The Geto Boys' fourth album, We Can't Be Stopped, hit the music world like a hurricane... It's no secret that this trio of misfits was put together by J. Prince, founder and CEO of Rap-A-Lot Records. The Geto Boys were his vision and a brilliant one at that. These three distinct voices and personalities meshed well on record, but in real life, the Boys rarely spoke. In fact, throughout the entire recording of We Can't Be Stopped, they were rarely in the studio together. In general, each member would come to the studio separately, lay their verses and then leave. It wasn't until the final period of the process that I really saw them all working together. Regardless of all that, We Can't Be Stopped is the album that kicked off this entire Southern revolution we are currently enjoying... [The cover of We Can't Be Stopped] showed Scarface and Willie D wheeling Bushwick Bill down a hospital hallway on a stretcher, just days after the diminutive rapper had shot his eye out. The cover was a shocking piece of macabre art, one that perfectly represented the psychosis of these three tortured gangsta geniuses. It was the perfect intro to an album full of tortured, gangsta genius gems including the mega hit "Mind Playin' Tricks On Me." "I guess I would say that one of [my favorite Rap-A-Lot albums] would have to be We Can't Be Stopped." J. Prince remembers, "And I say that because "Mind Playin' Tricks On Me" did so much for the South, period. It was the song that got the South our respect, and [it] made people start listening to us and reckoning with us from radio to everybody..." We Can't Be Stopped kicked the music industry's door down and introduced the world to a whole new coast, one where the place was a little slower but the fire burned just as hot. - 20 Essential Southern Albums, Ozone Magazine. Salute, Matt Sonzala. There were some distribution issues surrounding the album's release, so the official release date is fuzzy, but as far as I can see, We Can't Be Stopped was released on July 9, 1991. Got more info?
A random sketch of the We Can't Be Stopped artwork...
