Bushwick Bill has passed away from suspected cancer at the age of 52, his family confirms. A now known and much celebrated member of the pioneering Texas hip hop group Geto Boys along with Scarface and Willie Dee, Bushwick Bill originally became affiliated with the group after joining as a dancer in 1986 as Little Billy. Going on to release debut project ‘Making Trouble’ in 88′ all the way through to ‘The Foundation’ in 2005, the Geto Boys discography contains seven studio albums, one remix album and three compilation projects, all of which supported by Rap-A-Lot Records, founded by James Prince. With ‘Grip It! On That Other Level’ (released 89′) being considered a classic album and one of the earliest entries into the Horrorcore genre, Bushwick Bill also pushed himself into a flourishing solo career, releasing ‘Little Big Man’ in 1992 all the way through to ‘My Testimony of Redemption’ in 2010′.
Bushwick Bill can be heard on Dre’s The Chronic, appearing in the video for ‘Dre Day’ as one of Eazy-E’s fellow rappers. Throughout all the success however, BB was not without some set backs. On June 19, 1991, Bushwick shot himself in the eye during an intoxicated argument with his girlfriend. The rapper lost his right eye in the process, and of course, the aftermath of the incident was documented on the album cover for Geto Boy’s 1991 album ‘We Can’t Be Stopped’ as shown below. BB claims he “died and came back to life” during the incident, and has made reference to it in his music ever since. In 2006 Bushwick became a born-again christian and quietly still worked on music in post Geto Boys days. Last month, the rapper revealed that he had been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer and on June 9th 2019, he sadly passed at a hospital in Colorado. RIP to a great, you will be missed.
