One of hip-hop's most influential figures, Scarface has used his marbled vocals since the late ‘80s to define a Southern tradition of emotional expressionism. His longevity owes just as much to his songwriting skills; the piano-driven "On My Block" captures quotidian details of a hard-hit neighbourhood with bittersweet nostalgia. On "Mind Playin' Tricks," the jazzy and comforting production is undercut by the lyrics' melancholic paranoia. And he links his fraught psychological state to the hypocrisy and evil of oppressive forces with the confrontational funk of "Hand of the Dead Body."