would like to propose an argument that I’ve been stewing with for a while now: that The Resurrection is the Houston group’s greatest achievement, that it is the greatest achievement of group-leader Scarface’s near-30-year musical career, that it is the most underrated album in rap music history.

#THE GETO BOYS* – THE GETO BOYS TV#

Books, movies, TV shows, you name it: 20 years in the rear-view lets us balance our memories of that first ephemeral impression, that thrill or dismay of jolting novelty, against what we can better see from a wider, zoomed-out macro-scope: the affect of contemporary stylistic trends, staying power, shelf-life, etc., a work of art’s place in history. Other times, buildings that look super-cool and bold and modern wind up looking like a wack cartoon of futurism, sticking out like a silly sore thumb amongst their surroundings. Sometimes, buildings that looked bananas when they were built have a way of settling into their surrounding neighborhoods in a very complimentary way. Twenty years of retrospect is a pretty good place from which to assess art.

This is part of Complex's The 1996 Project: Looking Back at the Year Hip-Hop Embraced Success.

The geto boys* – the geto boys