Rakim at 15 years old was already ahead of everyone

[DANJ!]

So the facts are a lil' skewed here...

Rakim was born in 1968, and recorded My Melody in '86, which would put him at 18.

But yes, it is an example of why I don't get how people now will be trying to give rappers a pass in their early to mid 20s for not being great... there were numerous rappers who made all time classics when they were barely out of high-school. Hell, some of them had already peaked by the time they were 25 years old.

 

[Rozay Oro]

our lord and savior.

Smh

 

[NYC Rebel]

So the facts are a lil' skewed here...

Rakim was born in 1968, and recorded My Melody in '86, which would put him at 18.

But yes, it is an example of why I don't get how people now will be trying to give rappers a pass in their early to mid 20s for not being great... there were numerous rappers who made all time classics when they were barely out of high-school. Hell, some of them had already peaked by the time they were 25 years old.

The opening lyrics were written in 84.

Same way Prodigy’s second verse in Hell On Earth was penned by him at 17 and later released.

 

[Mike the Executioner]

The opening lyrics were written in 84.

Same way Prodigy’s second verse in Hell On Earth was penned by him at 17 and later released.

Prodigy wrote that verse in high school?

 

[NYC Rebel]

Prodigy wrote that verse in high school?

Yup. It’s on one of the early mixtapes. Flow wasnt nearly as dope as Hell On Earth made it but he wrote that shyt before Infamous dropped.

I still feel its the best bars ever written in hiphop history

 

[Rekkapryde]

1984.....Over a Casio keyboard


Meanwhile, the top hip hop acts at the time were still on some “throw your hands in the air” shyt.

The real god MC.

One of my homeboy's had this poster on his wall at school.

 

[DANJ!]

People tend to be somewhat... I don't wanna say lost, but misinformed when it comes to lyricism and whatnot during that era and I guess some of it is due to lack of context. While it is true that Rakim indeed took lyricism to a new level and not discounting that either, sometimes people act like shyt went from 0 to 100, which isn't exactly the case. Rakim took the lyrical advances that were taking place and elevated them from there. Hip-hop was already out of the Sugarhill/Kurtis Blow style prior to '86. A lot of rappers were still keeping it relatively simple, but by the time "Eric B Is President" and "My Melody" dropped, the bar was being gradually raised by certain records at a steady pace.

"A fight for power, a nuclear shower
A people shout out in the darkest hour
Sights unseen and voices unheard
And finally the bomb gets the last word
Christians killed Muslims and Germans killed Jews
And everybody's bodies are used and abused
Huh, minds are poisoned and souls are polluted
Superiority complex is deep rooted
Leeches and lices, and people got prices
Egomaniacs control the self-righteous
Nothin' is sacred and nothin' is pure
So the revelation of death is our cure
Hitler and Caesar, Custer and Reagan
Napoleon, Castro, Mussolini, and Begin
Genghis Khan and the Shah of Iran
Men spill the blood of the weaker man
The peoples in terror, the leaders made a error
And now they can't even look in the mirror
'Cause we gotta suffer while things get rougher
And that's the reason why we got to get tougher
So learn from the past and work for the future
And don't be a slave to no computer
'Cause the children of Man inherit the land
And the future of the world is in your hands"

- 1984

"The bells make your energy escalate
A sort of musical fury L.L. might detonate
Subject matter entitled "The Bells"
The lyrical arrangement is by L.L
My program strains the tympanic membrane
I've been ordained the BLZ I'll flame
Paragraphs I concoct, Cut Creator's like an organist
Cool J exists as a journalist
I illuminate over any number on the Richter
My throat contracts like a boa constrictor
You're totally engulfed by the structure and the format
It's not dormant, it goes to the cornerman
As you repent, you'll say I win
To torture individuals for excitement
Ambassador, the Thane of Cawdor
Dialect so def, it'll rip up the floor
Ignite and excite with verbal extensions
What I'll mention will put you on pension
Makin' you tremble, nothin' resemble
The bells and if it does, I'll disassemble
Hit if you bit, I go have a fit
The master impresario of lyrical wit
A hip-hop creature, concert feature
Amateur teacher, my rhymes reach ya
When I commence with excellence
It eradicates levels of pestilence
Upon a plateau no mortal can go
Mythological characters stand below
Rock the bells"

- 1985

 

[jensyao]

Nas is a Rakim/Slick Rick/MC Shan stan so by the transitive property, all Nas stans should be Rakim/Slick Rick/MC Shan stans and there should be long ass threads for them on thecoli but that's not the case, smh. the divide and conquer mentality of the industry trying to separate fanbases from liking other artists and marginalizing all talent so they could be divvied up and bought out/consolidated by conglomerates just so that creativity and free speech ends up being stifled from being able to express one's true artform instead of conforming to 'industry standards' and gimmick expectations

Gotta give the people who paved the way their flowers

 

[NYC Rebel]

People tend to be somewhat... I don't wanna say lost, but misinformed when it comes to lyricism and whatnot during that era and I guess some of it is due to lack of context. While it is true that Rakim indeed took lyricism to a new level and not discounting that either, sometimes people act like shyt went from 0 to 100, which isn't exactly the case. Rakim took the lyrical advances that were taking place and elevated them from there. Hip-hop was already out of the Sugarhill/Kurtis Blow style prior to '86. A lot of rappers were still keeping it relatively simple, but by the time "Eric B Is President" and "My Melody" dropped, the bar was being gradually raised by certain records at a steady pace.

"A fight for power, a nuclear shower
A people shout out in the darkest hour
Sights unseen and voices unheard
And finally the bomb gets the last word
Christians killed Muslims and Germans killed Jews
And everybody's bodies are used and abused
Huh, minds are poisoned and souls are polluted
Superiority complex is deep rooted
Leeches and lices, and people got prices
Egomaniacs control the self-righteous
Nothin' is sacred and nothin' is pure
So the revelation of death is our cure
Hitler and Caesar, Custer and Reagan
Napoleon, Castro, Mussolini, and Begin
Genghis Khan and the Shah of Iran
Men spill the blood of the weaker man
The peoples in terror, the leaders made a error
And now they can't even look in the mirror
'Cause we gotta suffer while things get rougher
And that's the reason why we got to get tougher
So learn from the past and work for the future
And don't be a slave to no computer
'Cause the children of Man inherit the land
And the future of the world is in your hands"

- 1984

"The bells make your energy escalate
A sort of musical fury L.L. might detonate
Subject matter entitled "The Bells"
The lyrical arrangement is by L.L
My program strains the tympanic membrane
I've been ordained the BLZ I'll flame
Paragraphs I concoct, Cut Creator's like an organist
Cool J exists as a journalist
I illuminate over any number on the Richter
My throat contracts like a boa constrictor
You're totally engulfed by the structure and the format
It's not dormant, it goes to the cornerman
As you repent, you'll say I win
To torture individuals for excitement
Ambassador, the Thane of Cawdor
Dialect so def, it'll rip up the floor
Ignite and excite with verbal extensions
What I'll mention will put you on pension
Makin' you tremble, nothin' resemble
The bells and if it does, I'll disassemble
Hit if you bit, I go have a fit
The master impresario of lyrical wit
A hip-hop creature, concert feature
Amateur teacher, my rhymes reach ya
When I commence with excellence
It eradicates levels of pestilence
Upon a plateau no mortal can go
Mythological characters stand below
Rock the bells"

- 1985

I get all this… But as a teenager, when all this transpired, no one was touching Rakim’s impact.

Beyond just the lyrical leap, his style represented the seriousness of the burgeoning crack era that was hitting the streets in a major way. Along with the 5% talk we were used to, he had more degrees to him than LL.

Funny how one of his crew robbed LL for his chain.

 

[Rekkapryde]

Funny how one of his crew robbed LL for his chain.

Wait, what?

 

[NYC Rebel]

Wait, what?

When I was in high school in the 80s, all we ever heard my freshman year was how LL got robbed. The original 50 Cent was in Rakim’s crew and was the one who took his chain. Gave the shyt to his daughter.



Hes also on the back of the paid in full album.


Bottom right.

I was legitimately upset finding out Rakim was not from Brooklyn.
He straight up had nothing but Ft. Green goons around him

 

[Rekkapryde]

When I was in high school in the 80s, all we ever heard my freshman year was how LL got robbed. The original 50 Cent was in Rakim’s crew and was the one who took his chain. Gave the shyt to his daughter.



Hes also on the back of the paid in full album.


Bottom right.

I was legitimately upset finding out Rakim was not from Brooklyn.
He straight up had nothing but Ft. Green goons around him

I'll be damned

 

[NYC Rebel]

I'll be damned

I really dont care to listen to most of the heads in here who talk about that era in which they opt in research on it.

Rakim’s lyricism, seriousness, who he was around, 5% talk had him on a level no one else was on at that time.

 

[Rekkapryde]

I really dont care to listen to most of the heads in here who talk about that era in which they opt in research on it.

Rakim’s lyricism, seriousness, who he was around, 5% talk had him on a level no one else was on at that time.

nikkaz changed up the whole way they rhymed after him.

 

[NYC Rebel]

nikkaz changed up the whole way they rhymed after him.

Niqqa…. my mom is not even from this country and was like “that’s the best rapper I have ever heard” when she heard him.

He was an evolutionary leap along the lines of LT. You had to be there to witness it.