Credit: Album cover

The Geto Boys were no strangers to controversy. Their dark, violent brand of hip-hop caused much hand-wringing among conservative types across America back in the day, but, still, they proved hugely influential and popular.

The Houston group had a rotating cast of characters, with members coming and going quite frequently through the years. The three main men associated with the group, Bushwick Bill, Willie D and Scarface, weren’t even in the original line-up, with Bill joining in time to record the band’s first album and Willie D and Scarface joining for album two.

Even with the main trio in place, though, the group’s membership was never really stable. During the recording of their third album We Can’t Be Stopped, DJ Ready Red, one of the founding members, departed, while Willie D left for the follow-up album Till Death Do Us Part. He returned for the fifth album The Resurrection.

Sixth album Da Good Da Bad & Da Ugly saw Bushwick Bill leave, but, again, he wasn’t gone for long. He returned for The Foundation, the Geto Boy’s seventh album, and, as it would turn out, their last. Bushwick Bill, Willie D and Scarface were all on it, but they wouldn’t record another record together ever again.

There was an attempt to get the Geto Boys together after The Foundation, but, in the end, it failed. In 2015 Scarface, Willie D and Bushwick Bill launched a crowd-funding initiative to finance a new album, which was provisionally titled Habeas Corpus. The target they hoped to reach was $100,000, but they didn’t really get close.

While 289 people donated to the group, raising $46,647 for the new album, their effort fell well short of the desired $100,000. Scarface was especially upset by this failure, and, in its wake, he announced that he was done with the group for good.

Given how many times Geto Boys members had come and gone, fans, perhaps, may have felt like they could take his announcement with a pinch of salt. But, over time, the opportunities for a fresh reunion truly disappeared.

Founding member DJ Ready Red died in 2018, while the following year one of the core trio made a bleak announcement. Bushwick Bill had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and the outlook was not good. A final Geto Boys tour was planned, but, in the end, it never happened. It was cancelled and, on June 9, 2019, Bushwick Bill died. He was 52.

The line-up of the Geto Boys had always been a fluid thing, with members coming and going all the time. The reasons were varied, often due to members seeking their own solo success. But the group ultimately endured, until, finally, the deaths of key members made it unviable for a return.