We Can't Be Stopped (1991)

The Geto Boys are angry and defiant, and I can't imagine why they wouldn't be. Last year, their major-label debut — stoked with vivid, violent images rivaling Bret Easton Ellis' American Psycho — brought them unwelcome attention from would-be censors, finger-pointing from within the hip-hop community, and a refusal by Geffen Records to distribute their music (WEA picked up the album). Now, on the title track of We Can't Be Stopped, their voices are urgent as, over a virtually naked rumbling bass, they cry: ''Can you believe those hypocrites/Would distribute Guns N' Roses and not our s---/And they say we're a racist act/ Isn't that the pot calling the kettle black?'' They fall down attempting to re-create the comical, horrifying insight of last year's ''Mind of a Lunatic'' (which explored, rather than, as their critics thought, advocated murderous psychopathy). All they come up with is the boring ''Chuckie,'' a look inside a familiar demon from horror flicks. Still, much of their new album stings, and their raw honesty has driven it onto the Billboard pop Top 40 — even though, in a replay of last year, WEA refused to distribute it, driving the group to an independent label. B