The Diary [Screwed] [PA]

Performer: Scarface
Artist: Ice Cube
Engineer: Mike Dean
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: This is an example of southern rap "screwed" mix style. Personnel: Scarface; Ice Cube. On THE DIARY, rapper Scarface creates a powerful, almost operatic progression of characters, portraying the different roles as they derive from the rapper's own persona. So he speaks either as Scarface or as Brad Jordan (his real name), as the cold-blooded gangsta or as a shrewd, compassionate observer of the mean streets of warring colors, doomed youth and innocents caught in the crossfire. THE DIARY is a graphic, powerful, unwavering look at the day to day violence that has become brutally commonplace for far too many urban citizens, as underscored by the romantic strings, martial rhythm parts and automatic gunfire of "Intro," and the funky kill-or-be-killed braggadocio of "The White Sheet," a gangsta anthem with a series of menacing, deadly hooks. Scarface anticipates all the usual criticism such a hard-edged approach would engender. He responds to such acrimony with indignation of his own on "Hand Of The Dead Body" (with Ice Cube). But a more telling response comes on "Mind Playin' Tricks," where Scarface delineates his own simple aspirations for family and self, and on the poignant, chilling "I Seen A Man Die," where he underscores a litany of tragedy and death by observing that "I never seen a man cry until I seen a man die...If you ain't at peace with God you need to patch it up...Here lies a man who ain't scared to die, may he rest in peace..." With the dissolution of the Geto Boys far behind him, Scarface follows the epic overreaching of The World Is Yours with The Diary, a refreshingly modest album with a few really strong moments and little filler. Never short on ideas, Scarface had nonetheless gone a little too far with the 70-minute The World Is Yours. There was plenty of brilliance there, including the stunning "Now I Feel Ya," but you had to do some sifting to find it. That's less the case with the 43-minute Diary, which doesn't overextend its ambitions. Scarface here once again offers a laid-back gangsta ballad, "I Seen a Man Die," that's as thoughtful and somber as the style gets and also perhaps the album highlight. Elsewhere, he teams up with fellow gangsta veteran Ice Cube on "Hand of the Dead Body" and reprises his best-known song, "Mind Playin' Tricks 94." Not counting the interludes, there are only ten songs here, and they're nearly all produced by the team of N.O. Joe and Mike Dean. It may make the album a short listen, yet it also makes The Diary one of Scarface's most solid efforts, one where you rarely, if ever, feel inclined to skip a song. And that's something you can't say about the work of most rappers, particularly ones as creative as Scarface. [A "screwed" version of the album was released in 2004.] ~ Jason Birchmeier

Rolling Stone (12/29/94-1/12/95, p.178) - "...Scarface kicks unrepentantly...and still effectively....[These songs] are notes from the underground that ring terrifyingly and all too true..." Q (7/01, p.91) - Included in Q's "50 Heaviest Albums of All Time". Q (3/95, p.103) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...full of funky bass, whining synthesizers, and dramatic strings, the lyrics choked with bitter pathos, it roars away like an epic tragedy." Vibe (12/94-1/95, p.144) - "...THE DIARY is the sonic equivalent of a fists-in-the-air, blood-on-the-wall, helicopter-detonating, action-adventure flick. And he's the anti-hero..." The Source (1/95, p.88) - 4 Stars - Slammin' - "...Scarface is business as usual lyrically...this Geto boy has tapped into something new and has laid the foundation for an even brighter future..." NME (Magazine) (12/3/94, p.41) - 8 - Excellent - "...a high-minded, haunting attempt to find some sense to the debris of the projects....an album that deserves to be heard; a sustained argument against the supposed irresponsibility of gangsta..."

A member of famed Houston gangsta rap group the Geto Boys, Scarface is one of the most respected southern MCs of all time. As a solo artist, he is by far the most successful member of the Geto Boys and is often credited with bringing southern hip-hop, and the Houston scene in particular, out of the underground and into the mainstream. In the early 2000s, Scarface claimed that he was retiring from the solo MC game, but stated that he would continue to work with the Geto Boys and record and produce for other artists.

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