CD Odyssey Disc 689: Eric B and Rakim

This week I’ve been exploring the music of Bonnie Prince Billy, a sort of indie folk hero that I only learned about recently. Bonnie Prince Billy is prolific, and I was surprised to find he has 18 albums and counting. So far I’ve listened to six of them, and really like three. If this keeps up, there might be nine new albums in my future.

But for now, let us turn our attention away from future purchases, and review an album I already have – albeit very recently.

Disc 689 is…. Don’t Sweat the Technique

Artist: Eric B. & Rakim

Year of Release: 1992

What’s up with the Cover? In the early nineties the white background was king in hip hop. I’m not a fan of the white background, but trying to jazz it up with weird colour treatments and cutouts across the top border only makes it worse. Neither of their outfits have aged well either, particularly Eric B.’s efforts which can best be described as French Existentialist meets Cyborg in a Tracksuit.

How I Came To Know It: By the time I bought this album I was already an avowed Eric B. and Rakim fan so this was just me hungrily drilling through their collection.

How It Stacks Up:  I have three Eric B. and Rakim albums. They only made four, but it has been hard to find “Let the Rhythm Hit ‘Em.” Of the three I have, “Don’t Sweat the Technique comes in third, but it is still better than almost every other rap album I own.

Rating: 4 stars but almost 5

The first two tracks on “Don’t Sweat the Technique” make you wonder if maybe Eric B. and Rakim have finally lost their mojo. Then the boys spend the rest of the record proving you wrong.

The opening track, “What’s On Your Mind?” is a smooth-delivered romantic rap that would sound great on an LL Cool J album but just doesn’t suit Rakim’s furious rap style. The whole stylish ‘sexy times’ rap is LL’s territory, and Rakim’s exceptional talent is wasted on this pick-up track.

On the second track, “Teach the Children” the duo has shifted toward a preachy style, again with a very laid back style that despite its strong message about the origins of inner city crime. This song again feels outside Eric B. and Rakim’s comfort zone, not because of the message but because the rap style just isn’t furious enough.

And then, all that ends, and the album gets serious about kicking your ass.

I’ve said it many times that Eric B. and Rakim are the greatest rap act of all time, and I’ll say it again. Even better, they both take the next ten tracks to prove me right.

“Pass the Hand Grenade” is a powerful “I rap better than you rap” song where the hand grenade is a mike gripped tight and then thrown aside in disdain, with the knowledge that no sucka MC is going to dare pick it up when Rakim is done with it.

This is Rakim at his best, spitting lyrics hard on and off the beat with a confident ease, and Eric B. backing him with funky samples that make the song danceable and approachable. “Rest Assured” and “The Punisher” are equal masterpieces of the style, rhymes tripping effortlessly from Rakim as Eric B clips and reimagines musical tidbits from classic soul and jazz classics into a brand new art form as funky and original as the sum of their parts. On “Rest Assured” the repeated line is “007 is back, rest assured” which is the perfect expression for a band that features a licenced emcee murderer.

“Don’t Check the Technique” also has a greater social conscience than earlier records. “Casualties of War” is about the experience of a soldier fighting in the Iraq War, the emotional aftermath of the experience. “What’s Going On?” is a brilliant call-out of inner city communities tearing themselves apart with violence and drug abuse. Perfect bass-lines and saxophone samples add depth and complexity to a pretty simple wake up call to communities on the brink.

Like Gang Starr, Eric B. and Rakim aren’t afraid to call out their own and demand better. The big difference is that as much as I love Gang Starr (and I do) other rap acts can’t hold a candle to the skills of these two guys, either in terms of sampling or rapping.

For the most part, Rakim spits his rhymes at high speed, and never misses a beat or a step as he goes. Even when he slows down, like on the soulful laid-back “Relax With Pep” the energy never slips. Listening to “Relax With Pep” I felt like the whole world was moving to my beat as I moved through it with head phones on. I won’t deny there was a swagger in my step; you can’t not have a swagger and listen to this record.

Knowing “Don’t Sweat the Technique” is Eric B. and Rakim’s last album is bitter-sweet for me. They only delivered four records, which is a damned shame given their talent. The silver lining is knowing that their last record proves they went out on top.

Best tracks: Pass the Hand Grenade, Casualties of War, Rest Assured, The Punisher, Relax With Pep, What’s Going On?, Kick Along

CD Odyssey Disc 473: Eric B and Rakim

I’m a little late to rap music, and albums like this next one make me regret that.

Disc 473 is…Paid in Full

Artist: Eric B. & Rakim

Year of Release: 1987

What’s up with the Cover?  The greatest rap duo of all time strike a pose (DJ Eric B. on the left, and emcee Rakim on the right).  This is in the day when a rap group would don a set of matching track suits and a bunch of golden bling to be actually cool, not ironically cool.  Also of note, I purchased this album, ensuring both Eric B. & Rakim continue to get paid in full for their role in laying down raps great legacy.  Pay the artist, people!

How I Came To Know It:  I likely first heard the song “Paid in Full” back in the eighties, and can almost guarantee I hated it.  How wrong I was.  In terms of my awakening to this band, it was in hearing their original of “Microphone Fiend” remade by Rage Against the Machine for their “Renegades” album in 2000.  “Paid in Full” is just me drilling through their musical collection after I was impressed with a sampling I’d heard earlier on a 20^th Century Masters compilation.

How It Stacks Up:  I only have two of Eric B. & Rakim’s four studio albums, which is something I mean to remedy.  Both are amazing, but I’m going to give 1988’s “Follow the Leader” the edge, and leave “Paid in Full” at second.

Rating:  4 stars but very close to 5.

Eighties rap was heavily focused on determining who could rap the best, and who could lay down the best scratches.  My exposure to rap is still fairly limited, but as far as I’m concerned Eric B. & Rakim were the best then, and are still the best twenty-five years later.

When a great emcee takes the microphone, it should feel like they’re casting a spell with their rhymes and their cadence.  No one casts a spell like Rakim.  When he starts rhyming he commands your attention.  Whatever you’re doing you find you stop doing it.  If you’re talking, you fall silent.  If you’re thinking about something else, you forget about that and let him take you into the journey of his words, which are far more interesting than whatever journey you were on before he starting talking.

In fact, I started out trying to write this review like I usually do, with the album playing in the background to give me inspiration.  The problem was that with Rakim weaving words over sampled James Brown horn and guitar riffs (and God knows what else) I couldn’t concentrate on writing.  All my frontal lobes got drawn in to listening to the intricate rhymes he was laying down, and the effortless use of beat and cadence while he did it.  It was like trying to write a novel while listening to Leonard Cohen sing; there were just too many good words already in my head that weren’t my own.  And so, in desperation, I’ve had to resort to radio silence just to get some of my thoughts down.

To be sure there are other great and smooth emcees out there; I like the guys in EPMD and Guru from Gang Starr is also impressive, but no one draws me in like Rakim.

It is amazing for me to find such an emotional attachment to the music as well, since these songs aren’t about anything more complicated than “I rap better than you/I rap the best.”  It shouldn’t be this compelling.

Rakim doesn’t operate in a vacuum, and his DJ Eric B. is also at the pinnacle of his craft.  Scratching is an art unto itself, and I can’t think of someone who does it better than Eric B.  A number of the songs on “Paid in Full” are the rap equivalent of an instrumental, in fact, and Eric B. carries those songs alone.  Rather than find myself missing Rakim’s verbal mastery, I was drawn into the artistry of scratching.

And like Rakim’s raps, Eric B’ solo songs like “Eric B. is on the Cut” and “Extended Beat” tell you with their title not to expect any deeper meaning.  Like Rakim telling you that he raps the best, these are songs where Eric B. is telling you he scratches the best.  It would feel like wild and pointless boasting on both counts, except that it is true.

Of course, “Paid in Full” is from the golden era of rap, before every sample had to be paid for.  This opens up the entire human race’s vinyl collection for inspiration.  Yet for all that, the samples are surprisingly simple.  This isn’t like Public Enemy’s wall of sampling; “Paid in Full” keeps things deceptively simple.  A beat, a sampled riff and maybe a few choice sounds to add some depth.  Despite the basic approach, the music is complex, and in places even reminiscent of jazz (the good jazz – not the obtuse, masturbatory kind).

There’s not much more I can say, except the only album that bests “Paid in Full” for me in the rap world is also by Eric B. & Rakim:  “Follow the Leader” (more on that when I roll it).  I guess on that note, I will follow the leader, and leave this unworthy offering with a few lines from the R to the A to the K-I-M who explains his melody better than I ever could:

“Rhymes are poetically kept and alphabetically stepped

Put in an order to pursue with the momentum except

I say one rhyme outta order, a longer rhyme shorter

Or pause – but don’t stop the tape recorder.

“I’m not a regular competitor, first rhyme editor

Melody arranger, poet, et cetera

Extra events, the grand finale like bonus

I am the man they call the microphonist.”

Best tracks:  Ain’t No Joke, Eric B. is on the Cut, I Know You Got Soul, Move the Crowd, Paid in Full, As the Rhyme Goes On, Extended Beat