‘Paid In Full’: Eric B. And Rakim’s Classic Hip-Hop Album

“It ain’t the everyday style or the same old rhyme,” Rakim Allah casually declared on his landmark 1986 debut single with DJ Eric B., “Eric B. Is President.” And with that, never had such a colossal stylistic shift within hip-hop been announced with such charismatic nonchalance. Cool and calm in his cadence and persona (in marked contrast with the big stage projections of rap’s standard bearers of the day, Run-DMC and LL Cool J), the 18-year-old Long Islander represented an unprecedented emcee prototype: a lyrical scientist able to make complex rhyme schematics sound effortless, spiritually guided by the unofficial faith of NYC’s streets, the Nation of Gods and Earths (AKA the Five Percent Nation). Though never shy aspirationally (see the duo’s iconic, custom-designed Dapper Dan looks on the LP cover), Ra’s boastful wordplay sprung fundamentally from knowledge of self. “Eric B. Is President” was only nominally a DJ tribute cut. Along with its equally dazzling, downtempo B-side, “My Melody” (both brilliantly “synthesized” by producer/engineer Marley Marl from Eric B.’s ideas), these were masterclasses in oratory and musical acuity. A preview of the way forward.

Released the following year, the duo’s classic debut album, Paid In Full, is the full realization of that transformative inaugural address. Revisiting it now, what’s striking is its original iteration’s brevity – just ten tracks, including Marley’s remixes of both sides of the single, and three instrumentals. Which only speaks to how indispensable the rest of it is. From the opening lines of “I Ain’t No Joke,” Eric and Ra celebrate the mold-breaking iciness that had become their signature: “I ain’t no joke, I used to let the mic smoke / Now I slam it when I’m done and make sure it’s broke.” But if the stance is standoffish the duo’s production pulses with excitement – built around a JB’s horn sample and the deepest 808s since “Planet Rock” (courtesy of studio engineer and veteran disco production genius Patrick Adams, whose unheralded contributions throughout give the LP its sonic cohesion). “Move the Crowd” and “As the Rhyme Goes On” are similarly lyrically and musically modeled, rife with individual lines that would spark ideas for other rappers’ entire songs (as Eminem would when he interpolated the latter for his own, “The Way I Am”). The title track is a concise marvel – a single-verse autobiographical narrative that would spawn a tremendous, maximalist remix (UK production duo Coldcut’s “7 Minutes of Madness Mix”).

The album’s centerpiece, “I Know You Got Soul,” elevates the duo’s approach to high art. Based on Bobby Byrd’s James Brown-produced classic of the same name, it finds Rakim putting self-aggrandizement if not on pause then on par with something equally vital to his artistry, inspiration. Here, he identifies soul as both something he can brag about possessing in abundance, as well as the essence of one’s self esteem. It’s the key to unlocking that which makes him (or anyone, for that matter) special, as detailed in one of his most memorable verses: “I start to think and then I sink / Into the paper like I was ink / When I’m writing I’m trapped in between the lines / I escape when I finish the line / I got soul.” If there’s a more vividly poetic description of the compositional process in popular music, it’s yet to be written. Paid In Full’s creative riches are forever.

Listen to Eric B. and Rakim’s Paid in Full now.