He’s enjoyed 20-plus years in the industry, and with the collaborative album Mac & Brad with Beanie Sigel in the works, it looks like Scarface won’t be going anywhere anytime soon. Now, in a recent interview with Complex, Face Mob breaks down his extensive discography.
Scarface discussed his relationship with New York veteran Jay-Z, who he met in Los Angeles while recording The Last of a Dying Breed. He recalled being stunned by the incredible speed with which Hov recorded his lyrics, not realizing that the Brooklyn rhymer never physically wrote his lyrics.
“I met Jay-Z in 1998 or 1999. I was recording The Last of a Dying Breed and Jay-Z was out there doing something in L.A. and I met him,” he recalled. “Jay-Z came in to lay a couple records down for me. He was so damn fast it was sick the shit that he did. For the longest I thought he had pre-written shit and he would drop that down. But as time went on, I realized he was a freak of nature. He can hear a beat three times, listen to the beat ride once all the way through, and then lay his verse. I’ll be at the board writing my verse and he’ll already be gone. He’ll come in there sit, chat, and laugh, and then the beat will come on and he’ll write that shit in the middle of a conversation. The music will be playing and he’ll zero in and be like, ‘Ooh, ooh,’ and then lay that shit.”
Face also recalled linking up with Guru and DJ Premier on the song “Betrayal” from Gang Starr’s 1998 album Moment of Truth. According to the Houston emcee, he contributed his verse in exchange for a Premo beat, but the H-Town producer has yet to lace him with production.
“They sent me a verse, and a beat for me to write my part on,” he said. “I did it on strength but by the end of the day, Premier still owed me a beat. He still owes me a beat 20 years later. And every time I talked to him he’ll be like, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, but I didn’t forget about you.’ Bullshit, you forgot about me. That’s my boy though, that’s my partner. H-Town native.”
In addition to his collaborative effort with Beanie Sigel, Scarface is also working on his 12th solo album Rooted.
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That Recent Scarface/Nas track ‘Fuck HipHop’ is so damn fire…Big Ups to the Vets and Pioneers of this shit!!!
Why every MC gotta discuss Jay-Z once they become irrelevant
why do nobody nerds on hip hop sites call legends irrelevant?
Why is it that all these young fags with no real life experience always call people irrelevant. Five years from now you’ll look back and remember wearing skinny jeans and a snow cap in the summer and say to yourself “what the fuck was i thinking?”
Scarfaca is DOPE
DJ Premier needs to give him some beats ASAP
Face is the king of the South, a legend in Hip Hop
smh @ Scarfaca
FACE, my bad
p.s
Scarface also needs to do more sh*t with Nas, they always bring some quality to the table
Wonder how eminem made his songs….
He writes his lyrics.
Brad aka Face is unquestionably top 10 D.O.A. !!!
FIRST MC to actully go in depth about the paranoia of being in the streets “Mind Playing Tricks On Me”…
Most Influential Down South (Scarface) East (Jay Z) Midwest (Twista) and West (Snoop)
can we get that political track with Face/Cube/Nas ???
Jay Z writes rhymes like anybody else…ain’t nothing special about that coon…
Its a shame Jay z sucks now…..Scarface till the King of the South!
Hova tha GOD best believe your favourite rapper is a Jay Z stan so fall back
we need big pun – super lyrical x10
imagine if pun had completed bars
wouldofbeen the best verse ever heard
why has premo been such a bitch lately? he’s a legend and all, but he was a straight punk-liar during the whole “beef” with Canibus, now he can’t give Scarface a beat as promised? smh
H-town stand up!!!! The realest the South ever had, bar none.
That Betrayal joint is my shit