Happy 30th Anniversary to Scarface’s second studio album The World Is Yours, originally released August 17, 1993.
I can count on one hand the number of emcees that made as seamless a transition from member of group to solo artist as Brad “Scarface” Jordan. Raised in the South Acres neighborhood of Houston, Scarface first became known as one of the members of the Geto Boys, a legendary and groundbreaking hip-hop collective. He released his first solo album Mr. Scarface Is Back (1991) and quickly proved he could and did shine just as bright when holding down an entire project on his own. The initial solo endeavor was an angst-filled album that focused on the consequences, both mental and physical, that came with engaging in illegal activity.
Even after the success of Mr. Scarface Is Back, Scarface recorded music as a member of the Geto Boys. His label Rap-A-Lot Records released the crew’s Till Death Do Us Part (1993) in the spring, with Scarface functioning as one of the album’s critical components. Mere months afterwards, Mr. Jordan’s second solo project The World Is Yours hit the shelves. Thirty years later, it’s as authentic as ever.
Scarface mostly plays to his established strengths on The World Is Yours, building off themes from his debut, but also digging deeper into his history. It’s an excellent album, albeit diffuse at times. Sometimes I consider it to be Scarface’s best project. It certainly features some of the best songs that Scarface ever recorded and demonstrates his ability to mine deeply personal territory. It also features great, laid-back, summer music, as well as an ample amount of humor, both straightforward and dark.
However, it also features a few unnecessary inclusions. I’m rarely one to argue against longer albums, but without these superfluous additions, The World Is Yours would have been a more focused listening experience overall. When Scarface makes the choice to move the spotlight from himself onto the Face II Face artists that he was developing during this period, the album is more scattershot. Regardless, The World Is Yours is one of the better projects in his discography and it’s carried by its strengths.
On the production end, Scarface sticks to in-house Rap-A-Lot producers on The World Is Yours. This album is notable as it’s the first to feature N.O. Joe and Mike Dean behind the boards. N.O. Joe, who would go on to helm a great deal of both Scarface’s and the label’s output throughout the 1990s, sculps the sound on much of The World Is Yours, with Dean credited as the engineer. Scarface oversees the production on a couple of tracks as well.
The World Is Yours’ production is about as integral to its success as its lyrics. Case in point, the resonant, hard-hitting bassline that plays at the beginning of “Lettin’ ’Em Know” starts things off on the right foot. Scarface explains his origins as a hustler, painting a picture of the rough and tumble environment where he received his “street” education, learning how to operate in the dope game with ruthless efficiency. “So if you got a problem with the way I run my business,” he vows, “Let a n***a know, so I can put you in your place / Nine times out of ten you ain’t man enough to deal with / The born killing, dope dealing Mr. Scarface.”
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“Let Me Roll,” the album’s masterful first single, is another top tier recording within Scarface’s repertoire. The self-produced track is ’Face’s dedication to smoking good weed. He describes “just another day in the heart of S.A.,” as he creeps through his ’hood “just shooting the breeze,” hanging with his homies, shooting dice, and blazing on a $200 sack. It’s one of the smoothest and most laid-back tracks that’s ever been released.
“Let Me Roll” is also one of those rare examples where the studio musicians’ replay of the material is superior to the sample source. The song’s groove is based on George Duke’s “Dukey Stick,” a late 1970s riff on the music of Parliament-Funkadelic. “Let Me Roll” is both funkier and more soulful than the original, driven by its thumping bassline and sprinklings of piano.
As he demonstrated in his debut, Scarface is one of the best artists ever at portraying the effects of mental illness through his music. He plays things to the absolute hilt on “The Wall,” recounting his psyche in the midst of a total collapse. Wracked with guilt, self-loathing, and rage, and consumed by the abuse of alcohol and narcotics, he attempts to navigate his mind. His pleas for help coupled with his inability to express his pain make for emotionally arresting material. “Somebody help me, hear my plea, my battle cry,” he begs, as a sample of Ohio Players’ “Player’s Ballin’” thrums in the background. ’Face’s life comes to a bloody end at the beginning of the third verse, with him only realizing after the fact that he died at his own hand.
Again, as he demonstrated in his debut, Scarface has few peers when it comes to depicting the thoughts of a remorseless killer. He operates with an air of detached swagger as someone not afraid to engage in violence on songs like “Comin’ Agg” and the self-produced “Still the Aggin.” However, Scarface is a functional avatar of death on “He’s Dead,” turning his bloodlust up to 11. He engages in murder as easily as blowing his nose, indiscriminately killing enemies as well as those who just talk shit, designating himself as “a n***a these n***s just can't destroy.”
The World Is Yours goes beyond dope-dealing, death, and insanity. Scarface also gives the listener an in-depth look into his background on “Now I Feel Ya,” the album’s second single. The autobiographical epic, set to a replaying of Bootsy Collins’ “Munchies For Your Love,” is one of the best songs that Scarface has ever recorded. It is massive in length and scope, clocking in at more than seven-and-a-half minutes.
Still, not a second of the song is wasted, as even though Scarface was in his early twenties at the time, he seemingly lived many lifetimes. Through the three verses, he chronicles his fraught upbringing, his experiences as a fledgling father, and his efforts to survive as a young Black man in his neighborhood. Scarface focuses a good portion of the song’s third verse on his anger towards his long-time friend “in cold blood” by a local police officer.
Scarface lets loose on crooked law enforcement multiple times on The World Is Yours. He first expresses disdain for both cops and police informants on the bluesy “Dying With Your Boots On.” Concerning the boys in blue, he muses, “Give ’em a badge and a trigger and that makes ’em figure / That they can fuck with a million-dollar n***a.” Later, he vents even more bile at police officers on “I’m Black,” advocating for armed resistance as his voice crackles with frustration and hostility.
The World Is Yours features multiple songs where Scarface is completely absent or only plays a bit part. Some serve as commercials for present and future Rap-A-Lot/Face II Face releases. “You Don’t Hear Me Though” features DMG, Scarface’s mentee. The St. Paul, MN native’s debut Rigormortiz (1993) was released soon after The World Is Yours. “Funky Little Aggin” is a solo exhibition by then 12-year-old rapper 2 Low, whose debut Funky Little Brother (1994) was on the way. Neither song is bad, but both could have been excised easily.
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“Strictly For The Funk Lovers” is the most bizarre song on The World Is Yours. It’s another entry that doesn’t feature Scarface at all, as it stars a clearly stoned RBX and singer Jewell, both associates of Death Row Records. It’s much like “The Chronic Outro,” from Dr. Dre’s The Chronic (1992), except they’re riffing over a replay of the Funkadelic epic album-cut “Promentalshitbackwashpsychosis Enema Squad (The Doo Chasers)” for over six minutes. If it weren’t for the introduction by Rap-A-Lot signee/Face II Face affiliate Share Jones and RBX’s numerous references to the South Acres neighborhood, it could have easily been confused for a Chronic outtake. It’s still an odd inclusion, but it’s a bit more connected to the rest of the album.
“Mr. Scarface Pt. III: The Final Chapter” ends the trilogy that started with “Scarface” from The Geto Boys’ Grip It! On That Other Level (1989) and continued with “Mr. Scarface Is Back” on ’Face’s debut. Each chronicles his fictious rise to power in the drug game. “Pt. III” is the most meta of the three entries, since it possesses a Groundhog Day-like twist: ’Face has become aware that he’s told the same story three different times, and thus knows all of the narrative beats before they happen.
The song unfolds much the same as the previous: he introduces himself in the first verse, clears out the competition through the second verse, and enjoys some sexual attention in the third verse, only to be ambushed by his enemies mid-tryst. The “twist” is that things go sideways during the finale, much to ‘Face’s bafflement. Truthfully, he only seems vaguely annoyed by his death, mostly because it didn’t follow the script of the way things were supposed to go.
Overall, The World Is Yours is an excellent sophomore project where Scarface took important steps as an artist. Though he would still record projects as a member of the Geto Boys, you could tell here that ’Face was becoming increasingly comfortable with the notion of carrying the load himself. Even though there is the occasional fantastical narrative, the sentiment behind it always feels genuine. It further demonstrated the greatness that he could channel and made for an arresting listening experience.
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