Conventional wisdom tells you that
Eric B. & Rakim debuted strong in 1987 with their greatest work, Paid in
Full, and then released three more albums of slightly diminishing returns
before breaking up (and then reuniting 25 years later for a live tour, but
that’s another story). But my ears tell me different. They tell me that the duo
started good and kept getting better as album makers, and that the classic
status accorded to their first two albums rests on the strength of their
(admittedly, absolutely classic) singles but not so much the rest of the songs,
whereas the lesser status of the other albums is because they aren’t thought to
have singles in the same league as “I Know You Got Soul” and “Follow the Leader”
- this is also a false assumption. Paid In Full’s minimal
beats-and-groove topped by Rakim’s speedy, word-heavy flow was a revolution in
the sound of rap, taking Run-D.M.C.’s innovations a step further. Follow the
Leader upped the ante by fleshing out the music. Let the Rhythm Hit ‘Em
was a tentative move in the direction of expanding their music, and their
forward progress culminated in Don’t Sweat the Technique, their fullest,
jazziest, and most consistent of their four albums.
The duo's music was a huge influence
on rap. Though Rakim gets the lion's share of the praise, it's not just their
influence on major MCs from Nas to Ghostface Killah to Eminem, but also on
beatmakers and producers - it’s ha
But it's not just the fact that the album is more diverse than its
predecessors that sets it apart - it's simply a solid listen, beginning to end,
in a way that the previous records aren't. The album is a mix of
narrative-leaning pieces like the romantic “What’s On Your Mind?” and the Desert
Storm PTSD nightmare “Casualties of War” with Rakim's more typical stream of
consciousness word flow pieces like “Pass the Hand Grenade” and the title cut.
But in either mode, Rakim just never stops, his flow fast, clear, and assured,
augmented by Eric B.'s expanded palette of jazz bass, horn hooks, soul backup
choruses, and so forth that mark each song in the memory. And if Eric B.'s hooks
are what draw me back, Rakim's words are what give the album its never-ending
depths. He throws down so many that I’m still deciphering parts 26 years later
- not that I can’t understand what he says, just that part of the joy of this
music is letting the dizzying rush of words go by, focusing in occasionally to
zero in on a song’s subject, or one of Rakim’s brilliantly rhymed phrases that
I just noticed this time around (as in this couplet from “The Punisher”: “Go
manufacture a mask, show me after / a glass of a master that has to make
musical massacre”).
Oh yeah, those killer singles I mentioned earlier? "Know the
Ledge" and "Don't Sweat the Technique" have actually become
acknowledged as great tracks by the duo, but "Casualties of War" and (the
non-single) "The Punisher" - all in the group's faster/harder mode -
are on par as well. That's four great ones right there (same as on Paid In Full), without even counting
that "Relax With Pep," "Rest Assured," "Pass the Hand
Grenade," and "Kick Along" smoke any of the filler cuts on the
debut - or noting that there are four more solid ones beyond even those, and
they may not even be your faves the way they're mine. Back on one of the duo's
greatest songs, "Follow the Leader," Rakim says "Rap is rhythm and poetry,
cuts create sound effects" - this is the album where they prove it in the
most diverse and consistent way.
-
Patrick
Brown
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