Jordan looks nothing like the Scarface who appeared with Willie Dennis for two-thirds of a Geto Boys reunion at the Free Press Summer Festival two years ago. An Ice-T career."īut at Hermann Park, when Jordan steps out of his black Mercedes in a burgundy golf shirt with a matching Brooklyn Dodgers baseball hat, he asks, "You looking for me?"
"That's a nice (expletive, expletive) career," he said. He points out that 2017 will mark his 30th anniversary in rap. He's an underrated producer whose solo recordings in the '90s were as notable for their progressive sound as their heavy narratives. He possesses a weighty voice that turns his lyrics into cautionary fables. He's one of its best writers - capable of brutish assertiveness and vulnerable insecurity, with a brilliant eye for efficiently applied details. Scarface should be as recognizable as any of the biggest names in hip-hop. I don't think you really start to learn about life until you're 40." The first time I was (expletive) around, the second time I was just walking through life too fast. "I don't know if I'm like a cat with the nine lives," he said.
Jordan grumbles about slights, but he also takes a positive view of his survival. Houston rapper Paul Wall said, "Scarface is considered by most to be one of the top 10 lyricists of all time, dead or alive."īut he hasn't enjoyed the cultural ubiquity that his friend and collaborator Jay-Z has. In this sense, as Scarface, he is a quintessential Houston hip-hop musician: regionally distinctive as a lyricist, rapper and producer, but because of his Third Coast locale, denied the renown enjoyed by his peers in New York and Los Angeles. He's enjoyed success and acclaim, yet Jordan is among the most under-appreciated geniuses in rap. Rap is not known for being confessional, but Jordan offers a potent look at his life - the good and the bad -in the just released "Diary of a Madman." In his revealing memoir, Jordan opens up about depression, gunplay, drug use and distribution, infidelity and other personal shortcomings, while also documenting his storied career as a writer, rapper, producer and businessman. Then you have to work just as hard to maintain it." You wake up one day and you have everything you want. I didn't have the luxury of balancing the two. I missed that whole growing-up process because I was too busy with my career. "I'm going to be a much better grandfather than I was a father," he said. He spends his days golfing, his nights bowling.
Though Scarface has an album and tour this summer that will reunite him with the pioneering Houston hip-hop group the Geto Boys, Jordan, 44, operates at a more leisurely pace today than he did years ago. Nearly everybody at the Hermann Park Golf Course greets the famed rapper known as Scarface, though they all call him Brad. (Photo by Santiago Felipe/Getty Images) Santiago Felipe/Contributor Show More Show Less (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images for UrbanDaddy) Bob Levey/Stringer Show More Show Less 5 of5 NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 22: Geto Boys legend Brad "Scarface" Jordan speaks at PowerHouse Arena on Apin New York City. Todd Spoth for the Chronicle/PHOTOGRAPHER Show More Show Less 4 of5 HOUSTON, TX - JULY 31: Houston rapper Scarface at the UrbanDaddy Presents Grey Goose Le Melon Fruit Of Kings - Houston at Hotel Zaza on Jin Houston, Texas. (Photo by Santiago Felipe/Getty Images) Santiago Felipe/Contributor Show More Show Less 2 of5 Brad Jordan recently released a memoir of his life, "Diary of a Madman." Todd Spoth for the Chronicle/PHOTOGRAPHER Show More Show Less 3 of5 Brad Jordan, who records as the rapper and producer Scarface and was a early member of the Geto Boys, spends a lot of time on the golf course these days. 1 of5 NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 22: Geto Boys legend Brad "Scarface" Jordan speaks at PowerHouse Arena on Apin New York City.