Geto Boys MC Willie D recently sat down for an interview with VladTV and explained why he didn’t show up to Bushwick Bill and DJ Ready Red’s funerals.
During the conversation, Willie made some comments about Red that didn’t resonate well with his younger sister Ada Johnson.
While Red is no longer here to speak up, Johnson is.
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In an exclusive statement to HipHopDX, Johnson insists her brother never groveled to get back into the Geto Boys. (He’d left in the group in the early ’90s after producing the Geto Boys’ first three albums — 1988’s Making Trouble, 1989’s Grip It! On That Other Level and 1990’s official self-titled debut The Geto Boys.)
“Though I’d been aware of the VladTV interview with Willie D regarding Bushwick Bill, I never felt compelled to watched it because I’d heard it was pretty disrespectful towards Bill,” she says. “I didn’t want to watch it out of respect to my brother and Bill’s family. But this morning [July 13], I was tagged in the segment pertaining to Will’s thoughts on Bill and my brother’s funerals and I realized my original posture was correct.
“After my brother passed away, I was really grateful to Will for his kind words to me on the phone, respecting my wish to not share the news until my entire family was notified, and for the video he posted when I gave him the go ahead.I told Will then speaking to him in that moment and hearing the love for my brother really healed my heart. So it truly saddens me to feel how I feel right now.”
At the time of Red’s death, Willie issued a video statement on Instagram, saying, “Red was the Geto Boys’ first DJ and producer. He gave us our sound. He was responsible for most of the production on the early stuff and all of the production on my first album Controversy.
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“To say he was a pioneer would be an understatement. Red was before his time. There’s a lot of producers today that are eating off of Red and don’t even know why their bellies are full.”
Needless to say, Johnson was shocked Willie seemed to switch up his tone and claimed he would’ve felt unwelcome at Red’s funeral.
“Out of respect for my brother and Will, I will not sit here and go into detail about our conversation after my brother’s funeral,” she says. “I will not even go into a he said/she said dispute about who’s bitter, who was begging for who to come back into group or the status of their relationship.What I will say is my brother passed away on August 24, 2018 and a gigantic hole was left in my family in his absence.
“I will tell you that even now it’s a struggle not to call my brother’s phone or look for his daily Facebook post telling everyone to have great day.I will tell you that not a week goes by that his real friends and brothers from Rap-A-Lot don’t call or check in with me to make sure my family is ok.”
Johnson is also adamant Willie isn’t being truthful about how everything went down.
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“Unfortunately, Bushwick Bill and mybrother are no longer here to defend themselves, but I am,” she adds. “My brother wasn’t perfect, but he was never a beggar! He may have been vocal, but he always remained respectful towards the other members.
“In the immortal words of Tony Montana, ‘All I have in this world is my balls and my word, and I don’t break either for nobody!’ That wasn’t just a song for my brother, that was his personal motto! I just wish others felt the same.”
Willie’s focus lately has been on politics. Earlier this month, he announced he’s running for Houston City Council just like his fellow Geto Boys member Scarface.
