At last, Scarface played a Tiny Desk Concert for NPR, tearing through highlights from his prolific career with a little help from fellow Houston legend Mike Dean.
The Geto Boys rapper began the set by introducing everybody in his band, with Dean — who produced many of his early records — on the keyboard right next to him. “I guess I call myself the curator — I don’t know if you wanna call me the DJ, the conductor, the railroad, but my name is Facemob,” he said. “And we came here to jam for y’all tonight. This morning. Whenever the fuck it is.”
As they began “On My Block,” from Scarface’s 2002 album The Fix, the rapper went on to give a little abridged backstory behind the track: “Me and Freaky Dean was in New York. And we was high. That’s gonna be the basis of all our fuckin’ songs.”
Those early memories might be a little foggy, but Facemob, Dean, and the rest of the crew proceeded with an effortless half-hour set that also included “Mary Jane,” “Smile,” “I Seen a Man Die,” “Fuck Faces,” and “Mind Playing Tricks on Me.” Watch it in full below.
Scarface’s last studio album was 2015’s Deeply Rooted, and he released a memoir that same year titled Diary of a Madman.
