However, the insights often stop just short of being truly informative. Now to be honest, there is a decent amount of reflection and admissions by Brad Jordan aka Scarface, whether it is talking about his battles with depression and time spent in the hospital system or use of drugs and pills later on to cope. (DMX's early memoir, Mase, and Snoop all did autobiographies over a decade ago) This seemed like a great opportunity to really have a lot of self reflection. This was a very interesting book because it is timed to be way more reflective than a lot of others which exist more to take advantage of current popularity and cash in a lot of times if you look at them. First-rate memoir.Īs I have grown older and seen the icons of the musical genre I grew up on start to age and begin to reflect I have been especially interested in reading the stories of their rise and dealing with fame. There’s definitely some revelatory bombs along the way. Having been a fan since the early days, I particularly enjoyed learning the backstory surrounding solo and group albums, and the inner workings of Rap-A-Lot, the Texas based label Face recorded the bulk of his music for. The same can be said about the telling of his life story. Through his music, he’s always been raw and real, whether his aim was to evoke emotion or create an ominous mood, he did so with unshakable truth. The candor of Face’s recollections of his life and music career allow for instant accessibility for the reader. It’s clear that co-writer Benjamin Meadows-Ingram conducted a series of interviews with Scarface and compiled the majority of the book’s content through dictation. “Diary of a Madman” has a very conversational style.

I was struck by Scarface’s opening verse – “At night I can’t sleep/I toss and turn/Candle sticks in the dark/Visions of bodies bein burned/Four walls just starin at a n*gga/I’m paranoid/Sleeping with my finger on the trigga/My mama’s always stressin I ain’t livin right/But I ain’t goin out without a fight/See, every time my eyes close/I start sweatin/And blood starts comin out my nose.” One minute it wasn’t there, and the next I was hearing it in regular rotation on R&B radio. “Mind Playing Tricks on Me” really came out of nowhere. This prepared me for the Geto Boys in 1991. Ice Cube’s departure from NWA, and his subsequent solo albums deserve credit for that change.

The early 1990s are responsible for making me more receptive to other regional representations of Hip Hop outside of New York City.

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