Scarface, One of Hip-Hop's Best Storytellers, Returns to the Bay Area

Public media loves “storytelling,” so when Houston rapper Scarface was booked into NPR’s Tiny Desk late last year, who could be surprised? Scarface, along with Nas and Slick Rick, is undeniably among hip-hop’s greatest and most vivid storytellers.

Take the 1997 track “Southside,” where in just one minute and 13 seconds, Scarface tells you everything you need to know. He’s broke, high and walking past his neighborhood high school, thinking about his probation that’s worried his mom and reactivated his father’s depression. Terrified by visions of the devil, Scarface thinks of his own inherited depressive tendencies, and the reality that Black men like him rarely talk about mental health, worsening their alienation: “Somebody help the lost souls find a savior,” he pleads.

One verse. That’s it, that’s the whole song. And that’s what Scarface does over and over again across a catalog that’s remarkably consistent: “Mind Playin’ Tricks on Me” and other early work with the Geto Boys, his 1994 masterpiece The Diary, his renaissance album The Fix, and every live show he’s played since, full touring band in tow.

Performing at Oakland jazz club Yoshi’s in 2019, Scarface let his band stretch out: whether in psychedelic fashion (he’s a huge fan of Pink Floyd), or replicating Houston legend DJ Screw’s chopped-and-screwed sound. “Smile” turned into a remembrance of Tupac Shakur; “Mind Playin’ Tricks on Me” was recited line-for-line by the well-dressed crowd, and “I Seen a Man Die” very nearly opened up the ceiling and touched the heavens.

In other words: don’t miss Scarface when he returns to the Bay Area with his live band on Saturday, March 23, at the Regency Ballroom in San Francisco. Details here.