Brad Jordan began his artistic career as DJ Akshen, recording and deejaying for Lil Troy's Short Stop, local record label in Houston, Texas. Akshen is a backronym for All Krazy Shit Has Ended Now, and pronounced "action". He releases the single "Scarface/Another Head Put to Rest" in 1989, the piece is written by Mr. 3-2 (later included in the group Convicts along with Big Mike, this latter will be part of the Geto Boys for a few years together with Jordan) and produced by Def Jam Blaster and Bruce "Grim" Rhodes. Later, Akshun signs with Rap-A-Lot Records and joins the hip-hop group Geto Boys, replacing a member who left. In this period, he changes his moniker from Akshen to Scarface, in homage to the 1983 movie by the same name. After dropping four albums with the group, in 1991 Scarface debuts as soloist with a studio album.
The Houston MC chooses pretty violent themes extracted from the gangsta subgenres, there are topics such as an infinity of murders, misogyny, girls, violence, drug dealing and braggadocio, it seems a violent effort, instead the rapper provides an almost excellent lyricism with a vivid narrative, also dedicating conscious and introspective bars, tackling serious and sad topics such as suicide, depression and mental illnesses, spitting out aggressive and emotional lines that make you understand how Scarface lives them daily in his life beyond the rap character.
This choice of varied lyricism allows him to take the gangsta rap genre to a higher level than other hip-hop artists did at the time, he has the merit of having eliminated ignorance from the gangsta and his remarkable narrative skills cement him like one of the best rappers from the south: technically he's excellent, his style is determined, angry, slow, smoothness, he transports these explicit texts without effort, with an energetic hardcore delivery on a funky production that's not exceptional and that makes this album climb a step below the status of a classic untouchable.
The sound is provided by the usual Rap-A-Lot team, there are James Smith, Big Ro, Crazy C, Doug King, Bido, an unidentified Sam and Scarface himself: the rhythms are simple, skinny and minimal, with drum machine lean syncopated and slow, there are some guessed funky samples, but the beats aren't entrancing for the duration of the project and most of them are simply functional to the smooth dope delivery of the MC. Scarface shows up with his most violent and hardcore album ever, he fills this album with solid and classic cuts — the only exception is "The Pimp", a trivial unnecessary sexual cut that doesn't work and feels out of place — and becomes the first solo artist from the south to send his own album among the best hip-hop efforts of the year.
Released by Rap-A-Lot Records, distributed by Priority Records, the disk is launched by two singles ("Mr. Scarface" and "A Minute to Pray and a Second to Die", #8 and #13 on the rap chart respectively), it was a resounding success, maintaining considerable sales over the months following its release and becoming one of the best-selling rap albums of 1992 in the United States, then certified gold by the RIAA for half a million copies sold within a year of its release.
It received a notable response from critics, who praised Scarface's solo effort, and there was significant feedback from fans. The album's success allowed the author to build his own niche audience and become even better known than his own group, which at the time was already one of the leading rap acts on the entire Third Coast.
Highlights: "Mr. Scarface". Intro sung cheerful by Scarface, then another intro, skinny rhythm with sample by Syl Johnson, skeletal and tight syncopated drum machine, minimal funky cheerful rhythm, lethal hardcore delivery of Scarface that annihilates the title track. He's back. "Born Killer", "Diary of a Madman", "Money and the Power", "A Minute to Pray and a Second to Die", "I'm Dead".
Rating: 8.7/10.
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