Scarface quickly became the South's most admired rapper and remained so throughout the '90s after breaking away from the Geto Boys to launch his solo career in 1991. Even if he never scored any national hits or stormed up the Billboard charts with any of his numerous albums throughout the '90s, no one could question his clout in the South. He essentially defined what it meant to be a Southern thug rapper years before anyone even coined the term Dirty South. This became glaringly evident in the late '90s when a massive wave of young MCs arose from Houston, New Orleans, and Memphis emulating his style of hard-boiled, ghetto-bred, straight-up hardcore rapping. Besides serving as the father of Southern thug rap, it seemed as if every hardcore rapper wanted to align himself with Scarface during the '90s -- everyone from Ice Cube and Dr. Dre to 2Pac and Master P collaborated with the former Geto Boy -- all in an attempt to foster credibility among the loyal Southern rap audience. Yet despite his unquestionable influence, Scarface never crossed over to mainstream acceptance. His albums were often plagued with half-hearted filler, his lyrics were simply too harsh for radio, and his uncompromising devotion to producer Mike Dean led to a stagnant, albeit trademark, sound. Still, likely because Scarface never crossed over and remained aligned to the streets, his influence never waned, making him one of the few veterans able to sustain in the here-today, gone-tomorrow rap game.
Before Brad Jordan became known as Scarface, he called himself Akshen. As such, he began his rap career first as a solo artist in his native Houston, TX, during the mid-'80s for James Smith's then fledging Rap-A-Lot label. Smith was trying to launch a group he tagged the Geto Boys, and eventually asked Akshen to join the group in the late '80s. The Geto Boys' debut album -- Grip It! On That Other Level (1990), later repackaged and re-released that same year simply as The Geto Boys -- shocked many with its vivid depictions of violence and its overall extreme nature. This album featured the song "Scarface," which introduced Akshen's alter ego, a title he would keep from that point onward. The ensuing controversy surrounding the group's debut put the Geto Boys on the map and set the stage for 1991's We Can't Be Stopped, the group's undeniable masterpiece. In the wake of the group's national success came solo albums, one of which being Scarface's debut, Mr. Scarface Is Back. The album made it evident who the group's most talented member was, and the acclaim showered on Scarface resulted in bitter tensions among his fellow Geto Boys, Bushwick Bill and Willie D.
By the time Scarface returned with a follow-up solo album in 1993, The Diary, his reputation overshadowed that of his group's. With Willie D having left, the Geto Boys never rivaled We Can't Be Stopped and began releasing half-hearted efforts before reuniting in the late '90s. In the meantime, Scarface continued to funnel his efforts into additional solo efforts such as The World Is Yours (1995) and Untouchable (1997). He then released the double-disc My Homies in 1998, a bloated effort that found him collaborating with many of the South's best rappers. It wasn't until 2000, though, that Scarface won substantial admiration from the greater rap community with Last of a Dying Breed, his most personal and focused album in years. As a result, he was awarded Lyricist of the Year at the 2001 Source Awards. ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide
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