“My Block” by Scarface

The song samples the piano intro from the 1971 Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway song “Be Real Black For Me”, and is a reflective piece about Scarface’s neighborhood in Houston. After all his success in the rap game and now armed with the ability to go anywhere in the world, Scarface prefers the tiny area of Houston in which he grew up.

The music video begins with someone in the south side of Houston throwing a pair of black chucks onto a telephone wire. We then see the story of Scarface through a one take of vignettes, starting with his birth in the ’hood. We then see the formative events of his childhood, including growing up at home, going to school, and clashes between his neighborhood and the police. These clashes with police continue throughout the whole video, showcasing how much of a problem policing has been for many years. Eventually, we see an adult Scarface playing basketball in a pair of chucks until he and his friend get into a fight that ends with his friend dying. This leads Scarface to pursue his dream as a musician, and we see his come up with the Geto Boys and how much he had to hustle to get to where he is today. He comes back home to a hero’s welcome, and the neighborhood even has a mural in his honor. However, he sees that the more things change, the more they stay the same as he comes upon a crowd of onlookers observing a young man dead at the hands of the police. This video is a perfect example of the vivid storytelling that arose with this era of hip-hop and showcases why Scarface is one of the best to ever pick up a mic.