Scarface — The Diary

The third album consecrates Scarface among the best hip-hop artists of the period. The production is handled by Mike Dean, NO Joe and Scarface himself, Ice Cube is the only accredited guest on "Hand of the Dead Body" and on the same track, Devin the Dude offers an uncredited hook.

The disc boasts a structure similar to that of "Illmatic", with 43 minutes of listening divided into 13 tracks, including 3 skits: the production is excellent, boom bap with funk and soul samples and dry and hard midtempo drums, always accessible. From the point of view of the lyrics, the MC is dedicated again to the gangsta, with a lot of violence, street life and murders that have melancholy and personal nuances, without giving up the vicious side of the game.

Scarface chooses a slow, calm, relaxed, smooth, yet energetic, inspired and excellent delivery style, without being aggressive. His running times are extraordinary and he creates a fantastic and masterful album. His pen is among the best of the era and in the whole record there's only one weak point ("Goin' Down") which is still a solid cut.

Intro and outro take up the main theme of the movie "Scarface" made by Giorgio Moroder and are both beautiful, among the best moments of the year, with tense and sad strings and a wonderful melancholy sad piano. Among these cuts, "I Seen a Man Die", "Hand of the Dead Body" and "Mind Playin' Tricks 94" stand out, which is a perfect reinterpretation of the classic cut of the Geto Boys in a solo key.

Released by Rap-A-Lot, the album achieved great commercial success, reaching second place on the Billboard 200 and rap chart, and achieving platinum certification in two weeks. Critics welcomed the project, re-evaluating it with the status of «classic» in retrospect: it's one of the few records to earn the perfect score from both The Source and XXL. It's one of the most important documents released in the South and his best work.

Rating: 9.4/10.