Southern Classic Review: Geto Boys - Grip It! On That Other Level (1989)
Houston, Texas. 1989. While we got a taste of truly hardcore hip-hop with N.W.A’s Straight Outta Compton , Geto Boys upped the danger several months later with Grip It! On That Other Level . The group's first album Making Trouble dropped months before Straight Outta Compton and also had a hardcore approach (especially that track “Assassins,” goddamn!) but it also has the…distinction of sounding like a grittier P.E or Run DMC at times. What saved it, in that case, were the lyrics and a distinctly gritty southern attitude. Seriously, listen to Making Trouble . You'd swear danger was around every corner in late 1980s Houston. Grip It! On That Other Level was an excellent follow-up. Most of the members are gone besides Bushwick Bill and DJ Ready Red and two members in Scarface and Willie D are here. These two really steal the show and it's no wonder the group ended up as a trio afterward (Red would leave before We Can't Be Stopped ). Beats on here are simi