In about eighteen months, Paid In Full will be twenty years old. Twenty years of hip-hop as the pre-eminent cultural form of the young and cool. So what makes Paid In Full so important? Well, if one looks beyond the history and influence of what is certainly the greatest MC/DJ team of all time, what you have is one of the best records ever made in any genre. Paid In Full jumps right out of the box with "I Ain't No Joke," the greatest "I have arrived" rhyme in the history of hip-hop, all built around an incredibly simple and simply perfect back beat. Rakim's MC skills her are absurdly smooth and hypnotic. He's not my favorite MC of all time, but he's probably the best.
"Eric B. is on the Cut" is a stunning piece of almost-instrumental turntable tomfoolery. I like DJ Shadow as much as the next guy, but this piece really begs the question whether his entire career isn't just a follow-up act to a headliner that nobody can touch. Midway through the album comes the first of two songs on which the legend of Eric B. & Rakim is built - "Paid In Full." A quick little spoken introduction announces the song, and then one of the most minimal and memorable pieces of hip-hop production drops. Nothing but a subtle bass line, a simple drum track, and an infrequent, hypnotic, flute loop pulls the song along. At the halfway mark it becomes an exhibition of Eric B.'s scratching skills which is quite instructive.
The other landmark piece is "Eric B. is President," potentially my favorite hip-hop track of all time. When was the last time you heard a straight hip-hop track over six minutes long? Not in a while, and not on this level. It is impossible to explain just how complex and profound this track is - Eric B.'s scratching is relentless, the vocal effects are extraordinary, and Rakim's verse is so complex and well-considered it anticipates the smooth and intellectual flow of GZA. "Eric B. Is President" indeed.
Article comments
1 - zingzing
damn straight. eric b and rakim are two of the best. rakim is absurdly talented.
2 - Mark Sahm
Nice article, Max. How would you compare Paid in Full against Follow The Leader?
3 - Mark Saleski
dang, i don't own this....and as a fan of both DJ Shadow and QBert, i probably should.
scratch on.
4 - Phillip Winn
I haven't heard this record in years. Now I've got to see if I can find the old tape I had of it. If not, well, I note above that it "usually ships in 1 to 2 days."
5 - Mark Sahm
The better question, Phil, is if you still have a tape deck to play the EB&R tape on. I have a deck that I've used twice in 4 years. Wonder if it still works.