In a personal interview with TMZ, one of the founding members of legendary rap group the Geto Boys, Bushwick Bill revealed his recent diagnosis of stage four pancreatic cancer.
“We see a mass on your pancreas and we can’t understand it,” the 52-year-old rapper discloses. “It’s not alcohol. It’s not sugar. It’s not diabetes. They went through all kinds of stuff. And finally, by February 8, they said it was stage 4 pancreas cancer.”
He says that even though he had been tested for various cancers, pancreatic cancer is undetectable until it’s in his fourth or fifth stage. Bill had kept the news to himself initially, aside from close family members. He hadn’t even told Scarface or Willie D, the other two-thirds of GBs.
“I figure keeping it to myself is not really helping nobody, and I’m not really afraid of dying because if anyone knows anything about me from (1992 hit single) ‘Ever So Clear,’” he recalls. “I died and came back already in June 1991, so I know what it’s like on the other side.”
The 52-year-old rapper shot himself in the eye during an argument with his girlfriend in the summer of 1991, causing him to lose an eye.
Preparing for the worst, Bill has plans of leaving behind income for his children. He says that he has three albums, a book and a documentary. “I notice when most celebrities pass, they really don’t have nothing set up for their children and everything’s in disarray,” he says. “So, I figure old music will sell, yes, but if I have new music for them and I have a book and I have a documentary and I have any other endeavors that I get into now, at least they’ll have residual income from those things instead of just knowing that I’m their dad and my old records are selling. I’d rather just know for sure that I did my part.”
An original member of the Ghetto Boys since 1986, Bushwick Bill started in the group as a backup dancer. When the first lineup of rappers were replaced with Face and Will, Bushwick began rapping. The group’s follow-up 1989 album Grip It! On That Other Level earned the group regional and national success throughout the 1990s and early 2000s.
In 1992, Bill released solo album Little Big Man, which charted No. 15 on Billboard 200 and No. 32 on R&B/Hip-Hop charts. The album’s single “Ever So Clear”/”Call Me Crazy” reached No. 49 on R&B charts.
