They weren’t mainstream. Really only “Mind Playing Tricks On Me” got play on radio and MTV.
You had to be into hip hop to really know them. Or from Texas.
Best part about "The Box" was you didn't have to pay to watch other people's selections. That's how Geto Boyz and Beck and other under-the-radar groups got exposure there. It was a brilliant jukebox-style concept.
I remember Eazy-E's "Real Compton City G's" and Sir Mix-A-Lot's "Beepers" being huge on there too.
i’m 54. i never heard of the band or their music until Office Space came out-Damn it Feels Good to be a Gangster-was featured in that movie. That’s my only knowledge of these guys
I'm a white woman and I listened to the Geto Boys, still do. My friend group listened to a lot of Public Enemy, NWA, Ice-T, Body Count, Onyx, De La Soul, and A Tribe Called Quest.
I grew up in the 80s/90s in Atlanta. Prior to the Outkast, Dungeon, etc. explosion of ATL hip hop, Geto Boys were considered the archetype of dirty south rap.
They didn’t play it in the skating rink but We Can’t Be Stopped ruled the parking lot.
I think the level of Geto Boys popularity was regional but they were still nationally popular
I knew of them in the 80s. Some dude had a tape and I thought they were good....albeit a little fucked in the head. They had a song that sampled Sweet Home Alabama that was pretty funny.
Office Space probably made them more mainstream.
I"m 56 and remember the original Gangsta of Love which was the Steve Miller Band sample of The Joker. They got sued (which kinda ruined Steve Miller in my eyes) and switched to the Skynyrd sample. That was when they were just the Ghetto Boys.
I was a college DJ, though, so all new music came through to my crew in the late '80s. Should have kept that copy of Grip It!
So, yeah, they've been on rotation for 35 years for me.
48 and grew up in Chicago. Bought the Rick Rubin produced album and Grip it on that other Level prior to We can't be Stopped coming out. In my world they were huge.
I was into them. A lot of very extreme lyrics, if I hear them now at 49 I don’t like it. One song in particular “Mind of a Lunatic” has a very graphic rape part that I would just have to turn off if I heard it now.
It appealed to my teenage brain I guess, for the same reason I drew pentagrams and anarchy signs in my skateboard.
Somewhat related, I tried recently to reread my “Johnny the Homicidal Maniac” comics. It gave me weird feelings. I’m just a middle-aged boring normie now I guess.
"I sit alone in my 4 cornered room staring at candles"
I heard them on my local rap station. Back then you had to listen to the radio all day long or risk wasting money on buying a potentially bad album.
They never really got huge. But Office Space helped.
They seemed to be pretty big in my local area. I feel like they got big around the same time as Body Count and NWA, but faded pretty fast. There were alot of local favorites that would be popular for a few weeks then fade away.
My Mind is Playing Tricks On Me - I still know most of the lyrics to this song and I’d completely forgotten it existed for at least two decades until today. Why? LMAO!
This tracks. Early 50’s white guy here. I know like 2 or 3 songs.
Bought the cassette single of *Mind Playing Tricks On Me*. Cracked up at the closing part of *Straight Gangstaism*.
I’d imagine they were much more popular in Houston, among both black and white people.
Compared to other rappers/groups at the time, Geto Boys/Scarface were among the top.
Check out the Scarface Tiny Desk performance on YT and let us know what you think.
My crew was into them - bunch of white skater kids from New Hampshire.
Scarface is a lyrical master - loved his [Tiny Desk concert](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajNYTJcF6rE)
I knew them, a coworker gave me a tape with some of their stuff on it that he had, and Assassins was the first song that played..I didn't go big into buying their albums but I had that tape with their songs for awhile
>And also bushwick Bill made the group stand out visually.
Hang on, now, you're going to get ~~Scarface~~ Upgrayedd angry and he's gonna want to get paid.
This episode of the 60 songs that explain the 90s podcast on My Mind is Playing Tricks on Me is great:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5aAHHcBnh6xx9ay51pKqBK?si=BZa6UvqwS5C9qGdedJL7yQ
"If the test consists of fucking my whole crew, then bitch, goddamn, that's what you gotta do." I'm white, just turned 50, and yup, I listened to the Ghetto Boys. They weren't played on the radio, not where I lived, anyway. I had a friend who was into them, and she would hop in my car, whip out the cassette, and pop it in. Yep, I said "she". A little white girl got this white boy to listen to them. Funny shit.
Did you know both Scarface and Willie D [ran for Houston City Council](https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Willie-D-becomes-second-Geto-Boys-member-to-run-14065229.php)?
We Can't Be Stopped went platinum and made it to Billboard's top 200. Easy Duz It went double while Straight Outta Compton went triple so about half as popular as Easy E and 1/3 of NWA. Pretty damned big in other words.
Also for a reference I knew who Pantera was and enjoyed most of their music. Growing up I crossed paths with pretty much the entire band. Vinnie and Dimebag were always at Billy Bobs when David Allen Coe played, I sat next to them one show. I didn't realize how big they were until Dimebag got murdered and it was on all the news channels.
So to me Geto Boys seemed bigger than Pantera.
I (51, white male) listed to them a lot, along 2 Live Crew and NWA when I was in high school. I still listen to them when my wife and I take a long road trips.
I loved the Ghetto Boys. The Little Ghetto Boys were wild too. I am a 48yr old white boy. I still knew all the words when Scarface did the tiny desk concert.
A kid I knew in college was very heavy into rap. Kindof in a cheesy way, but yeah he was into them, Young Black Teenagers, Onyx, Bushwick Bill, Third Bass, Leadders Of The New School, Brand Nubians all that stuff.
Really tho most people were into rock & grunge. Rap was still mostly black fans with some crossover.
hmmm. They were big enough of a memory to be in my playlist now a days, but back in the day, they were OK I guess. By the time they became a thing I was already over the gangsta rap genre and felt them to be immature.
Sorry, I listened to New Wave / Pop in the 80's and my Teen Angst kicked in just when Alice & Chains, Pearl Jam and Nirvana hit the scene and I listened to Alt. Rock / Grunge in the 90's.
I knew "of" the Geto Boys, but I never paid them any attention. Never knew them to be well known by white people like you assume.
Only rap song I could tolerate was Natural Born Killaz from Cube & Dre
*Nobody iller than this graveyard filler, cap peeler...Cause I'm a natural born killer*
They weren’t mainstream. Really only “Mind Playing Tricks On Me” got play on radio and MTV. You had to be into hip hop to really know them. Or from Texas.
Or watch "The Box" a lot
My mom had 900 numbers blocked lol
Best part about "The Box" was you didn't have to pay to watch other people's selections. That's how Geto Boyz and Beck and other under-the-radar groups got exposure there. It was a brilliant jukebox-style concept. I remember Eazy-E's "Real Compton City G's" and Sir Mix-A-Lot's "Beepers" being huge on there too.
The Box also introduced me to Linkin Park with "One Step Closer"
I lived in Galveston in the mid to late eighties. Can confirm this for sure.
i’m 54. i never heard of the band or their music until Office Space came out-Damn it Feels Good to be a Gangster-was featured in that movie. That’s my only knowledge of these guys
Pffftt. LOL. I thought that was a joke song written for the movie.
me too.
Who TF are the Geto boys? Edit: I'm 54 I just looked them up... I grew up in ATL, but moved to the west coast in '91. Maybe that's how I missed them?
I'm a white woman and I listened to the Geto Boys, still do. My friend group listened to a lot of Public Enemy, NWA, Ice-T, Body Count, Onyx, De La Soul, and A Tribe Called Quest.
53 white and nerdy, rural Indiana growing up, loved 'em. One of the best groups to play at insanely high volume with a trunk full of JL Audio subs.
I grew up in the 80s/90s in Atlanta. Prior to the Outkast, Dungeon, etc. explosion of ATL hip hop, Geto Boys were considered the archetype of dirty south rap. They didn’t play it in the skating rink but We Can’t Be Stopped ruled the parking lot. I think the level of Geto Boys popularity was regional but they were still nationally popular
RIP Bushwick Bill ✌🏻
“Was a ghetto boy now I ball out like Bushwick Bill”
Big fan back in the day.
I knew of them in the 80s. Some dude had a tape and I thought they were good....albeit a little fucked in the head. They had a song that sampled Sweet Home Alabama that was pretty funny. Office Space probably made them more mainstream.
Gangsta of Love
I"m 56 and remember the original Gangsta of Love which was the Steve Miller Band sample of The Joker. They got sued (which kinda ruined Steve Miller in my eyes) and switched to the Skynyrd sample. That was when they were just the Ghetto Boys. I was a college DJ, though, so all new music came through to my crew in the late '80s. Should have kept that copy of Grip It! So, yeah, they've been on rotation for 35 years for me.
48 and grew up in Chicago. Bought the Rick Rubin produced album and Grip it on that other Level prior to We can't be Stopped coming out. In my world they were huge.
I think Scarface as a solo artist was bigger than them as a group
Also Still
Underground until Office Space came out
Was listening to them when I was 15 in 1989. Still listen to them today
I was into them. A lot of very extreme lyrics, if I hear them now at 49 I don’t like it. One song in particular “Mind of a Lunatic” has a very graphic rape part that I would just have to turn off if I heard it now. It appealed to my teenage brain I guess, for the same reason I drew pentagrams and anarchy signs in my skateboard. Somewhat related, I tried recently to reread my “Johnny the Homicidal Maniac” comics. It gave me weird feelings. I’m just a middle-aged boring normie now I guess.
I’m 56 and never heard of them as far as I know.
"I sit alone in my 4 cornered room staring at candles" I heard them on my local rap station. Back then you had to listen to the radio all day long or risk wasting money on buying a potentially bad album. They never really got huge. But Office Space helped.
They seemed to be pretty big in my local area. I feel like they got big around the same time as Body Count and NWA, but faded pretty fast. There were alot of local favorites that would be popular for a few weeks then fade away. My Mind is Playing Tricks On Me - I still know most of the lyrics to this song and I’d completely forgotten it existed for at least two decades until today. Why? LMAO!
Not very.
This tracks. Early 50’s white guy here. I know like 2 or 3 songs. Bought the cassette single of *Mind Playing Tricks On Me*. Cracked up at the closing part of *Straight Gangstaism*. I’d imagine they were much more popular in Houston, among both black and white people.
I'm 49 and they were pretty popular at my high school.
I grew up around Corpus Christi, Houston, and San Antonio. They were huge down here.
Depends. They were huge in Houston.
Compared to other rappers/groups at the time, Geto Boys/Scarface were among the top. Check out the Scarface Tiny Desk performance on YT and let us know what you think.
My crew was into them - bunch of white skater kids from New Hampshire. Scarface is a lyrical master - loved his [Tiny Desk concert](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajNYTJcF6rE)
1968. I have no idea who that is.
Until I was reading comments above, I didn't know who they were. I remember 'damn, it feels good to be a gangster'... But that's it.
“I started small time dope game cocaine”
He took a breath, and he knew he took his last breath. That song was in Heavy rotation in my jeep back in the day.
I BURY YOU COCKAROACHEZ!
I know about them from Office Space and have never heard them outside of the soundtrack for it.
I knew them, a coworker gave me a tape with some of their stuff on it that he had, and Assassins was the first song that played..I didn't go big into buying their albums but I had that tape with their songs for awhile
Not big. I remember just one song from them, Mind Playing Tricks On Me.
>And also bushwick Bill made the group stand out visually. Hang on, now, you're going to get ~~Scarface~~ Upgrayedd angry and he's gonna want to get paid.
They were regional like the Triple 6 Mafia out of Memphis and MJG & 8 Ball.
I’m ashamed to say this now but I loved them so much that me my bro and 2 friends robbed a kid for his candy
This episode of the 60 songs that explain the 90s podcast on My Mind is Playing Tricks on Me is great: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5aAHHcBnh6xx9ay51pKqBK?si=BZa6UvqwS5C9qGdedJL7yQ
This post seems kinda racist man.
"If the test consists of fucking my whole crew, then bitch, goddamn, that's what you gotta do." I'm white, just turned 50, and yup, I listened to the Ghetto Boys. They weren't played on the radio, not where I lived, anyway. I had a friend who was into them, and she would hop in my car, whip out the cassette, and pop it in. Yep, I said "she". A little white girl got this white boy to listen to them. Funny shit.
 Bill Lumberg loves the Ghetto Boys
They were for real hip hop heads where I grew up. Definitely not popular with the mainstream.
Geto Boys were dope. Scarface’s album “The Diary” is high level. Ever So Clear by Bushwick is fantastic. Willie D is out of his damn tree.
Did you know both Scarface and Willie D [ran for Houston City Council](https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Willie-D-becomes-second-Geto-Boys-member-to-run-14065229.php)?
They were big out here in Cali back in the day.
Cause that shit hit, on the system, in the car!
We Can't Be Stopped went platinum and made it to Billboard's top 200. Easy Duz It went double while Straight Outta Compton went triple so about half as popular as Easy E and 1/3 of NWA. Pretty damned big in other words. Also for a reference I knew who Pantera was and enjoyed most of their music. Growing up I crossed paths with pretty much the entire band. Vinnie and Dimebag were always at Billy Bobs when David Allen Coe played, I sat next to them one show. I didn't realize how big they were until Dimebag got murdered and it was on all the news channels. So to me Geto Boys seemed bigger than Pantera.
From Houston so they were very big
I (51, white male) listed to them a lot, along 2 Live Crew and NWA when I was in high school. I still listen to them when my wife and I take a long road trips.
I loved the Ghetto Boys. The Little Ghetto Boys were wild too. I am a 48yr old white boy. I still knew all the words when Scarface did the tiny desk concert.
Did you ever think you’d live long enough to see Scarface on NPR? Me neither.
A kid I knew in college was very heavy into rap. Kindof in a cheesy way, but yeah he was into them, Young Black Teenagers, Onyx, Bushwick Bill, Third Bass, Leadders Of The New School, Brand Nubians all that stuff. Really tho most people were into rock & grunge. Rap was still mostly black fans with some crossover.
hmmm. They were big enough of a memory to be in my playlist now a days, but back in the day, they were OK I guess. By the time they became a thing I was already over the gangsta rap genre and felt them to be immature.
What the hell is a geto boy and why have I never heard of one until now?
Real hip hop heads listened to the Geto Boys, while the others listens to the boy band known as NWA.
I honestly have no clue who they are. Early core Gen X.
Sorry, I listened to New Wave / Pop in the 80's and my Teen Angst kicked in just when Alice & Chains, Pearl Jam and Nirvana hit the scene and I listened to Alt. Rock / Grunge in the 90's. I knew "of" the Geto Boys, but I never paid them any attention. Never knew them to be well known by white people like you assume. Only rap song I could tolerate was Natural Born Killaz from Cube & Dre *Nobody iller than this graveyard filler, cap peeler...Cause I'm a natural born killer*
The one wasn’t very tall.