Back in 1991, 25-year-old Bushwick Bill, high on PCP and after drinking Everclear grain alcohol, shot himself in the eye with a gun during an argument with his girlfriend.
That is one version of the story of how the rapper – a member of the influential group the Geto Boys – and who died of pancreatic cancer over the weekend, aged 52, lost his eye.
Another version, from a Vice interview with him in 2016, suggests it was his mother who shot him after Bill came up with a plan, while under the influence of drink and drugs, to make money from an insurance scam.
“What if I go wake my mom up, provoke her, hand her a gun, and have her shoot me? I’ll be able to get to heaven, my mom gets the life insurance, everybody is happy!” he said three years ago.
“So she grabbed the gun, and I put my face right in front of it. She pulled the trigger, but she closed her eyes and turned her head first, so it didn’t work out that way.”
1/12 Primavera (Barcelona, Spain) Takes place: 30 May – 1 June
Primavera is one of the biggest and most anticipated festivals around. Aside from Glastonbury, few other events spark so much excitement around the unveiling of their lineup. And while there are fewer “rock and roll” names on the billing this year, Primavera is leading the charge when it comes to proper representation of artists from different backgrounds, ethnicities and genders – without sacrificing anything in terms of quality. More than 50 per cent of the lineup is comprised of female-fronted acts, including Cardi B, FKA twigs, Christine and the Queens, Charli XCX, Robyn, Janelle Monae, Carly Rae Jepsen, Kate Tempest, Sigrid, Courtney Barnett, Yaeji, Peggy Gou and Helena Hauff. You’ve also got Interpol, Future, Nas, Mura Masa, Suede, Tame Impala, Kurt Vile and Mac deMarco. So it’s not as though guests will be short on options.
(Pic: Primavera Sound/Cecilia Diaz Betz)
2/12 Rock Werchter (Werchter, Belgium) Takes place: 27 June – 1 July
Belgium’s biggest music festival often scores the most impressive lineup of any in Europe, and this year is no different. But don’t let the name mislead you: Rock Werchter’s lineup is always eclectic, and this year’s will include headline performances from Florence + the Machine, Muse and The Cure, plus Mumford and Sons, The 1975, Bring Me the Horizon, Kylie Minogue, Weezer, Brockhampton, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Mac DeMarco. The festival site is situated on a farm near the town of Leuven, which is just a half-hour train from Brussels so festival-goers can choose to stay in the city if they don’t feel like camping. Organisers take special care to ensure good accessibility for all, so there is a separate entrance for less physically abled guests, and plastic surfacing over the grounds for easier wheelchair use.
Rock Werchter
3/12 Roskilde (Roskilde, Denmark) Takes place: 29 June – 7 July
Roskilde is the biggest festival in northern Europe, so you expect big names – and each year organisers deliver. This year it’s going big on “the power of pop” and its ability to bring people together, so you have avant-garde artists like Christine and the Queens plus goth-rock legends The Cure. Also on the billing are Jungle, Tears for Fears, Alma, Julia Holter, Parquet Courts, Travis Scott, Brockhampton and Flohio. You’ll be joined by more than 130,000 fellow music lovers, and situated right next to the Danish capital of Copenhagen with easy connections by train, bus and air.
Christian Hjorth
4/12 Mad Cool (Madrid, Spain) 11-13 July
This has to be the best lineup of any festival this summer, plus it’s cheaper than Glastonbury and the weather will surely be better too. Artists performing include The Cure, Lauryn Hill, Vampire Weekend, The 1975, The National, Bon Iver, Robyn, Years & Years, Mogwai, Sharon Van Etten, Iggy Pop, Gossip, Iggy Pop, Bonobo and Jorja Smith. The festival’s ferris wheel is the stuff of legend, providing guests with beautiful views of the festival site and beyond. Things don’t really kick off until around 6pm either, so there’s plenty of time to take in the surrounding art galleries, flea markets, parks and more fantastic restaurants, bars and shops than you could ever hope to visit in the space of one trip. Plus there’s a great indie disco that goes on until the early hours.
(Photo credit should read ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP/Getty Images)
5/12 Nos Alive (Lisbon, Portugal) Takes place: 11 – 13 July
There are so many reasons to try this festival in Portugal’s coastal capital. Let’s start with the music: each year Nos Alive manages to assemble a most diverse yet cohesive lineup of artists, from pop and rock to electronic and heavy metal. This year its headliners are The Cure, Vampire Weekend, Gossip, The Smashing Pumpkins and Bon Iver. If that’s not impressive enough, you can also catch Jorja Smith, Hot Chip, H.E.R, Thom Yorke, Idles and Loyle Carner. The festival is set on the docks near two of Lisbon’s most breathtaking landmarks: the Jeronimos Monastery and the Belem tower. Due to the Portuguese culture of starting an evening out relatively late, there’s plenty of time to explore the city in the day, from the markets to the hundreds of fantastic restaurants, bars and shops.
6/12 Pohoda (Trenčín, Slovakia) 11-13 July
Slovakia’s biggest music festival also happens to be one of the most affordable in Europe. Its organisers understand modern music fans have eclectic taste and so they’ve invited everyone from Liam Gallagher, The 1975, Dream Wife, The Roots and Lykke Li to perform at the atmospheric Trenčín Airport.
Sean Hood
7/12 Melt! (Gräfenhainichen, Germany) Takes place: 19 – 21 July
Melt’s creative director once described it as the “Berghain of German festivals”. Don’t let that scare you – by that he is more likely referring to the event’s vast scale and leaning towards electronic music, rather than the hedonism that takes place inside the notorious Berlin club. That said, the 20,000-capacity event still embraces themes of (cut) wild abandon, with house and techno acts playing non-stop (I’ve moved this) on the Sleepless Floor venue just outside the main grounds. Main stage attractions include Bon Iver, A$AP Rocky, Jorja Smith, Skepta, Four Tet, Bonobo and Yung Lean.
Sebastian Willnow/AFP/Getty
8/12 Oya (Oslo, Norway) Takes place: 6 – 10 August
This gem of a festival is ideally placed in one of Oslo’s biggest parks. It hosts a perfect mix of major British and US acts plus a wealth of Scandi artists placed right alongside them, to ensure homegrown talent isn’t overlooked. It’s one of the friendliest festivals in Europe: organisers are always around if you need help or questions answered, and there’s a collective good mood that continues regardless of the weather. Oya is also one of the greenest music events, and has relied on sustainable energy alone since 2009. Fifty per cent of the festival menu is meat-free, and organisers limit waste by using edible plates. You’ll likely spot Norwegian children picking up plastic cups dropped by guests – they earn a krone for each one they collect. This year’s lineup melds some of the best in hip hop, pop and rock, including The Cure, Robyn, Tame Impala, Sigrid, Erykah Badu, James Blake, Earl Sweatshirt, Karpe, and Christine and the Queens.
Helge Brekke
9/12 Sziget (Budapest, Hungary) Takes place: 7 – 13 August
There’s plenty to discover at this Hungarian festival, with its beach, themed parties and a week of music spanning pop, indie, rock, folk, dance and reggae. This year organisers have managed to secure some of the biggest names in pop, including Ed Sheeran, Florence + the Machine, Post Malone, Twenty One Pilots and The 1975, plus Foo Fighters and dance music wunderkind Martin Garrix. Sziget is also passionate about looking after the environment, so guests can expect reusable cups, no straws unless requested, recycling programmes, and an ecocamping programme.
Major Kata – Rockstar Photographers
10/12 Ypsigrock (Sicily, Italy) Takes place: 8 – 11 August
Location is the main draw for this hidden gem of a festival, which is set in the beautiful Sicilian town of Castelbuono – about an hour’s drive from the capital, Palermo. The main stage is placed at the foot of the castle – built during the Hohenstaufen rule in the Middle Ages – from which the town takes its name. There are few festival experiences like it: the stone bricks, which stay warm from the sun long after it has set, create gorgeous acoustics for whoever is performing. As is Italian tradition, things don’t really get going until the evening, so until then visitors can head to the beach or try some of the best food in Sicily, from pizza to granita, gelato and the famous Fiasconaro panettone. After that you can catch performances from the likes of The National, Spiritualized, Let’s Eat Grandma, Fontaines DC and Whitney, with more still to be announced. Most guests leave happy, tanned, and maybe a few pounds heavier than when they arrived.
Roberto Panucci/Ypsigrock
11/12 Flow (Helsinki, Finland) Takes place: 9 – 11 August
Flow festival brings world-famous international acts to a Finnish demographic that is fiercely loyal to homegrown talent. Performing in Helsinki this year are Cardi B, Neneh Cherry, Tame Impala, Blood Orange, Yves Tumor, Earl Sweatshirt, Erykah Badu, Ibe Special, Makaya McCraven, Nitzer Ebb and many more. An infamous afterparty takes place on the skirts of a building site outside the festival walls, where DJs blast drum & bass music and guests can take a dip in the sauna. Braver (drunker) souls occasionally make a bare-bottomed dash into the sea.
Samuli Pentti
12/12 Rock en Seine (Paris, France) Takes place: 23 – 25 August
It’s been hailed as France’s answer to Glastonbury festival, and for good reason. Rock en Seine takes place at the historical site of Domaine National de Saint-Cloud, which is regarded as one of the most beautiful gardens in Europe. The lineup is comprised of a mix of global stars and some of the most exciting international up and comers, from Foals and Aphex Twin to Agar Agar, Sharon Van Etten, Bring Me the Horizon and Polo & Pan.
Christophe Crénel/Rock en Seine/Facebook
1/12 Primavera (Barcelona, Spain) Takes place: 30 May – 1 June
Primavera is one of the biggest and most anticipated festivals around. Aside from Glastonbury, few other events spark so much excitement around the unveiling of their lineup. And while there are fewer “rock and roll” names on the billing this year, Primavera is leading the charge when it comes to proper representation of artists from different backgrounds, ethnicities and genders – without sacrificing anything in terms of quality. More than 50 per cent of the lineup is comprised of female-fronted acts, including Cardi B, FKA twigs, Christine and the Queens, Charli XCX, Robyn, Janelle Monae, Carly Rae Jepsen, Kate Tempest, Sigrid, Courtney Barnett, Yaeji, Peggy Gou and Helena Hauff. You’ve also got Interpol, Future, Nas, Mura Masa, Suede, Tame Impala, Kurt Vile and Mac deMarco. So it’s not as though guests will be short on options.
(Pic: Primavera Sound/Cecilia Diaz Betz)
2/12 Rock Werchter (Werchter, Belgium) Takes place: 27 June – 1 July
Belgium’s biggest music festival often scores the most impressive lineup of any in Europe, and this year is no different. But don’t let the name mislead you: Rock Werchter’s lineup is always eclectic, and this year’s will include headline performances from Florence + the Machine, Muse and The Cure, plus Mumford and Sons, The 1975, Bring Me the Horizon, Kylie Minogue, Weezer, Brockhampton, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Mac DeMarco. The festival site is situated on a farm near the town of Leuven, which is just a half-hour train from Brussels so festival-goers can choose to stay in the city if they don’t feel like camping. Organisers take special care to ensure good accessibility for all, so there is a separate entrance for less physically abled guests, and plastic surfacing over the grounds for easier wheelchair use.
Rock Werchter
3/12 Roskilde (Roskilde, Denmark) Takes place: 29 June – 7 July
Roskilde is the biggest festival in northern Europe, so you expect big names – and each year organisers deliver. This year it’s going big on “the power of pop” and its ability to bring people together, so you have avant-garde artists like Christine and the Queens plus goth-rock legends The Cure. Also on the billing are Jungle, Tears for Fears, Alma, Julia Holter, Parquet Courts, Travis Scott, Brockhampton and Flohio. You’ll be joined by more than 130,000 fellow music lovers, and situated right next to the Danish capital of Copenhagen with easy connections by train, bus and air.
Christian Hjorth
4/12 Mad Cool (Madrid, Spain) 11-13 July
This has to be the best lineup of any festival this summer, plus it’s cheaper than Glastonbury and the weather will surely be better too. Artists performing include The Cure, Lauryn Hill, Vampire Weekend, The 1975, The National, Bon Iver, Robyn, Years & Years, Mogwai, Sharon Van Etten, Iggy Pop, Gossip, Iggy Pop, Bonobo and Jorja Smith. The festival’s ferris wheel is the stuff of legend, providing guests with beautiful views of the festival site and beyond. Things don’t really kick off until around 6pm either, so there’s plenty of time to take in the surrounding art galleries, flea markets, parks and more fantastic restaurants, bars and shops than you could ever hope to visit in the space of one trip. Plus there’s a great indie disco that goes on until the early hours.
(Photo credit should read ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP/Getty Images)
5/12 Nos Alive (Lisbon, Portugal) Takes place: 11 – 13 July
There are so many reasons to try this festival in Portugal’s coastal capital. Let’s start with the music: each year Nos Alive manages to assemble a most diverse yet cohesive lineup of artists, from pop and rock to electronic and heavy metal. This year its headliners are The Cure, Vampire Weekend, Gossip, The Smashing Pumpkins and Bon Iver. If that’s not impressive enough, you can also catch Jorja Smith, Hot Chip, H.E.R, Thom Yorke, Idles and Loyle Carner. The festival is set on the docks near two of Lisbon’s most breathtaking landmarks: the Jeronimos Monastery and the Belem tower. Due to the Portuguese culture of starting an evening out relatively late, there’s plenty of time to explore the city in the day, from the markets to the hundreds of fantastic restaurants, bars and shops.
6/12 Pohoda (Trenčín, Slovakia) 11-13 July
Slovakia’s biggest music festival also happens to be one of the most affordable in Europe. Its organisers understand modern music fans have eclectic taste and so they’ve invited everyone from Liam Gallagher, The 1975, Dream Wife, The Roots and Lykke Li to perform at the atmospheric Trenčín Airport.
Sean Hood
7/12 Melt! (Gräfenhainichen, Germany) Takes place: 19 – 21 July
Melt’s creative director once described it as the “Berghain of German festivals”. Don’t let that scare you – by that he is more likely referring to the event’s vast scale and leaning towards electronic music, rather than the hedonism that takes place inside the notorious Berlin club. That said, the 20,000-capacity event still embraces themes of (cut) wild abandon, with house and techno acts playing non-stop (I’ve moved this) on the Sleepless Floor venue just outside the main grounds. Main stage attractions include Bon Iver, A$AP Rocky, Jorja Smith, Skepta, Four Tet, Bonobo and Yung Lean.
Sebastian Willnow/AFP/Getty
8/12 Oya (Oslo, Norway) Takes place: 6 – 10 August
This gem of a festival is ideally placed in one of Oslo’s biggest parks. It hosts a perfect mix of major British and US acts plus a wealth of Scandi artists placed right alongside them, to ensure homegrown talent isn’t overlooked. It’s one of the friendliest festivals in Europe: organisers are always around if you need help or questions answered, and there’s a collective good mood that continues regardless of the weather. Oya is also one of the greenest music events, and has relied on sustainable energy alone since 2009. Fifty per cent of the festival menu is meat-free, and organisers limit waste by using edible plates. You’ll likely spot Norwegian children picking up plastic cups dropped by guests – they earn a krone for each one they collect. This year’s lineup melds some of the best in hip hop, pop and rock, including The Cure, Robyn, Tame Impala, Sigrid, Erykah Badu, James Blake, Earl Sweatshirt, Karpe, and Christine and the Queens.
Helge Brekke
9/12 Sziget (Budapest, Hungary) Takes place: 7 – 13 August
There’s plenty to discover at this Hungarian festival, with its beach, themed parties and a week of music spanning pop, indie, rock, folk, dance and reggae. This year organisers have managed to secure some of the biggest names in pop, including Ed Sheeran, Florence + the Machine, Post Malone, Twenty One Pilots and The 1975, plus Foo Fighters and dance music wunderkind Martin Garrix. Sziget is also passionate about looking after the environment, so guests can expect reusable cups, no straws unless requested, recycling programmes, and an ecocamping programme.
Major Kata – Rockstar Photographers
10/12 Ypsigrock (Sicily, Italy) Takes place: 8 – 11 August
Location is the main draw for this hidden gem of a festival, which is set in the beautiful Sicilian town of Castelbuono – about an hour’s drive from the capital, Palermo. The main stage is placed at the foot of the castle – built during the Hohenstaufen rule in the Middle Ages – from which the town takes its name. There are few festival experiences like it: the stone bricks, which stay warm from the sun long after it has set, create gorgeous acoustics for whoever is performing. As is Italian tradition, things don’t really get going until the evening, so until then visitors can head to the beach or try some of the best food in Sicily, from pizza to granita, gelato and the famous Fiasconaro panettone. After that you can catch performances from the likes of The National, Spiritualized, Let’s Eat Grandma, Fontaines DC and Whitney, with more still to be announced. Most guests leave happy, tanned, and maybe a few pounds heavier than when they arrived.
Roberto Panucci/Ypsigrock
11/12 Flow (Helsinki, Finland) Takes place: 9 – 11 August
Flow festival brings world-famous international acts to a Finnish demographic that is fiercely loyal to homegrown talent. Performing in Helsinki this year are Cardi B, Neneh Cherry, Tame Impala, Blood Orange, Yves Tumor, Earl Sweatshirt, Erykah Badu, Ibe Special, Makaya McCraven, Nitzer Ebb and many more. An infamous afterparty takes place on the skirts of a building site outside the festival walls, where DJs blast drum & bass music and guests can take a dip in the sauna. Braver (drunker) souls occasionally make a bare-bottomed dash into the sea.
Samuli Pentti
12/12 Rock en Seine (Paris, France) Takes place: 23 – 25 August
It’s been hailed as France’s answer to Glastonbury festival, and for good reason. Rock en Seine takes place at the historical site of Domaine National de Saint-Cloud, which is regarded as one of the most beautiful gardens in Europe. The lineup is comprised of a mix of global stars and some of the most exciting international up and comers, from Foals and Aphex Twin to Agar Agar, Sharon Van Etten, Bring Me the Horizon and Polo & Pan.
Christophe Crénel/Rock en Seine/Facebook
Whatever lead to the incident, the 3ft 8in-tall rapper famously claimed he “died and came back to life”, as he was being treated in hospital.
The grisly aftermath of his wounded face in the hours after doctors operated on him to save his life, was captured on camera and used by the Geto Boys, on their album We Can’t be Stopped, released just one month later.
The photograph shows the injured rapper being pushed along in a hospital stretcher by bandmates Scarface and Willie D, while Bill is posing with an enormous early ’90s mobile telephone. His face is swollen and his eye-dressing pulled down to reveal the damage.
The other two Geto Boys members along with the band’s management team reportedly took Bill out of the ward he was in to take the picture, and removed his eyepatch and intravenous drip in the process.
The album featured the hit single “Mind Playing Tricks on Me”, featuring a sample from the 1974 single “Hung Up On My Baby” by Isaac Hayes. It was one of the Geto Boys’ most successful records and went platinum the following year.
Bill later expressed regret over the decision to stage the photoshoot and use it as the album cover.
According to an interview with music journalist Brian Coleman for his 2007 book Check the Technique, Bill said: “It still hurts me to look at that cover because that was a personal thing I went through… I still feel the pain from the fact I’ve got a bullet in my brain… I think it was pretty wrong to do it, even though I went along with the program at first.”
He addressed the incident in his music. In his song “Ever So Clear”, from his 1992 solo album Little Big Man, he sang: “I ran and got the gun and came back to her / Loaded it up and handed the gat to her / I grabbed her hand and placed the gun to my eye muscle / She screamed stop and then we broke into another tussle / Yo, during the fight, the gun went off quick / Damn / Aw shit, I’m hit.”
Speaking to TMZ earlier this year, after he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer he had said: “I’m not really afraid of dying because if anyone knows anything about me from “Ever So Clear”, I died and came back already in June 1991, so I know what it’s like on the other side.”
