Bushwick Bill

Bushwick Bill
Birth name	Richard Stephen Shaw
Born	(1966-12-08) December 8, 1966 Jamaica
Genres	Hip hop
Occupations	Rapper
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1988–present
Labels	Rap-a-Lot

Richard Shaw (born December 8, 1966), better known by the stage names Bushwick Bill and Dr. Wolfgang Von Bushwickin the Barbarian Mother Funky Stay High Dollar Billstir, is a Jamaican-born American rapper. He is a member of the hip hop group Geto Boys.

Early life

Bushwick Bill was born under the name Richard Stephen Shaw in Kingston, Jamaica, on December 1, 1966. His father is a merchant marine, and his mother a maid. According to a source from the Houston Chronicle, he is a high school dropout, and reads at the fourth grade level. He has failed a majority of courses in his freshman year in high school. Like actors Billy Barty and Herve Villechaize, he is a dwarf. His stage name came from the Brooklyn district that he lived in. {http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0082266/bio}

History

In May 1991, Bushwick Bill, either in a suicidal funk, a drunken rage or as a scheme to have his mother collect on his insurance policy (Bill himself intimates that it was a combination of all three), began goading his 17-year-old girlfriend into shooting him. Some reports say he had threatened to harm the child they had together if she refused to go through with the deed. What actually transpired has never been divulged by either party involved, but by either his or her hand, Bill caught a slug in the right eye. A photo of Bill, his eye clearly and significantly bloodied, being wheeled down a hospital corridor on a gurney with the other two Geto Boys flanking him became the front cover of their next and most successful album, both creatively and in sales, 1991's 'We Can't Be Stopped.' The novelty of Bushwick Bill going from being a dwarf rapper to a one-eyed dwarf rapper helped the record gain both publicity and credibility. It also helped that the platinum-selling LP contained the Geto Boys' undisputed high point, the bleak yet affecting 'Mind Playing Tricks on Me,' the trio's only No. 1 rap single. {http://www.spinner.com/2007/05/18/twisted-tales-bushwick-bill-asks-for-and-receives-a-bullet-in-t/}

Bushwick Bill can also be heard on the album The Chronic by Dr. Dre. He appears in the video for Dre Day as one of Eazy E's fellow rappers, as well as in the introduction and concluding parts of Stranded on Death Row which was performed by Kurupt of Tha Dogg Pound, RBX, the Lady of Rage and Snoop Doggy Dogg. His 1998 album No Surrender…No Retreat was dedicated to his friend Gil Epstein, a Fort Bend County prosecutor, who was shot dead in Houston, Texas, in 1996.

In regard to fame, he stated:

“

Fame will make you crazy. Fame isn't for everybody. There are people who have a fear of fame, those who want fame, and those who don't understand fame. It drives them crazy, because it is a lot of responsibility to be all things to all people, and you can lose yourself in the shuffle, where there are no longer 52 cards in the deck.

”

Bushwick Bill also appears on the first season of "Martin" playing "Trey", who gets in a fight with Tommy over an ex-girlfriend.

In 2006, Bushwick Bill became a born again Christian, confirming that rumors about this claim were true.

In May 2010, Bushwick Bill was arrested in Georgia for possession of marijuana and cocaine. Police did a background check and found that along with carrying a green card, he also had three previous convictions on his record. After making bail, Bill was transferred to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement who tried to initiate removal proceedings against him. Based on his prior arrest record, he was facing deportation. After winning his removal case, he was released from custody on October 18, 2010. According to his attorney, Carlos Solomiany, Bushwick Bill is now "back to being a lawful permanent resident of the United States." Although the misdemeanor charges are still pending, Solomiany is confident that the rapper will not have to serve any more time behind bars, as he hopes to enroll him into a rehabilitation drug court program.

Fans first became aware of Bushwick's legal troubles when he failed to show for an appearance at the VH1 Hip Hop Honors in June 2010, where he was scheduled to perform the Geto Boys's classic song "Mind Playing Tricks on Me", along with Willie D. Game took over in Bill's absence.

XXL asked Bill if he plans on working with Willie D and Scarface again, and he said they didn’t seem interested in his new musical direction. His 2009 album, My Testimony of Redemption, saw the born-again rapper rhyming about his religious leanings.

"I don't think any of them is interested", he said of appearing on record with his former group. "I've never got the vibe that they would do a gospel song. 'Cause when they talking about doing another Geto Boys album I said I would do it if I could rap like I'm rapping on my gospel album, I didn’t get a whole lot of cosigning on that from all the political parties concerned."^{[citation needed]}

Bill is currently working on his new album, The Road to Redemption. A court date has yet to be determined in his misdemeanor drug case.

Despite Bill's earlier comments to XXL, the rap group has reunited to perform at the 2012 Gathering of the Juggalos, and will be featured on Insane Clown Posse's new album The Mighty Death Pop!. He also plans to start his own "Clownin' Round" Tour after the 2012 Gathering of the Juggalos to promote his new album, The Road to Redemption in October.

Discography

Album information
Little Big Man Released: September 8, 1992 Billboard 200 chart position: No. 15 R&B/Hip-Hop chart position: No. 32 Singles: "Ever So Clear"/"Call Me Crazy" (No. 49 R&B)
Phantom of the Rapra Released: July 11, 1995 Billboard 200 chart position: No. 43 R&B/Hip-Hop chart position: No. 3 Singles: "Who's the Biggest"/"Only God Knows" (No. 113 Pop, No. 88 R&B)
No Surrender…No Retreat Released: October 27, 1998 Billboard 200 chart position: - R&B/Hip-Hop chart position: No. 43 Singles:
Universal Small Souljah Released: March 13, 2001 Billboard 200 chart position: - R&B/Hip-Hop chart position: - Singles: "Unforgiven"
Gutta Mixx Released: March 29, 2005 Billboard 200 chart position: - R&B/Hip-Hop chart position: - Singles: "20Minutesormore"
My Testimony of Redemption Released: March 25, 2010 Billboard 200 chart position: - R&B/Hip-Hop chart position: -

External links

• Bushwick Bill at the Internet Movie Database
• Bushwick Bill on Myspace