Details
Track Listing
1. Intro
2. White Sheet, The
3. No Tears
4. Jesse James
5. G's $%
6. I Seen a Man Die
7. One%@
8. Goin' Down #@%$
9. One Time %
10. Hand of the Dead Body - (with Ice Cube)
11. Mind Playin' Tricks 94
12. Diary, The
13. Outro %
| Details | | Contributing artists: | Ice Cube | | Distributor: | EMI Music Distribution | | Recording Type: | Studio | | Recording Mode: | Stereo | | SPAR Code: | n/a |
Album Notes
On THE DIARY, rapper Scarface creates a powerful, almost operatic progression of characters, portraying the different roles as they derive from the rapper's own persona. So he speaks either as Scarface or as Brad Jordan (his real name), as the cold-blooded gangsta or as a shrewd, compassionate observer of the mean streets of warring colors, doomed youth and innocents caught in the crossfire.
THE DIARY is a graphic, powerful, unwavering look at the day to day violence that has become brutally commonplace for far too many urban citizens, as underscored by the romantic strings, martial rhythm parts and automatic gunfire of "Intro," and the funky kill-or-be-killed braggadocio of "The White Sheet," a gangsta anthem with a series of menacing, deadly hooks.
Scarface anticipates all the usual criticism such a hard-edged approach would engender. He responds to such acrimony with indignation of his own on "Hand Of The Dead Body" (with Ice Cube). But a more telling response comes on "Mind Playin' Tricks," where Scarface delineates his own simple aspirations for family and self, and on the poignant, chilling "I Seen A Man Die," where he underscores a litany of tragedy and death by observing that "I never seen a man cry until I seen a man die...If you ain't at peace with God you need to patch it up...Here lies a man who ain't scared to die, may he rest in peace..."
Industry Reviews
4 Stars - Slammin' - ...Scarface is business as usual lyrically...this Geto boy has tapped into something new and has laid the foundation for an even brighter future...
The Source (01/01/1995)
...THE DIARY is the sonic equivalent of a fists-in-the-air, blood-on-the-wall, helicopter-detonating, action-adventure flick. And he's the anti-hero...
...Scarface kicks unrepentantly...and still effectively....[These songs] are notes from the underground that ring terrifyingly and all too true...
4 Stars - Excellent - ...full of funky bass, whining synthesizers, and dramatic strings, the lyrics choked with bitter pathos, it roars away like an epic tragedy.
Q (03/01/1995)
8 - Excellent - ...a high-minded, haunting attempt to find some sense to the debris of the projects....an album that deserves to be heard; a sustained argument against the supposed irresponsibility of gangsta...
NME (12/03/1994)
Included in Q's 50 Heaviest Albums of All Time.
Q (07/01/2001)
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