The lead single from the album, вЂњMind Playing Tricks on Me,вЂќ featured the trio taking turns on the microphone, with each rapper sharing personal experiences involving paranoia, fear, and violent encounters.

The album cover featured Willie D and Scarface pushing Bushwick Bill through the corridors of a hospital after he lost his eye in an altercation with a girlfriend. It was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. In 1991 the Geto Boys released a classic in their fourth studio album, We CanвЂ™t Be Stopped, on Rap-A-Lot. Other controversial rap artists, including 2 Live Crew and Ice-T, later found themselves the targets of this campaign as well, as some labels bowed to public pressure and began severing ties with so-called gangsta rappers. Prominent politicians soon launched a campaign against вЂњgangstaвЂќ rappers and the labels that recorded them. This call for censorship was fueled by the testimony of two Kansas teenagers who claimed to be 'temporarily hypnotized' by the Geto Boys song вЂњMind of a LunaticвЂќ which caused them to shoot another teenager. The violent and sexually-explicit lyrics included on The Geto Boys created a good deal of public controversy as opponents advocated censorship. Our manufacturer and distributor, however, do not condone or endorse the content of this recording, which they find violent, sexist, racist, and indecent.' Entitled simply The Geto Boys, it was released in 1990 and contained the following disclaimer: вЂњDef American Recordings is opposed to censorship. Originally set for distribution by Geffen Records, the graphic nature of the groupвЂ™s lyrics, especially the necrophilia described in вЂњMind of a Lunatic,вЂќ caused the company to pull out, and the album was subsequently distributed by Giant Records. Rick Rubin, cofounder of New York-based Def Jam Records, was impressed with the Geto Boys recordings and decided to release a different version of the Grip It! album on his Def American label. This record fared much better than the first, with several singles, including вЂњGangsta of Love,вЂќ вЂњSize AinвЂ™t Shit,вЂќ and вЂњMind of a Lunatic,вЂќ that earned the group a larger following and helped Houston gain national recognition in the rap music world. In 1989 the newly-revamped group, whose name was changed from Ghetto Boys to Geto Boys, released a second album, Grip It! On That Other Level. DJ Ready Red remained as the fourth member of the band. This album garnered minor local and regional support, however, the group did tour with national recording artists The Fat Boys on their Wipe Out Tour.Дue to creative differences, Sire Jukebox and Prince Johnny C departed from the group and were soon replaced with Willie D (born Willie Dennis of Houston) and Scarface (born Brad Jordan of Houston and originally known as DJ Akshen). The groupвЂ™s first album release, entitled Making Trouble, came out in 1988 on Rap-A-Lot Records and featured a new lineup-Sire Juke Box Prince Johnny C (born Jonathan Carmichael from Trenton, New Jersey) DJ Ready Red (born Collins Leysath from Trenton, New Jersey) and Bushwick Bill (born Richard Shaw of Bushwick, New York, and originally from Jamaica) as their hype man and dancer. In 1986 the trio released the single вЂњCar Freak,вЂќ which received limited distribution. The band (originally spelled вЂњGhetto BoysвЂќ) consisted of Keith Rogers (Sire Juke Box), Thelton Polk (K-9/Sir Rap-A-Lot), and Oscar Ceres (Raheem). They are also one of the first groups to pioneer what critics would call the вЂњgangsta rapвЂќ genre within hip-hop by telling the real and fictional stories of the life of marginalized people in urban communites like HoustonвЂ™s Fifth Ward.

The Geto Boys are regarded as the group that not only put Houston (and the Fifth Ward) on the hip-hop map, but also the South on the hip-hop map. Geto Boys, a Houston rap group, was formed in 1986 by James вЂњLilвЂ™ JвЂќ Smith, owner of Rap-A-Lot Records.

Geto boys the resurrection album cover