thedesolateone
New member
Now, here goes…
You see, there was a time - before Rakim stepped into the scene - that rappers spat in such a regular meter and rhyme scheme, one would almost think they were reciting Dr. Seuss poems. Moreover, the lyrics were so simple in content and structure, usually comprising commonly used words and the bars having little in common with each other. No wonder this form of rapping came to be known later as “A-B-C rhyming.”
Rakim, however, changed all that.
A little-mentioned fact about him is that he was a saxophonist, and he was a pretty good one, too. With time, as he started rhyming, he began to model the sound of his instrument as he heard it in jazz songs. Rather than confine his flow in a meter, he decided to go beyond it, couplets pouring over from one bar to the next (e.g. “I Ain’t No Joke”: “When I'm gone, no one gets on, cause I won't let/Nobody press up, and mess up, the scene I set”). And instead of having just one syllable rhyme within couplet endings, he increased it to two or three, thus inventing the art of multi-syllabic rhyming (e.g. “I Ain’t No Joke”: “I like to stand in the crowd, and watch the people won-der-‘Damn!’/But think about it, then you'll un-der-stand”). Thus not only was he the inventor of the flow, as we call and know it today in hip-hop; he was also the founder of multi-syllabic rhyming.
But no, he didn’t stop there.
He now began to rhyme within couplets, too (e.g. “Microphone Fiend”: “The prescription is a hy-per-tone that's thorough when/I fiend for a mi-cro-phone like heroin!”), thus becoming the inventor of internal rhyming. And he began to speed up his rhyming in a machine gun-like style, setting the precedent for the Rap Golden Age when rappers from that era spat relatively faster than any period before and after (save for a few exceptions, of course, like Bone Thugs ‘n’ Harmony). And whereas his predecessors or his peers rarely, if ever, did so, he began to mess with figures of speech extensively, sharing credit with Kane as a pioneer of the trend. His use of metaphors, similes, puns, alliteration and personification is now legendary – in fact, he still remains the best-rounded rapper ever in this regard.
So with all these innovations that he introduced to the rap game, what happens when they are combined? Simple – the results are deadly:
In this journey, you're the journal, I'm the journalist
Am I Eternal? Or an eternalist?
- “Follow the Leader”
Listening to this guy rap is…I can’t even think of the word to describe it. Jazz-smooth and effortless in delivery, highly articulate and aurally spiritual, Rakim is the all-time standard bearer of the rap game. His contributions to the art of rapping were not evolutionary; they were revolutionary. With 1987’s Paid in Full, he did not improve on the system; he got rid of it and established his, and no one has dared topple it since. Almost overnight, rap acts like Melle Mel, Kurtis Blow and even Run-D.M.C. became “old school,” sounding so primitive next to the then-twenty one-year old rhyme innovator.
Rakim’s subsequent albums solidified his regime as the emcee to follow as far as lyric construction is concerned, the most basic standard being the flow and the bi-syllable. Rakim’s template is still the one that all emcees afterward - including the ones during his time – have built upon. Some decided to concentrate on certain aspects. Kool G. Rap, and later Big Pun, improved on the internal rhyming. Busta Rhymes, Twista and Bone Thugs sped up rapping even further. Eminem focused more on assonance. Artists like Big L used the figures of speech to become punchline kings. In general, every rapper post-Paid in Full – and yes, that includes the rest of the guys in my Top 10 list - has followed Ra’s blueprint.
For all you doubters out there, do you now know why he is referred to as the “God Emcee”?
That is why, in comparison to the work of rappers prior to – or even during – the time of his debut, Rakim’s Golden Age albums never sound dated from a lyrical standpoint – not at all. They still sound fresh several years after they were released. And that’s why, even at the “advanced” age of 38, he can still hang with the young’uns or the more recent emcees on the lyrical tip and wax their a*sses. Listen to “The Watcher 2,” for example, where Rakim totally outguns Jay-Z. In fact, I am yet to hear a song in which Rakim guest raps that he does not outshine the main event. Yep, this guy is the true definition of timeless. Peep mcheadcase’s account of a recent concert he did in North Carolina as further proof of people’s veneration of him.
I’m constantly wringing my hands in anticipation of his seventh album – the aptly-titled The Seventh Seal – which should be out hopefully by next year. But ultimately I really think it matters little at this point if he releases another album or not. His legacy is set in stone; his mark on hip-hop history is indelible. What more people – most especially these MTV-worshipping cats - need to do is to either get schooled, or school themselves, on his legend and discover what the fuss is all about concerning this guy. And I hope my essay – indeed, this entire series – becomes an incentive to do so. Funny enough, Rakim has never overtly boasted of his status. But then again, he once quietly said in Let the Rhythm Hit ‘Em’s “Set ‘Em Straight”: “There's one thing I don't like - it's the spotlight…’cause I already got light.” True dat – twenty years after he entered the game, everyone is still, as he would put it, following the leader.
So, ladies and gents, do the knowledge. Rakim – not Eminem, or Biggie, or ‘Pac, or LL, or Jay-Z, or Nas, or Kane, or Cube, or KRS-One, or anyone else for that matter - is the one deserving of being crowned as the Greatest Of All Time – he is, truly, the G.O.A.T.
You see, there was a time - before Rakim stepped into the scene - that rappers spat in such a regular meter and rhyme scheme, one would almost think they were reciting Dr. Seuss poems. Moreover, the lyrics were so simple in content and structure, usually comprising commonly used words and the bars having little in common with each other. No wonder this form of rapping came to be known later as “A-B-C rhyming.”
Rakim, however, changed all that.
A little-mentioned fact about him is that he was a saxophonist, and he was a pretty good one, too. With time, as he started rhyming, he began to model the sound of his instrument as he heard it in jazz songs. Rather than confine his flow in a meter, he decided to go beyond it, couplets pouring over from one bar to the next (e.g. “I Ain’t No Joke”: “When I'm gone, no one gets on, cause I won't let/Nobody press up, and mess up, the scene I set”). And instead of having just one syllable rhyme within couplet endings, he increased it to two or three, thus inventing the art of multi-syllabic rhyming (e.g. “I Ain’t No Joke”: “I like to stand in the crowd, and watch the people won-der-‘Damn!’/But think about it, then you'll un-der-stand”). Thus not only was he the inventor of the flow, as we call and know it today in hip-hop; he was also the founder of multi-syllabic rhyming.
But no, he didn’t stop there.
He now began to rhyme within couplets, too (e.g. “Microphone Fiend”: “The prescription is a hy-per-tone that's thorough when/I fiend for a mi-cro-phone like heroin!”), thus becoming the inventor of internal rhyming. And he began to speed up his rhyming in a machine gun-like style, setting the precedent for the Rap Golden Age when rappers from that era spat relatively faster than any period before and after (save for a few exceptions, of course, like Bone Thugs ‘n’ Harmony). And whereas his predecessors or his peers rarely, if ever, did so, he began to mess with figures of speech extensively, sharing credit with Kane as a pioneer of the trend. His use of metaphors, similes, puns, alliteration and personification is now legendary – in fact, he still remains the best-rounded rapper ever in this regard.
So with all these innovations that he introduced to the rap game, what happens when they are combined? Simple – the results are deadly:
In this journey, you're the journal, I'm the journalist
Am I Eternal? Or an eternalist?
- “Follow the Leader”
Listening to this guy rap is…I can’t even think of the word to describe it. Jazz-smooth and effortless in delivery, highly articulate and aurally spiritual, Rakim is the all-time standard bearer of the rap game. His contributions to the art of rapping were not evolutionary; they were revolutionary. With 1987’s Paid in Full, he did not improve on the system; he got rid of it and established his, and no one has dared topple it since. Almost overnight, rap acts like Melle Mel, Kurtis Blow and even Run-D.M.C. became “old school,” sounding so primitive next to the then-twenty one-year old rhyme innovator.
Rakim’s subsequent albums solidified his regime as the emcee to follow as far as lyric construction is concerned, the most basic standard being the flow and the bi-syllable. Rakim’s template is still the one that all emcees afterward - including the ones during his time – have built upon. Some decided to concentrate on certain aspects. Kool G. Rap, and later Big Pun, improved on the internal rhyming. Busta Rhymes, Twista and Bone Thugs sped up rapping even further. Eminem focused more on assonance. Artists like Big L used the figures of speech to become punchline kings. In general, every rapper post-Paid in Full – and yes, that includes the rest of the guys in my Top 10 list - has followed Ra’s blueprint.
For all you doubters out there, do you now know why he is referred to as the “God Emcee”?
That is why, in comparison to the work of rappers prior to – or even during – the time of his debut, Rakim’s Golden Age albums never sound dated from a lyrical standpoint – not at all. They still sound fresh several years after they were released. And that’s why, even at the “advanced” age of 38, he can still hang with the young’uns or the more recent emcees on the lyrical tip and wax their a*sses. Listen to “The Watcher 2,” for example, where Rakim totally outguns Jay-Z. In fact, I am yet to hear a song in which Rakim guest raps that he does not outshine the main event. Yep, this guy is the true definition of timeless. Peep mcheadcase’s account of a recent concert he did in North Carolina as further proof of people’s veneration of him.
I’m constantly wringing my hands in anticipation of his seventh album – the aptly-titled The Seventh Seal – which should be out hopefully by next year. But ultimately I really think it matters little at this point if he releases another album or not. His legacy is set in stone; his mark on hip-hop history is indelible. What more people – most especially these MTV-worshipping cats - need to do is to either get schooled, or school themselves, on his legend and discover what the fuss is all about concerning this guy. And I hope my essay – indeed, this entire series – becomes an incentive to do so. Funny enough, Rakim has never overtly boasted of his status. But then again, he once quietly said in Let the Rhythm Hit ‘Em’s “Set ‘Em Straight”: “There's one thing I don't like - it's the spotlight…’cause I already got light.” True dat – twenty years after he entered the game, everyone is still, as he would put it, following the leader.
So, ladies and gents, do the knowledge. Rakim – not Eminem, or Biggie, or ‘Pac, or LL, or Jay-Z, or Nas, or Kane, or Cube, or KRS-One, or anyone else for that matter - is the one deserving of being crowned as the Greatest Of All Time – he is, truly, the G.O.A.T.
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