Released in 1987, "Paid in Full" is the debut album from the legendary Hip Hop duo, Eric B. & Rakim. Until recently, when I educated myself on this musical genre, and the progression which it had made over the years, I knew very little about this pair, other than hearing one of the tracks from this album, "I Know You Got Soul", on a couple of occassions, but I beleive that after hearing the whole album through, you understand its signficance for Hip Hop, and why it should be called a classic record.
The rapper, Rakim, and DJ, Eric B. were groundbreaking in what they presented with this album, and their partnership effortlessly combines great production (consisting mainly of Soul and Funk samples), and amazingly complex lyrics.
1. "I Ain't No Joke"
Here's a huge way to kick the album off as it begins with such a quality tune, in order to give you a strong impression of where Eric B. & Rakim will take you through these ten tracks. You have it open with some inviting horns with a funky drum sample, from here you have Rakim as always with his hard rhymes, contrasting heavily from his smooth voice. The content of Rakim's rpas are also quite good at introducing the pair as fresh on the scene.
**Five Stars**
2. "Eric B. Is on the Cut"
In order to show balance in the duo, this track has Eric B. on his own displaying all
his talent at DJing for this four-minute-long track. It is a great showcase of what he is capable of, as well as what trends were fashionable at the time, as this type of thing could never return to mainstream Hip Hop records. Although I'm aware that what he does would be average now, at this time, 1987, it was quite groundbreaking, and the way in which he mixes the scratches and cuts, with a little transforming was completely original then.
**Four Stars**
3. "My Melody"
After a couple of tracks which I would consider to be quite clean, a different side is exposed as Rakim is given some hard, pounding beats by Marley Marl (who had temporarily taken over Eric B.'s role), and with this, you here a much darker side to him as he rip the mic(rophone) apart with unpredictable complexity in his well-written rhymes.
**Five Stars**
4. "I Know You Got Soul"
This was the first track which I heard from the pair, and to be honest, the first time I listened to it, I didnt think much of it. However, once you consider it in comparison to what was avaliable at the time, it was far ahead of its time. Once I realised how much had gone into it with the integration of Hip Hop's roots with some James Brown Funk samples, as well as traditional rap of the time, it reinforces the way which I always thought about Eric B. & Rakim; they knew about were the genre would go in the future, and the progression it would make as it went back to play with old material in modern ways.
**Five Stars**
5. "Move the Crowd"
Things seem to change here as Eric B. comes with a differnt kind of mash-up when he combines some Funk jams with some Old School tunes, coming out with something which just screamed the eighties, it doesn't matter what genre you listened to during this decade, this type of sound could be heard throughout the musical spectrum. Although, I wouldn't say that it was the best, it certainly showed something new from the production of Eric B., and allowed for some relaxed rhymes from Rakim, as he mostly let B scratch through the tune.
**Five Stars**
6. "Paid in Full"
The beat for this is one of the best creations Hip Hop has ever come across, giving it good reason to be countlessly sampled over the years by various names in rap. (However to those less familiar with this genre, the recent "Girls Around The World" song by the R&B singer Lloyd also uses the funky rhythm too. The track is also where Rakim's well-known phrase "Thinkin' up a master plan" was first implemented as Rakim showed how naturally he could mess around with the avaliable beat, coming out with interseting word-play and internal rhyme completely out of the blue.
**Five Stars**
7. "As the Rhyme Goes On"
This is an incredible tune from the pair and it shows that together they are capable of so much quality, and so with a deep riff by Genesis running through the track, Rakim is inspired and comes with the most smooth, and natural, yet highly sophisticated lyricism.
When you little to Old School albums such as this, you tend to find where newer artists have taken little things from the music which they grew up on. Here I noticed Rakim saying "I'm the R-A to the K-I-M, if I wasn't then why would I say I am", which Eminem took for "I Am".
**Five Stars**
8. "Chinese Arithmetic"
Eric B changes things up here as he decides to opt for an original composition rather than one which is based upon an array of sampled beats from tthe past. In order to truely display it's originality, he also chooses to go for some Chinese-insipired beats. This innovative trvckhas him go all-out in showing that he is able to cope without the aid of popular Funk tracks, but it didn't really have that much power without them.
**Four Stars**
9. "Eric B. Is President"
Here's another of the well-known tracks from the album, as it was one of four to be released as a single. This one is the second and final from the album which didn't feature Eric B. at all, instead Marley Marl took over with the beats, and came with one of the best rhythms which comes out of this record. You may know it more by the name, "Make 'Em Clap To This",as phrase is used extensively thorugh the track in a track which appreicates the roles of DJs with a big mix of Funk from back in the day when Hip Hop was born
**Five Stars**
10. "Extended Beat"
To end the album off we have a little outro to the album with the beat from "Move the Crowd" being played a slightly cut by Eric B. just to give you something to remember the album for. I think that although it didn't really sum up the album, it does give you a summary of the era, in the mid-nineties and the sounds of music as a whole in this time.
**Four Stars**
Although most ratings which MTV make come up with controvercial results, having this named as the #1 of the Greatest Hip-Hop Albums of All Time, is definately correct for it. This was a groundbreaking album, and the influence which it has had upon the music which directly followed on from it, and more recently, the retro revivals with acts such as The Cool Kids, Lupe Fiasco and Kanye West is incredible. The album is quality from start to finish, and not too many album can boast this.
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Paid in Full is a debut album that is basically a collection of early singles ("Eric B. Is ... more
President", "I Know You Got Soul", the title track), is the motherlode of late-1980s New York rap--assured, serious, and hugely influential. Rakim, a rapper's ra...
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