The Geto Boys put Houston on rap’s map back when L.A. and NYC were really the only cities being repped, and effectively birthed a Southern style of gangsta rap that was rife with corporeal violence, death, and paranoia. The group’s sundry controversies—their bleak lyrics—put them in crosshairs for hip-hop culture wars. The group rose to infamy when Bushwick Bill (né Richard Shaw) lost an eye after being shot by a girlfriend (a shot of him in the ER following the incident appears on the cover of We Can’t Be Stopped) and woke up in the morgue after being declared dead. A forthcoming documentary, Bushwick Bill: Geto Boy, delves into it all, and attempts to separate lore from the real, storied life of Bushwick Bill.

-=-=-=-Filmmaker Greg Roman has now spent three years with Shaw, capturing his life and times. "It’s difficult to find him sometimes," explains Roman. When he does, the outcomes are unpredictable. Roman tells a story of them meeting with Mike Judge at small bar in Santa Monica. "There’s an open mic and Bill goes up and talks to the guitar player and got him to play a beat, then performed ‘Damn It Feels Good to Be a Gangsta’ in front of him, half the cast of TV show "Silicon Valley", some tourists, and me." He’s done the same thing in Texas dive bars, too. "If one person recognizes him, Bill nods and gets onstage and the guy plays a beat and he’ll rap. One song they all know that he’ll sing is ‘Gangsta of Love.’ That’s happened like three times. Producer Kyra Kowasic calls it Bill’s version of 'stage-bombing.'"

The filmmakers have a full-length rough cut and are now crowdfunding to help pay for the music rights and archival footage needed in order to finish production. Before Shaw signed his life-rights contract for the film, he drew up what he termed a "hood rider" for Roman. "Bill’s not afraid of anybody making him look bad," he laughs. "But this basically says if I put something in there that could hurt him and is not true, there’s all kinds of crazy things he can do to me. If you know his lyrics, you can imagine some of what he listed."

Pitchfork: What’s it been like having cameras follow you for a few years now?)

Richard Shaw: It’s pretty interesting. It’s just supposed to show my everyday life. Some things are happy, some are not.

Pitchfork: Is anything off-limits?

RS: It’d be hard for anyone to get into your life one hundred percent because a majority of your life is in your mind and your heart—the things you refuse not to say or do. It’s hard for a camera to capture what’s going on, on the inside.

Pitchfork: The director said you get recognized in country bars—everywhere. What’s fame like? Do you enjoy it?

RS: I’ve never had a big personality. I’m an introvert unless I’ve been drinking or something. Being short, I believe people looked and stared at me my whole life before I ever got on stage and rapped. If I was someone of "normal height" I would probably be like those people in Marvel Comic movies where they’re obscure and no one notices them until they have some kind of power, which I guess is what music does. Now it’s not "look at the short guy," it’s "It’s Bushwick Bill!"

Pitchfork: Do you like that better?

RS: Either way it’s notoriety.

Pitchfork: How is Scarface doing since the hospitalization?

RS: I don’t know… he’s had weight issues for years and I think that comes with blood pressure and all kinds of situations. He actually did a show in Rochester a week after he went in the hospital. I know he’s going on tour in September. I called him and that’s when he told me about what he said about on his Facebook, saying he wasn’t going to do any Geto Boys stuff right now but do his own thing. He believes it should be all fair, split three ways.