Exclusive Interview (kinda): MauriceGarland.com Talks To Scarface About 21st Anniversary of “Mr. Scarface Is Back”

Earlier today, I poured my little heart out on Tumblr talking about the 21st anniversary of Scarface’s debut album Mr. Scarface Is Back and the impact it left on my life.

I know I’m not the only one that holds this album up in high regard. Pretty much every rapper to exist after this has borrowed something from it. Whether it’s using clips from the Scarface movie, killing yourself at the end of the song or admitting that you just might be going crazy.

I didn’t see anybody else really talking about it today, so I figured shied…I got ‘Face number, let me call him and see if he want to talk about it. We was supposed to do an interview for Creative Loafing leading up to his show at Art, Beats & Lyrics but it never happened. Figured this would be a good time to make up for it. He picked up the phone, and we chopped it up.

All of this is pretty unplanned. Like I said, I just called on some spur of the moment shit, dude picked up the phone and we just started talking. This is what happened.

Did you know the album was 21 years old today?

I know it came out October of 1991.

October 3rd, today.

Really? Nice.

Yeah the CD is old enough to drink now.

Damn that shit old.

Can you walk us through what was going on in your life at the time you recorded this album?

I remember Willie D leaving the Geto Boys and HAVING to make this album. I just remember making records. Willie left so I was forced to make the album.

So Scarface was never even supposed to be a solo artist, ever?

I was never supposed to be a solo artist to begin with. I came to Rap-A-Lot as a solo artist, but they put me in the group with Willie and Bill, and I liked being in the Geto Boys, and that’s what i expected to be.

You sound like you knew what you were doing the whole time, but what was it like? Was it tough to pull off an whole album by yourself?

I was just making songs man. “Mind Playing Tricks” was my song. It was three verses of me. And I wrote the “this year Halloween fell on the weekend…” verse for me. I’ll let you in on another secret, I produced everything on that album. All but two songs.

You and Crazy C produced it together right?

No. No sir. Crazy C did “Born Killer” and I think he did “I’m Dead.” I co-produced “Diary of A Mad Man” and I didn’t produce “Mr. Scarface,” Bido did that one. But every other motherfucking song on that album, I did myself.

Was this your first time producing?

Yes…no. I produced some stuff on the Geto Boys album. I did “I Ain’t With Being Broke” and “Quickie.”

I always tell people that Goodie Mob’s Soul Food kept my life on track when I was in high school. But Mr. Scarface Is Back set me on the straight and narrow when I was fucking 11 years old. What was your mind state when you recorded it?

I didn’t have an intent. I was 20 years old. I just wanted to tell my side of the story and I got a chance to tell it on a broader scale. I didnt know if that record was gonna fucking do anything. I was just making records for my niggas. Come to find out, there’s niggas like this all over the fucking country that witnessed the same things.

Talk about the song “I’m Dead.” This was years before Biggie’s “Suicidal Thoughts.”

Well. Gangsta Nip had a song where at the end he was like “aaaaah, I’m dead.” Right? So I just said I wanted to make a song called “I’m Dead.” I think alot of it came from watching that movie Ghost. Damn, that as a long ass fucking time ago man.

“Money And the Power” is alot of people’s favorite Scarface song. I myself just discovered that there was a video for it years ago on YouTube. I don’t remember ever seeing it on TV. Nobody does really. Can you tell us why?

Well, that video was very controversial man. Because at the end of the video, when I’m getting electricuted, when the lights come back on, I’m gone, right? Well, there’s also a part where at the end I’m driving off in a Testerosa with J (Prince). J was really on that gangsta shit back in the game man. He is a real true motherfucking gangster in real life. That’s what he was on back then.

Wow. That part isn’t even on what’s on YouTube.

That’s crazy. I’m actually about to go meet with the dude that made that video today.

Another video that was crazy was for “Minute To Pray and A Second To Die.” That’s the video that really changed my life, especially when I saw how dude died at the end. I didn’t want to go out like that.

Yeah, that’s real live shit right there. At first the idea was supposed to be me just standing around the fire telling the story. But the shit was so visual, we decided to shoot it with people acting it out. “Minute To Pray and A Second To Die,” the title is self-explanitory. You can easily get yourself caught up out here.

Yeah, seeing that video at 11 years old? That shit scared me more than the Michael Jackson “Thriller” video.

Really? That’s real. Man alot of shit going on in my life at that time was life changing in all honesty. Being poor and going to hustling? Hustling hard and just doing what needs to be done? Crazy.

Who’s idea was it for that album cover?

Shit. That was J’s idea. To see that when you’re older you’re like “damn, thats how that shit happens.” I was always scared to put out shit like that. I never wanted to see that shit again. I never wanted to rap about that shit no more. I always felt a certain way about it.

Was you worried that it would be taken the wrong way?

Shit man, we’d have to talk about that off the record. But, let’s just say, the game that we grew up in. We ain’t have no money dude. J was 19-20 years old in Rolls Royces. We was young. J had real money and we was like 16 years old around this. We ain’t have no fucking money, so when we saw a dude not too far from us with that kind of money, we wanted that kind of money and whatever it took to get it. He was a real influence on our lives man. We never saw nothing, we don’t how he got it. All we knew was that he had it when we was kids.

{inaudible voice in the background}

Hey…I’ma call you right back dude.