Eric B For President
* Eric B & Rakim: Microphone Fiend (7.5 mb) | Lyrics Of Fury (6.5 mb) | Eric B. Never Scared (8.5 mb)
From Follow The Leader : Geffen Records
For a glorious couple of years, the partnership of DJ Eric B and MC Rakim produced some of the finest hip-hop ever made. Even though Paid In Full (1987), their debut release fully cemented their place in the hip-hop hall of fame, they didn’t rest on their laurels. Their follow up, Follow The Leader (1988) managed to expand on the groundwork they laid on Paid In Full.
Rakim redefined the art of the rap. He was “…neither a battler, a freestyler, nor a “put-your-hands-in-the-air” master of ceremonies, he took his time to write a rhyme, and it showed. He specialised in the elliptical, spring-loaded rap-as-poem, delivered in the silky-steel voice of a gentleman criminal. Compared to the simple-minded nastiness of 1990s thug-lifers, Rakim comes off like Hannibal Lecter in a room full of B-movie baddies, his measured modulation only adding to the menace. In the days before MTV embraced rap and the Benz ‘n’ booty video became drearily ubiquitous, Rakim slayed the crowd with mere words, ideas and the rough grain of his voice (Global Darkness)”. This isn’t to say that Eric B didn’t contribute just as equally to the albums. He was a master of the turntable and created amazingly smooth cut ups of 808 kicks and samples. Even though these beats were created twenty years ago, they still sound fresh and hip.
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