| We Can't Be Stopped | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | July 9, 1991 | |||
| Recorded | 1990–1991 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 51:45 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Producer |
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| Geto Boys chronology | ||||
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| Singles from We Can't Be Stopped | ||||
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We Can't Be Stopped is the third studio album by Geto Boys, released on July 9, 1991. It was among their most successful records in terms of units sold. The album is analysed track-by-track by Geto Boys in Brian Coleman's book Check the Technique . [1] We Can't Be Stopped was certified Platinum in early 1992. [2]
We Can't Be Stopped took only a few weeks to record. During the recording of the album, DJ Ready Red, one of the original Geto Boys members, left the group for personal reasons. [1]
In We Can't Be Stopped, each member of the group has three solo tracks. Three tracks have all three members on the rapping roster, including a short verse from DJ Ready Red on the title track.
The album cover is a graphic picture of member Bushwick Bill in the hospital. Bill was shot in the eye as he and his girlfriend tussled over a gun. Bushwick Bill wanted her to kill him and during the altercation he was shot as both hands were on the gun. [3] The other two Geto Boys members and the group's management team took Bill out of the hospital room in order to take the picture, removing his eyepatch and intravenous drip in the process. Bill later expressed regret over the album cover, saying, "It still hurts me to look at that cover because that was a personal thing I went through... I still feel the pain from the fact I've got a bullet in my brain... I think it was pretty wrong to do it, even though I went along with the program at first." [1]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [4] |
| Robert Christgau |  [5] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |  [6] |
| Entertainment Weekly | B [7] |
| RapReviews | 9/10 [8] |
| Rolling Stone | [9] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [10] |
Fred Thomas from AllMusic called the album "[the group's] most visceral work, rising to platinum success against the odds and inspiring innovation in the genre with its powerful and distinctively Southern perspective on what rap could be." [4] James Bernard of Entertainment Weekly gave the album a "B," saying that much of the “album stings, and their raw honesty has driven it onto the Billboard pop Top 40..." [7]
The track "Mind Playing Tricks on Me" has been singled out for praise. Pitchfork Media ranked the song #45 on its Top 200 Tracks of the 1990s list, with reviewer Tom Breihan writing "This track established the South as a serious force in the music, proving that these Texans could do dark better than anyone on either coast." [11] XXL ranked the song #14 on its list of the 250 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs from 1990 to 1999. [12] The Source gave the track its "Best Song" award in 1991. [1] Robert Christgau gave the album a choice cut rating, only liking "Mind Playing Tricks on Me."
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Rebel Rap Family" | 1:22 |
| 2. | "We Can't Be Stopped" | 3:34 |
| 3. | "Homie Don't Play That" | 3:48 |
| 4. | "Another Nigger in the Morgue" | 3:14 |
| 5. | "Chuckie" | 3:48 |
| 6. | "Mind Playing Tricks on Me" | 5:11 |
| 7. | "I'm Not a Gentleman" | 4:01 |
| 8. | "Gota Let Your Nuts Hang" | 4:11 |
| 9. | "Fuck a War" | 4:16 |
| 10. | "Ain't with Being Broke" | 3:47 |
| 11. | "Quickie" | 3:08 |
| 12. | "Punk-Bitch Game" | 2:16 |
| 13. | "The Other Level" | 6:01 |
| 14. | "Trophy" | 3:08 |
The following samples were used on We Can't Be Stopped:
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
|
| Year | Song | Chart positions | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hot 100 [18] | Hot R&B/Hip-Hop [18] | Hot Rap [18] | Rhythmic Top 40 [18] | ||
| 1991 | "Mind Playing Tricks on Me" | 23 | 10 | 1 | 32 |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United States (RIAA) [19] | Platinum | 1,000,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
Geto Boys was an American hip hop group originally formed in Houston, Texas. They saw commercial success in the 1990s with the lineup consisting of Bushwick Bill, Scarface and Willie D. The group became best known for their 1991 single "Mind Playing Tricks on Me", which peaked at number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100. Formed in 1986, the group was active until the 2019 death of Bushwick Bill.
G-funk, short for gangsta funk, is a sub-genre of gangsta rap that emerged from the West Coast scene in the early 1990s. The genre was heavily influenced by the synthesizer-heavy 1970s funk sound of Parliament-Funkadelic, often incorporated through samples or re-recordings. It was represented by commercially successful albums such as Dr. Dre's The Chronic (1992) and Snoop Dogg's Doggystyle (1993).
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Richard William Stephen Shaw, better known by his stage name Bushwick Bill, was a Jamaican rapper. He was a member of the Texas hip hop group Geto Boys, a group he originally joined as a breakdancer in 1986 as Little Billy. He went on to become one third of one incarnation of the group, alongside Willie D and Scarface.
"Mind Playing Tricks on Me" is a song by Geto Boys, featured on their 1991 album We Can't Be Stopped . The lyrics describe the mental anguish and exhaustion of life as a gangster, including dealing with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, paranoia, suicidal ideation, and loneliness. It also samples "Hung Up on My Baby" by Isaac Hayes, from his 1974 film Tough Guys. At the song's peak, it reached 23 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it the highest-charting single by the Geto Boys.
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Mr. Scarface Is Back is the debut studio album by the American rapper Scarface. It was released on October 8, 1991, by Rap-A-Lot Records and Priority Records. The album was supported by two singles: "Mr. Scarface" and "A Minute to Pray and a Second to Die". Both attained minor success on the charts.
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