Album: Scarface

The Fix, Def Jam

As a member of Houston's Geto Boys, Brad "Scarface" Johnson was involved with some of hip-hop's most uncompromisingly – some would say indefensibly – violent and tasteless raps. At one point, the Geffen company refused to distribute the group's Grip It! On That Other Level because of its grisly allusions to necrophilia. Since then, Scarface has become a successful solo rapper and more recently president of Def Jam South, the venerable New York hip-hop company's attempt to grab a little of that trendy "dirty South" action. He's also, judging by The Fix, become something of a born-again Christian and developed the first glimmers of a moral sensibility. It's an ugly combination: few rap tracks are as sanctimonious as "Someday", his evangelical duet with Faith Evans, and there's a patronising air about pieces like "Safe", which with such lines as "Watch them so-called homeboys, keep to yourself/ Stay away from niggas getting pumped, and stay out of jail" has the same irritating "do as I say, not as I do" attitude as old rehab-rockers advising kids to stay off drugs. Too often, his signals get crossed: "I ain't playing no games/ I'm on a mission for the change," he claims in "In Cold Blood", before asserting, moments later, "I'm a natural born killer." And your message for the kids is what, exactly?