Geto Boys: We Can't Be Stopped (2LP, 35th anniversary) [CAROLINE/EMI]

Why you'll love it

This 35th anniversary edition is remastered and spread over two LPs. The album went platinum and reached No. 24 on the Billboard 200, and "Mind Playing Tricks on Me" hit No. 1 on the Hot Rap Songs chart.

This edition

• 2LP set
• 35th anniversary edition
• Remastered

About the album

Houston didn't wait for permission. Scarface, Willie D and Bushwick Bill made We Can't Be Stopped for James Smith's Rap-A-Lot label in a matter of weeks, and DJ Ready Red, one of the original members, left partway through the sessions. The result put Southern rap on the national map at a time when most of the industry was looking at New York and Los Angeles.

The structure is neat: each member gets three solo tracks, and three more bring all of them together, Ready Red included with a short verse on the title track. "Mind Playing Tricks on Me" is the masterpiece, a paranoid, haunting confessional over a smooth Isaac Hayes-style groove that reached No. 23 on the Hot 100. Bushwick Bill's "Chuckie" leans into horror-movie theatrics, and "Rebel Rap Family" and "Homie Don't Play That" set the tone fast.

Pitchfork named "Mind Playing Tricks on Me" one of the top 50 tracks of the 1990s, and The Source gave it Best Song in 1991. AllMusic calls the album the group's most visceral work. It took a few weeks to make and has been rattling car trunks for 35 years since, which is rather a good return on a month's work.

Also at Kops: more Geto Boys on vinyl · browse Hip Hop / R&B

Tracklist

Listen

On Rap-A-Lot (cat# RAL2K002-LP), a reissue of the 1991 album.