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Geto Boys: We Can't Be Stopped (Def American) **½

Rob Tannenbaum, Rolling Stone, 5 September 1991

IT'S A FAMILIAR debate: conservative guardians call the Geto Boys' music obscene, while liberal watchdogs accuse them of glorifying violence against women and degrading the image of black rappers. In their defense, the Boys have made two contradictory claims: that their vicious lyrics merely depict values and attitudes in the Fifth Ward of Houston (where they come from), as well as other decrepit urban ghettos, and that their songs are merely entertaining fantasies, like horror movies. We Can't Be Stopped, an ugly record in which every character is a psychopath, disproves both defenses.

Total word count of piece: 545

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