Why Bushwick Bill Matters
In 1989 the Geto Boys released a blistering track, “Size Ain’t Shit,” that paid tribute to the group’s member Bushwick Bill. Born with dwarfism, Bill was one of the few visibly disabled musicians to achieve widespread fame and one of the even fewer to address disability in a direct, sustained manner. Initially hired as a dancer, Bill became central to the Geto Boys as the Houston crew became one of hip-hop’s most important groups.
Why Bushwick Bill Matters chronicles this crucial artist and explores what he reveals about the relationships among race, sex, and disability in pop music. Charles L. Hughes examines Bill's recordings and videos (both with the Geto Boys and solo), from the horror-comic persona of “Chuckie” to vulnerable verses in songs such as “Mind Playing Tricks On Me,” to discuss his portrayals of dwarfism, addiction, and mental illness. Hughes also explores Bill’s importance to his era and to the longer history of disability in music. A complex figure, Bill exposed the truths of a racist and ableist society even as his violent and provocative lyrics put him in the middle of debates over censorship and misogyny. Confrontational and controversial, Bushwick Bill left a massive legacy as he rhymed and swaggered through an often-inaccessible world.
The Bushwick Bill story is complex, more complex than a batch of controversial lyrics and a record cover would suggest...Why Bushwick Bill Matters does that complexity justice, and gives a Houston hip-hop legend his due.
[Hughes is] expert at interweaving music criticism, cultural history, disability studies, and a touch of personal reflection [in Why Bushwick Bill Matters]. Hughes is well-studied and acutely informed on race and music.
Why Bushwick Bill Matters is invaluable for its examination of how race, gender, and disability shaped Bushwick Bill’s contributions to hip-hop culture and to the music industry...Hughes proves that Scarface was not the only member of the Geto Boys to have a lasting impact on hip-hop music. Bushwick Bill deserves that distinction, too.
This small, well-considered, deeply felt, and often very funny volume is invaluable in the continued discourse of difficult people making difficult work, which seems necessary for the continued, spiky, and difficult possibility of disabled selfhood and expression.
Why Bushwick Bill Matters is what I have been waiting on in hip-hop scholarship! Charles Hughes is the one to do Bill justice, delivering a deep dive of thoughtful and bold analysis of his legacy in hip-hop. Hughes’s storytelling lures you in as a fitting tribute to Bill as a pioneering artist in southern hip-hop, but his analysis is what really shines through. Hughes masterfully connects disability studies to hip-hop studies, an underappreciated yet necessary intervention that will break new ground in how hip-hop seeps into every crevice of American society.
Introduction
How Little Billy Became Bushwick Bill
Bum-Rush the Freak Show
“Size Ain’t Shit”
Can’t Be Stopped
“He Ain’t What You Expect”
Child’s Play
“Brand New Preacher, Rap Game Teacher”
Greatest Showmen
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
