ever compiled

he is light years ahead of PIF and miles ahead of the standard he set on FTL on LTRH


now comes the hyperbole for emphasis

PIF was Usain Bolt runnin the 100m in 9.72 (world record)
FTL was him runnin it in 9.69
LTRH was his 9.58

I've been saying this for years. It's his best album, but didn't get the attention it deserved, because it wasn't as groundbreaking.

and the shift was going away from battle/freestyle type lyrics

Ra is in a fkin zone throughout the whole lp

I think No Omega is his magnum Opus

>I've been saying this for years. It's his best album, but
>didn't get the attention it deserved, because it wasn't as
>groundbreaking.>

I think tho it was too dark for most people tho

It was a full two years between Follow The Leader and this album dropping.

That might not seem like much but at the speed rap music was moving every three to six months in the late 80's into early 90's?

Two full calendar years for a rap act with no new music was somewhere between a Sade-sized layoff and dog years.

That same layoff essentially killed off Run-DMC (the biggest act in the genre's history to that date) over the course of two such layoffs (from Raising Hell to Tougher Than Leather was the killer but TTL to Back From Hell effectively put the final nails in the coffin).

PE survived one from It Takes A Nation to Fear but would have never made it if there hadn't owned the summer of '89 in between with Fight The Power as a soundtrack anthem featured in the year's most talked-about film, been on two of the biggest national tours during that time, stayed in the news due to controversy, released a video for seemingly every song off Nation which Yo! kept in rotation, broken up, then came back with the Terrordome/911 double-shot after the Griff flap.

When they went two, almost three, between Apocalypse and their next full-on album......they were DONE.

Waiting two full years after Bigger and Deffer is part of the reason LL seemed so out of step and passé in the minds of the rap-loving public when he dropped Walking With A Panther.

And L made damn sure to get Jingling (Remix), hop on a track with EPMD to solidify the base and drop Boomin System all within about six to nine months of Panther bricking and no more than a calendar year on the dot before dropping Mama Said that summer.

A nearly three year wait after that for 14 Shots To The Dome?!?

Nah B, take that weak shit home.

Stetsasonic In Full Gear>>>>Blood, Sweat & No Goddamn Ears.

Even Paul's Boutique bricked when it finally came out after License to Ill.

When they built back up from there and folks caught onto that hard left it was with a different audience who were more "Beastie Boys Fans" than "rap fans".

I could go on but you get the idea.

Not sure what the exact factors were in the case of Eric B & Rakim's time away but I'm guessing it was a combination of going from UNI to MCA along with perhaps Paul C's murder while he was helping them make it.

They survived, because Ra was/is The God and he was probably at his lyrical apex (co-sign Hood on "No Omega" btw, that was my favorite amongst the non-singles).

But they didn't *thrive* the way they did coming with Follow The Leader behind Paid In Full.

At least part of the reason I believe was that time gap.

Also it didn't have a "Microphone Fiend" or "Eric B Is President" move-the-crowd party single.

Let The Rhythm Hit Em as a lead single was basically an even darker, denser version of Follow The Leader.

In The Ghetto is an all-time great song but it was too soulful, moody, mid tempo and deep to connect in the same way as those early singles.

Plus they fucked up the sparse beauty of the original with the horn remix for the video version.

Mahogany might have been the better second single because it would have been a song that females could feel but rap fans still could respect.

But I'm not sure it would have mattered all that much.

It was two full years later.

Ra's voice had gotten deeper, the content had too and he was gonna do what he wanted to do.

This album I still view as a success though, probably the album I still most listen to out of the three, still kept a bigger portion of their fans than they had any right to expect considering the factors above.

But another two years for the next album and the flame was almost dead like the duo's recording relationship would be soonafter.

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"I ain't no entertainer, and ain't trying to be one. I am one thing, a musician." © Miles Davis

"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."

boxcar anyway, i dont know about word power 2

but I've come to realize that Word Power 2 (Divine Styler) is just as strong if not stronger because Styles of Beyond >>>>>> Hobo Junction for the most part (though both albums would have been fine without em).
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"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."

maybe top 5

easily one of the best to do it

and i like that he never sounded self consciously avant garde

which is kinda the impression i got of divine styler but i need to check him out properly before i say

saafir just sounded like he was born unable to write like anyone else lol

hobo junction had a few good singles too - shot calling and big balling - but i still havent got through that cleaner album of theirs

If you haven't heard that Word Power 2 album I suggest you stop whatever you're doing and do so now!! Dude only has two albums and a handful of guest appearances but he like Saafir was one of those writers nobody else could ever fuck with.
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"I ain't no entertainer, and ain't trying to be one. I am one thing, a musician." © Miles Davis

"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."

but because its Divine Styler who Im happy to discuss anytime, and because I was gonna make a post about him today anyway here goes a dope timeline of Divine Styler

http://exclaim.ca/Interviews/FromTheMagazine/divine_styler-power_of_word

and heres a swipe on the magazine he inspired "in search of divine styler"

http://www.verbicidemagazine.com/2006/12/11/in-search-ofdivine-styler-by-ryan-somers-aka-fritz-tha-cat/

the ten cats amped when those links first came up... like WHAT!!!
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"I ain't no entertainer, and ain't trying to be one. I am one thing, a musician." © Miles Davis

"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."

he blacked out on "tongue of labrinth"

I remember pumpin "spiral walls..." in collegge and getting laughed at lol

and bought a third. couldn't fuck with spiral to this day but it was on the strength of word power one that i never gave up hope.

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"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."

he was like a pschedelic eric benet on that one lol

I recall him talking about his Syndicate expierence and him sayin he was pretty much cool w Everlast only. I thought the Syndicate was a unit but he made it seem otherwise

intially he was in the vein of more of a gangsta rapper but before Word Power dropped he went to jail and found Islam and it changed his perspective on music.

also how he pretty much disapeared from hip hop completly until his ex wife saw the "in search of" magazine in a store in Atlanta and contacted him..that eventually led to a phone call w the editor and he flew up to Toronto on his own dime and soon therafter Word Power 2 came about

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"I ain't no entertainer, and ain't trying to be one. I am one thing, a musician." © Miles Davis

"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."

or just their mentor?

pretty sure just a mentor. weren't they behind where is divine styler in some way?
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"I ain't no entertainer, and ain't trying to be one. I am one thing, a musician." © Miles Davis

"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."

weren't they behind where is
>divine styler in some way?

im not sure. they way I understand the magazine came about from the author just being a fan

this is the equivalent of a blake griffin on kendrick perkins dunk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i41SGVYb_A0

I'm sorry Divine Styler.....

Freestyling is what now?

a non-conceptual what?

OH!

we're talking albums. yeah fellowship has everyone beat but they only got what 3 dope albums between em and inner city IMO isn't the lyrical display of Word Power 2.
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"I ain't no entertainer, and ain't trying to be one. I am one thing, a musician." © Miles Davis

"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."

I liked Wordpower 2 at least the songs I heard off of it

and Divine Styler is a great emcee

but didnt want to kick up dust

Not a huge fan of the others lyrically (Big Nous, Poke, the D.A., Mahasin, the Whoridas), but Rashinel and 'Cue held it down.

but I see we do agree on Divine Styler

I would put Word Power 2 up there but not at the top

Saafir is lyrical but a lot more cryptical bordering on nonsensical but it works because his cadence and patterns are so sick

I never looked at him as "lyrical" per se but more of a style assasian

That's speaking as someone who spent his last two years of undergrad studying "Boxcar Sessions" like science. It all makes sense.

youre dealin w someone who copped Boxcar sessions the week itr dropped of the strenth of his album stealing verse on "Fear itself"

I consider myself fairly intelligent, and am a fan of lyrics. I have given that lp chance after chance to grow on me and for me to "get it" but to me besides the cut about his camero out all sounds like intoxicated gobbley-gook

so if you can help me to understand what he's talking about and decipher it for me im open

>That's speaking as someone who spent his last two years of
>undergrad studying "Boxcar Sessions" like science. It all
>makes sense.

"Stress: The Extinction Agenda" is probably 1b. "Liquid Swords" is 1c. "Ride the Rhythm" is 1d.

Thanks for reminding me to re-listen to Word Power 2. Ain't heard it years.

And it's kind of wild to me that I just don't feel Inner City Griots earns a place. What the fuck is wrong with me?! Ionno I just can't commit to it. And I might know that album front to back.

PS can you please change your avy. No offense but yours is guilty of taxing the speed of page loads.
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"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."

I don't really think they ever had a "full" first album. The first version of the Clear Blue Skies album on Fondle 'Em only had like 8 or 10 songs on it. Also, the "Dr. Octagon" album probably deserves a place too.

I think "Innercity Griots" could fit into my top 10. Maybe what's holding you back is the semi-singing aspects of it.

dude put on a lyrical clinic on "Ride the rythm"

Liquid Swords is the correct answer

i want argue w/ your choice

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prqYVUCQ9Uc

sons everything in this thread

thanks!!
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"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."

It is definitely an incredible body of work. Not for nothing Don't Sweat the Technique is killer too lyrically.


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"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."

personally I think DSTT while great was a step back below LTRH AND FTL

it had its great moments tho

I put Relax w Peop on up there

...go largely unrecognized, even by Rakim himself. I feel like he never even refers to the majority of the album beyond the singles.

I've never heard this lp mentioned bu him at all yet its his greatest work

did you peep how he smoothly transited on No Omega fromtalkin about himself to destoyin an mc then detailing how he did it (riggin a mic w explosives) and also tellin how furthorme took his girl just to torture her then goes into how great eric b is and summs back up the no omega concept

if this aint the greatest verse ever tell me what is?

it's too bad it doesn't get talked about more. Not only is it amazing, it's also the album of theirs most accessible to 2012 ears (well, mine at least). So many of the beats on the first two albums hang ON AND ON AND ON, and while I can acknowledge that they're mostly interesting and fairly odd/edgy, there's just so little going on in them that I want to move on. That's not even bringing up the ENDLESS turn table workouts that take up almost half the space. LTRHE's beats still look forward-thinking today, and I can't think of a single album that really sounds like it. In the Ghetto's my favorite Rakim song, and the way his sort of visionary, spaced-out imagery plays off this sparse, moody earthbound beat--it works as a whole unit, not just great rapping over a great beat

Finesse Mahogany is great too. It's nice to know Rakim is affected by human urges and feelings like affection and horniness. I don't think I would've guessed otherwise.

LTRHE's beats still look
>forward-thinking today, and I can't think of a single album
>that really sounds like it.>

it was ahead of its time. its not only a dense and cerebral album lyrically but also production wise as well

its layered sonically. i think this sort of complicated it in the ears of some listeners

Is that not the case?

I would assume the more complex chopping was done by Paul C but I doubt you could use that as a guide. And did DJ Mark The 45 King just do the remix or did he do other work on the album as well?

Like the title track, for example. Paul C got the sample, looped it, and LP added the extra elements.

http://www.rosenbergradio.com/2008/10/06/awesome-juan-ep-feat-large-pro/


Cipha Sounds asks about it at the beginning of the interview.


*CROCKA*

word booty.

HSUBAKCITS

www.smokingsection.net



http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r9/chowyunskinny/Gold%20Chef/iron_chef.jpg

tap danced, and whispered, brushed it off, and even changed the subject about the issue

BUT

he has NEVER flat out come out and said what he didnt and didnt produceLOL

ditto for Wanted Dead or ALIVE

its hilarous

the fans "know" he had a sognificant hand in them but we just don't know how much and over 20 years later it seems like we never will get a proper, honest and open answer

it seems like the ghost of Eric B/Suge Night is real

...no fuckin doubt...

Big Pun destroyed every single track there,and it has some of the most impressive lyrical displays I've ever encountered, with the multies, internal rhyme schemes, punchlines, storytelling,etc.

I'd put Reasonable Doubt and the Marshall Mathers LP up there too...

only one Eric B showcase...

he expanded his subject matter on in the ghetto and Maghony

Like the expectation for Illmatic. Or the expectation for Doggystyle. Or even the expectation for Fear of a Black Planet.

Rakim is the only artist to have the same level of expectation for three albums in a row starting with his debut. The only one. Jay-Z has done it since without the same complete praise and not starting from the solo. Nas suffered a sophmore slump. Outkast didn't have it for their first album. Who else can be named. Maybe KRS but not from the first album. Kane just didn't quite do it.

After the single drop Paid in Full was highly anticipated. Follow the Leader was a highly anticipated follow up that delivered. And then there is Let the Rhythm Hit Em, which motherfuckers were fiending for. Delivered on all three occasions. Don't Sweat The Technique was the first time people even began to have questions but it didn't even matter.

That's why Rakim is the GOAT. Nobody else done that with such an emphasis on lyricism in hip-hop. Nobody.
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"I ain't no entertainer, and ain't trying to be one. I am one thing, a musician." © Miles Davis

"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."

the importance of lyricism pretty much went down the shitter
emcees were still lyrical but after that you didn't have to be incredible lyrically to be considered good anymore

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"I ain't no entertainer, and ain't trying to be one. I am one thing, a musician." © Miles Davis

"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."

I got artillery lyrics of ammo rounds of rhythm, then I'm a give em a piano bring a bullet proof vest nothing to ricochet ready to aim at the brain now what the trigger say.

First time I heard that rhyme I was like wait what the fuck did he say? almost 30 years later and that shit is still amazing.

Hard to argue with your point. Even of the albums I thought of to disagree with your point (Criminal Minded, Illmatic, Wanted Dead Or Alive, Stress) I couldn't name anyone that was definitively better than Ra was on this album.

Ra is also the rare rapper whose lyrics not only fully hold up but actually almost increase in power when on the printed page, because u still read it in his voice but at the same time can gain appreciation for how thoughtfully crafted each syllable is and sometimes even reveal a new wrinkle that you may have missed the first 500 times u heard the song.

>Ra is also the rare rapper whose lyrics not only fully hold
>up but actually almost increase in power when on the printed
>page, because u still read it in his voice but at the same
>time can gain appreciation for how thoughtfully crafted each
>syllable is and sometimes even reveal a new wrinkle that you
>may have missed the first 500 times u heard the song.

I've always said that I would put Ra's lyrics up against any of the great writers in any other genre. He is truly gifted.

Need more power, better get Battlecat, but this ain't Greyskull, and you ain't rippin jack

That shit right there....I mean, he's gone through verses with no break or chorus (Microphone Fiend comes to mind) but that song right there is still unbelievable.

I still say the first verse of Follow The Leader is probably the greatest verse ever put on paper, but very little is messing with No Omega

I was shocked.

Yeah, you can make an argument. Definately way ahead of its time.

Re-listen to military precision he exudes on the title track; in may be the single greatest instance of a MC intelligbly and precisely flowing over a beat, in terms of matching its pace, mood, and purpose.

does it really matter?

for all my fans who keep my name in their mouth: http://i.imgur.com/v2xNOpS.jpg