Prince decided it was the breakout record he needed for the label's flagship group.īut it's Scarface's grandmother who deserves credit for the song's title. He wrote three of the four verses in this song, originally intended for his solo album until Rap-A-Lot Records founder J.

It was hard not to stand out with a group that included Willie D, a former Golden Gloves boxer Bushwick Bill, a brash Brooklyn transplant and former breakdancer who stood less than four feet tall and Brad Jordan, a lyricist with enough street cred to wear the stage name of rap's most celebrated kingpin: Scarface. When 'Mind Playing Tricks' came out, the Geto Boys were already legendary in the South. And ' Mind Playing Tricks on Me,' by the Houston rap trio Geto Boys, was bumping out of nearly every car with speakers in the trunk, putting a voice to the angst and paranoia that defined what it meant to be a young black man in America at the time. Rodney King's beating by LA cops was on virtual loop on the small screen. John Singleton's Boyz n the Hood was playing on the big screen. But Tony Soprano wasn't the first gangster to expose his sensitive side to the world: That distinction came nearly a decade earlier, thanks to three gangstas of a different stripe. When HBO's drama The Sopranos began airing in 1999, the idea of a mob boss seeking therapy was revolutionary. Find more at NPR.org/Anthem.Įditor's note: This story includes includes brief mentions of suicide.

This story is part of American Anthem, a yearlong series on songs that rouse, unite, celebrate and call to action.

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