Today (Dec. 18), NPR Music unveiled the latest episode of their popular “Tiny Desk Concert” series with none other than Scarface, who was joined by longtime collaborator Mike Dean. In the roughly half-hour clip, the Houston legend delivered soulful renditions of “On My Block,” “Mary Jane,” “Smile,” and the Geto Boys classic “Mind Playing Tricks on Me.”

Halfway in, Scarface introduced his performance of “I Seen a Man Die” by explaining how the song was created. “I remember this song, right? Mike Dean was there. I come up with the bassline,” he explained to the crowd before playing the notes on a keyboard. “That’s how it came about. So we made the record the night before [and] we come to the studio the next day.”

He continued, “My cousin in there. My cousin Jamal’s going, ‘Oh, I don’t know, dawg. I’m just gonna take it one day at a time, you know what I’m saying?’ He passed away here recently, so when I do this song, it kind of cuts me a little bit ’cause I miss my cousin. But I’ll never forget that day we recorded this. It was really cold in the studio, and I was really, really high, and it was really, really dark… I ain’t know how I was gonna deliver it, but I was f**cking stoned. Like white guy stoned. But I know when I said those words, my eyes got as big as those camera lenses.”

“I Seen a Man Die” was a standout from Scarface’s 1994 LP, The Diary, an album that peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and received widespread acclaim from fans and critics alike. The track told a gripping story about a man who found freedom following a seven-year stint in prison only to succumb to the same evils that brought him there. For those not familiar, you can enjoy “I Seen a Man Die” and Scarface’s full “Tiny Desk Concert” set below.