 Today marks the official return of Hip Hop's greatest emcee of alltime-Rakim Allah. His new lp 'The Master' is dope, but I'm unafraid it will be met with little fanfare. This is in spite of it being produced by Hip Hop's dopest producer of alltime -DJ Premier and him keeping his collaborations to a bare minimum. On this new joint only Rahzel, Canibus and Lauryn Hill are allowed mic time. Simply put, a lot of today's Hip Hop record buyers don't really appreciate what 'The R' met to Hip Hop when he first touched down almost 14 years ago back in 1986. His smooth-cold as ice, unhurried rhyme pace revolutionized rap. During that time everyone was shouting and sounding really hyped on the mic. The R came along and changed the tempo. he let you know you could chill and still drop lyrical bombs. Rakim's 'paid in full' lyrics proceeded the 'bling bling', ' I got money, power respect' mentality and lyrics of today. Just look at the back of Rakim's landmark album 'Paid In Full' and tell me how was he and his crew were any different then the Cash Money Click and No Limit Clicks of today? They had as much gold draped around their neck as today's Hip Hoppers have diamonds. The only difference was, Rakim made it sound oh so cool to be materialistic. I'll give Rakim and his than partner Eric B, they were really Hip Hop's first million dollar rappers. When I ran into Eric a while back he broke it down and explained that while other rappers at that time were getting ripped off by ruthless record companies who had no qualms taking advantage of their ignorance, he and R cut a million dollar deal when they left their original label 4th & Broadway and landed on MCA. Eric explained that him and Rakim were straight businessmen and they made it a point to get their piece of the pie. When the R was brought out of retirement and asked to drop 'The 18th Letter'. he got a piece of the pie. he was literally 'brought out' of retirement. I listened to Rakim's last album 'The 18th Letter' and I'm still hard pressed trying to figure out why so many people thought it was weak. To this day I still can't figure out who could match the rhyme style and delivery he executed on a song like ' New York'. I'm still puzzled as to what was wrong with his well put together commercial sounding songs like 'Remember That'. I was talking to some pack back wearing, underground, 'keep it real' type brotha who was trying to run it down to me as to how on his last album, Rakim 'sold out' by going commercial. He kept insisting that 'The R' reverted to making songs for the radio. I thought about it and it didn't make sense because as far back as 'Paid In Full', Rakim had always dropped songs that were regularly played on radio. From 'I Know You Got Soul ' to 'What's On Your Mind' to 'It's Been A Long Time', the R was one of the few emcees who always managed to be in regular rotation. As quiet as kept, he and Eric B were even one of the first along side Run DMC to fuse Hip Hop with rock. Folks may want to listen back to the fancy rock mix they did of the classic single 'Paid In Full'. The name of the song that was used has momentarily slipped my mind. I recall the name Diana being in the title.. I do recall having to play it three times a night when I used to spin at white fraternity gigs up on the UC Berkeley campus. Back then it was one of the few Hip Hop records I could play. It was 'Paid In Full' and 'Walk This Way' and 'Tricky' by Run DMC that would keep the dance floor packed. Even when Rakim did get commercial exposure, it wasn't like you could front and say he was wack, 'cause everyone knew there was no way he could matched on the mic. I mean we're talking about Hip Hop's greatest emcee. Before folks start going off about how real Hip Hop has never been presented to the masses, bear in mind Rakim was there in front of people's faces from day one. Paid In Full was definitely an album that crossed over. The only other emcee who was like R was Biggie. He was a dope emcee who got regular air play and still managed to keep his street creditability. So today when you're in the record store and you see the new lp 'The Master', understand that he's one of the few who can make such claims and live up to it. The album is pretty damn cool. Rakim hasn't really changed, just the way people appreciate or don't appreciate various styles of Hip Hop. My only complaint with 'The R' is he ain't the greatest on stage performer. But there is no one on planet earth from Mos Def on down to Pharaohe Monch on down to Eminem who can match this kid on the mic. Bottom line -He's the true Master.
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