Bushwick Bill and the Geto Boys. A Nightmare of Depravity.

Bushwick Bill: Phantom of the Rapra (1995)
Geto Boys: Resurrection (1996)

The economic and political mood was right. Bill Clinton was in office. The Republican think tank needed to get the people thinking Republican again. The Republican think tank needed a distraction. Minorities. Violence. Sex.

Harkening back to the days of book-burning and fire and brimstone, Bob Dole, Delores Tucker and William Bennett began an attack on America's "nightmare of depravity." Rap became the enemy. The reason. The scapegoat. Suburbia was safe no more.

Or was this merely a reaction to the third world conditions in our back yards? No longer out of sight, out of mind. The 5th Ward, the South Bronx, Cabrini Green, Watts, East New York, East St Louis. The questions weren't asked and swift solutions were enacted. Burning rap records. Prominent politicians severing ties to record companies. Palliation. Band-aids on a gaping gun-shot wound.

Scarface fumed, “All I'm trying to do is tell my side of the story. This Dole muthafucka, is telling his side, so let me tell mine." Of all people, Bob Dole brought the Geto Boys out of hiatus. Willie D was suing Rap-A-Lot, but Bob Dole trumped their petty financial differences. Their voices needed to be heard. "Babyface and Luther Vandross are always talking about fuckin! In rap songs we at least talk about slapping on a condom, but all those guys are about is buck-naked fun- so who's the biggest villains? Is it us who kick reality, or them talking about sex? People should just accept it for what it is, which is music."

The moral: When America becomes involved in issues it should not become involved in, things go the way America did not intend. Rwanda, Iraq, Rap music, etc, etc, etc.

The Geto Boys finally had a mission. A message. They had focused their anger:

Jumpin’ on the rap bandwagon ain’t helpin’ it
You need to be concerned about the motherfuckin’ deficit
I’m the type of nigga throw a party when the flag burn
I’m at the point of no return

This focus resulted in an album full of not merely scare tactics, but political fury, education, and rage. Peep the Boy's remake of War's the World is a Ghetto (Bushwick's best verse, by far). Bushwick's new found energy and purpose came through in his solo record and his interviews at the time:

"Well, Bob Dole is trying to use the Geto Boys, 2 Live Crew, Cannibal Corpse, and the movie Natural Born Killers to get elected into the White House by saying that it's all senseless, mindless violence--senseless violence and mindless sex was the exact interpretation. So, this is the same man who has Senator Packwood as one of the chief executives of his campaign, who was filed for sexual harassment and molestation. He's trying to ban me for what I say, but his people are living out physical actions. This man [Packwood] actually did this. I'm talking about things that I've read, seen, or heard. This man actually committed sexual harassment, and he works for Bob Dole, who's coming against my music. And Senator Bob Dole was the same person who about eight months ago had an opportunity to ban semi-automatic weapons to be in pawn shops and be available to average citizens. He passed a bill to keep semi-automatic weapons on the street, but says my music is dangerous. Now, I give one of you a Bushwick Bill tape and give the other a semi-automatic weapon, which one do you think kills? My music is entertainment with information. A semi-automatic weapon in the hands of a fool or anybody intelligent can slip and kill. My tape can't. If it slips it'll break you have to buy another one. So him making semi-automatic weapons available to teenagers and saying music shouldn't be heard is not only immoral, but unconstitutional because it's freedom of speech. But then again, f--- the Constitution because the Constitution declared black people three-fifths human, which was equal to an ox or a cow, which was a field animal. So, basically we were exempt from the Bill Rights so f--- the government and f--- anybody that thinks I can't say what I want to say 'cause I don't give a f--- about how they feel, 'cause I'd rather be hated for who I am than loved for what I'm not."

Geto Boys: Resurrection http://rapidshare.de/files/20605239/gbs_re.rar.html
Bushwick Bill: Phantom of the Rapra http://rapidshare.de/files/20603963/bb_potr.rar.html