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 similar to the debut album but the aggression that Scarface and Willie D come with along with Bill is audio magic. The album also built on the horrorcore genre that Geto Boys and fellow Houston rapper Ganksta N-I-P would pioneer in the Southern scene. This was a few years before DJ Paul & Lord Infamous’ Come With Me 2 Hell.
The album delivers on everything from storytelling to just buck songs. The songwriting isn't going to make you contemplate life and actions of a violent past. No, this takes along for a thrill ride from the streets to some very twisted minds with a depiction of street life as horror.
Grip It! On That Other Level is a great intro to Geto Boys. Hell, Making Trouble does too. You know what? Give both a listen.
Big 3 Tracks: Read These Nikes, Trigga Happy Nigga, Let A Ho Be A Ho
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