Because the daybreak of hip-hop, the connection between MC and DJ has been probably the most singular and conventional in a style outlined by flouting conference. In 1987, New York-based duo Eric B. & Rakim launched their first studio album, Paid In Full. Finest identified for the tune “Eric B. Is President,” the album matched minimalist manufacturing and intensive sampling (together with James Brown and artist Fonda Rea) layered beneath Rakim’s pioneering, game-changing stream, setting the scene for its follow-up, Observe The Chief.
Paid In Full was a exceptional introduction to a duo who would show to be among the many most formidable in hip-hop. It yielded 5 radio singles, together with the album’s titular observe and ‘Eric B. Is President’, however stalled at No.58 on the Billboard 200. And whereas the album attracted legions of followers, mainstream critics supplied a largely lukewarm response. Nonetheless, Rakim’s lyricism drew reward, and the bar was set excessive for the duo’s sophomore effort. Solely a yr later, beneath a brand new contract with MCA Data, Eric B & Rakim launched Observe The Chief, on July 26, 1988.
Produced and recorded at Energy Play Studios in New York Metropolis, Observe The Chief featured musical contributions from Rakim’s brother Stevie Blass Griffin, who performed a wide range of devices on the report. A sophomore album is all the time considered as a check of an artist’s expertise. One good album could be a fluke, however to repeat it speaks to the flexibility to develop, change and develop as an artist. With Observe The Chief, Eric B. & Rakim didn’t disappoint.
Constructing on the burgeoning expertise displayed on Paid In Full, the album sees more and more complicated manufacturing on the a part of Eric B., who composes tracks laden with sly and dexterous samples that fantastically help Rakim’s lyrics with out competing with them. Lyrically, Rakim’s presence on Observe The Chief represents a big evolution within the rapper’s abilities. Honing his expertise for making a compelling inside rhyme inside every line, Rakim doubled down on each the velocity of his supply and the content material itself. He tosses off rhyme after rhyme, using the beat with a tonality that manages to be concurrently pressing and coolly indifferent. On “No Competition,” Rakim raps about himself:
Nobody in my path can stand up to
Beneath strain the wrath of a swift man
You title the day, the grounds might be impartial
Communicate your piece, the sensation’s mutual
We are able to go subject from subject at any time when I drop it
Attempt to cease it
His braggadocio was totally earned and supported by critics and the tradition at massive. Observe The Chief was hailed as one of many musical achievements of the yr and was thought of by almost each critic to be superior to Paid In Full.
Writing within the Los Angeles Occasions, music critic Jonathan Gold praised Rakim’s lyrical dexterity and vocal restraint: “His keen rhymes [are] all the more devastating for being near-whispered where lesser rappers would shout.” Observe The Chief made it to No.22 on the Billboard Prime Pop Albums chart and spawned 4 singles: “Follow The Leader,” “Microphone Fiend,” “The R” and “Lyrics Of Fury.” The album additionally went gold the yr of its launch.
The MC/producer relationship is a tenuous one. If a producer’s beats are too heavy, too complicated or too repetitive, they danger drowning out even probably the most highly effective lyrics. Within the worst instances, it renders the lyrics trivial, the rhyme irrelevant. Integral to the profitable alchemy on Observe The Chief are Eric B. and Rakim’s particular person inventive abilities, however most important to their collaboration is the way in which they work collectively, pushing and pulling, sharing the aural area to permit each of their contributions to yield a wealthy, endlessly layered product much better than both of them may have achieved alone.
Purchase Eric B. and Rakim’s music on vinyl now.
