Eric B. & Rakim

Essential Albums

  • Don't Sweat the Technique
    Don't Sweat the Technique
    Don't Sweat the Technique

    The fourth and final Eric B. & Rakim album, 1992’s Don’t Sweat the Technique, arrived just six years after the duo transformed the sound of hip-hop, thanks to Rakim’s incomparable rhymecraft and Eric B.’s clattery James Brown loops. With Don’t Sweat the Technique, the musicians closed out their game-changing run with jazz samples, head-cracking snares, soulful horns, and manic tempos. And while at the absolute peak of his lyrical powers, Rakim explored his more socially conscious leanings. As he says in “Teach the Children”: “No more time to pass time ’cause these are the last rhymes/’Cause we’re living in the last times.” The album’s title track—the group’s first and only song to top the Billboard Hot Rap Songs chart—is a classic slice of NYC jazz-rap, with Rakim doing a merciless, technical ode to his own inimitable rap style over a funky upright bass (“For every word they trace, it’s a scar they keep/’Cause when I speak, they freak to sweat the technique”). Meanwhile, “Know the Ledge” served as the theme song to the transformative Tupac Shakur crime drama Juice. The song evocatively channels the Harlem teens depicted in the film, all of whom are thirsting for survival in hopeless situations. Elsewhere on Don’t Sweat the Technique, “Casualties of War”—released after Operation Desert Storm—vividly uses the fragile mind-state of a soldier to question America’s role in global combat. “Teach the Children” is a venomous screed on economic disenfranchisement—a Robin Hood story where Rakim steals from rich neighborhoods and local drug dealers. And “What’s Goin’ On” is Rakim’s update of the Marvin Gaye classic, for which the rapper provides a more street-level perspective: “Nobody wants to live on the first floor no more,” he raps, “’cause stray bullets explore.” Eric B. & Rakim would close the book on their recording partnership in 1993. But Don’t Sweat the Technique finds them exiting the stage while at the peak of their creative and commercial powers.

  • Paid In Full
    Paid In Full
    Paid In Full

    Released in 1987, Eric B. & Rakim’s debut album, Paid in Full, signaled a tectonic shift in hip-hop music, changing the way people would rap forever. Long Island’s Rakim was an absolute virtuoso, injecting his slick-talking with an icy nonchalance that stood in hard contrast to the shouting-based style popularized by artists like Run-D.M.C. and LL Cool J. But it wasn’t just Rakim’s (relatively) low-key approach that set him apart, it was also his technical skill—a whirlwind of internal rhymes, evocative vocabulary choices, and instantly iconic combinations. He rapped over slower tracks to cram in trickier wordplay, and his rhythms mirrored the unpredictable syncopations of the jazz records he’d loved growing up, treating his flow like a John Coltrane solo. Rakim had honed his MC chops by rapping over his mom’s copy of James Brown’s “Funky President (People It’s Bad)”—a song that would be sampled on “Eric B. Is President,” the A-side of Eric B. & Rakim’s breakthrough 1986 single. “Eric B. Is President” became an immediate New York City radio hit, thanks to one of the greatest opening lines in rap history: “I came in the door, I said it before/I never let the mic magnetize me no more.” The single’s B-side, “My Melody,” was no less revelatory, featuring a battle-routine boast—“I take seven MCs, put ’em in a line”—that would later be interpolated by Nas, Eminem, and Pete Rock. (Rakim recorded the song while sitting on a couch, much to the confusion of co-producer Marley Marl, but his relaxed flow would prove groundbreaking). Both tracks are collected on Paid in Full, which also features “I Know You Got Soul,” widely regarded as one of the greatest hip-hop songs ever constructed, thanks to its Bobby Byrd sample. Hearing Eric B. & Rakim’s “I Know You Got Soul” would inspire Public Enemy to revamp its own sound for its breakthrough track “Rebel Without a Pause.” The song’s influence didn’t end there: Electronic collective M/A/R/R/S would make mincemeat of Rakim’s vocal for its hit “Pump Up the Volume,” and Timbaland would quote the song for Aaliyah’s 2000 future-funk No. 1 banger “Try Again.” Still, Paid In Full was more than just a historic moment for rhyme, as evidenced by “Eric B. Is On the Cut” and “Chinese Arithmetic”—two classic turntable showcases. Even the album’s cover made a pop-culture impact: Paid in Full features an iconic shot of Eric B. & Rakim sporting custom jackets from storied Harlem designer Dapper Dan—a choice that highlighted Dan’s brilliant and influential repurposing of luxury brands. “Eric B. & Rakim epitomized and personified the street culture of New York and the rest of the nation,” rapper (and superfan) Nas would later note. “They wore Gucci before Gucci [was popular], they were counting money on the album cover and they made it look cool. The style of the music was built for the streets. Rakim’s lyrics were the streets put into music.”

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About Eric B. & Rakim

Hip-hop can be separated into two eras: before Rakim and after Rakim. It was always a cultural force, birthed from Black and Latino communities in the inner cities, but the rapper known as the God MC was the architect of modern lyricism. Eric Barrier was from East Elmhurst, Queens, while Rakim Allah hailed from Long Island. They met in 1985, recording their first single, “Eric B. Is President,” in Marley Marl's home studio. Rakim was one of the earliest rappers to write multisyllabic rhymes and deliver them with a commanding stoicism instead of the loud, party-friendly charisma of LL Cool J and Run-DMC; he also integrated lessons from the pro-Black Nation of Gods and Earths ideology. Through content and style, he forged a path that generations of rappers would follow. Eric B. backed his rhymes with surgical DJ cuts and sparse, knocking production. Together, they became one of the most influential duos in hip-hop, releasing four albums between 1987 and 1992 before parting ways. Their subsequent solo work was limited, but Eric B. & Rakim needed only five years to change hip-hop forever.

ORIGIN
Queens, NY, United States
FORMED
1986
GENRE
Hip-Hop/Rap

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