Songfacts®:

• This is a rare gangsta rap song that explores the dark side of thug life: paranoia and depression. As each of the Geto Boys (Scarface, Willie D and Bushwick Bill) takes a verse, we hear about their troubles and their deepest fears, culminating with the insanity of Bushwick as he finds himself bloody from pounding on the concrete.
  
  Much of the lyric was inspired by the mental health challenges of Scarface, who as a teenager survived a suicide attempt and spent time in a mental ward.
• This rap classic is based on the 1974 Isaac Hayes instrumental "Hung Up On My Baby." It was recorded just before a crackdown on sampling, when DJs were lifting tracks at will.
• Geto Boys managed one more minor hit, the #40 "Six Feet Deep" in 1993. Scarface was the group's leader and became a successful solo artist and record company executive, heading Def Jam South. Bushwick Bill, who is a dwarf, is best known for being shot in the eye after a drunken altercation with his 17-year-old girlfriend. A photo of a bloodied Bushwick after the incident appears on the cover of the We Can't Be Stopped album.
• The Geto Boys were very real. They were formed by 22-year-old James "Li'l J" Smith, who wanted a group that would represent the violent Fifth Ward of Houston, a ghetto where he formed the record label Rap-a-Lot Records. He found it in Willie D (who had done time for robbery), Scarface (who spent time in a mental institution as a teenager) and Bushwick Bill (who is generally crazy).
  
  After two albums, Geto Boys signed with a subsidiary of Geffen Records, who turned tail and refused to release We Can't Be Stopped, as they weren't comfortable with lyrics about murder and necrophilia. This caused a great deal of controversy as it raised the issue of whether or not record companies should reject artists on moral grounds. There was a touch of racism involved as well, as Geffen was also home to the death-metal band Slayer and the dirty comic Andrew "Dice" Clay, both white acts. Geto Boys returned to Rap-a-Lot to release the album, which benefited from the publicity and helped make this song a hit.
• Willie D and Scarface of Geto Boys are the credited writers on this track along with producer Doug King and Isaac Hayes, because of the "Hung Up On My Baby" sample.