Rakim at 15 years old was already ahead of everyone

[Rekkapryde]

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.

 

[NYC Rebel]

I don’t know it’s fun. My mom is a serious music head. She used to take my EPMD strictly business cassette with her to work. I can play a snippet of a song and she would tell you where original beat came from.

 

[Rekkapryde]

I don’t know it’s fun. My mom is a serious music head. She used to take my EPMD strictly business cassette with her to work. I can play a snippet of a song and she would tell you where original beat came from.

that's dope

 

[NYC Rebel]

that's dope

Real talk. I tested my mom on this song.



She was like “oh!! Thats Joe Tex!!”



I literally grew up taking her opinion on hip hop seriously

 

[Rekkapryde]

Real talk. I tested my mom on this song.



She was like “oh!! Thats Joe Tex!!”



I literally grew up taking her opinion on hip hop seriously

sidenote: That first Diamond D album was

 

[The Dust King]

Props x 5

never watched gona peep tonite

 

[DANJ!]

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.

Again, not discounting that at all. I'm fully aware. My post is more in reference to the narrative that goes on sometimes that it was all ABC-123 and nothing had advanced lyrically from the 70s until '86 with Ra.

He absolutely pushed it forward tho', and pushed the bar higher as more new MCs were emerging and hip-hop began to be more competitive in the latter half of the 80s. It's one of my favorite eras for that reason.

 

[Art Barr]

sidenote: That first Diamond D album was

Arguably the best long player classic in hiphop history.
Album lived in my backpack on tape for a decade easy with nonstop playability.





Art Barr

 

[Billy Ocean]

Ra was just so cold. His rhymes, the 5% ideology, his stoic demeanor, his fashion, his street connections...he was the epitome of what an MC should be and look like at that time. He is one of the handful of MCs that TRULY changed the game.

 

[DaMos Supreme]

I wished he did not have that 5 yr hiatus (I know its not completely his fault)

 

[KingsOfKings]

 

[KingsOfKings]

18th letter

 

[Dr. Narcisse]

 

[Dr. Narcisse]

It trips me out that Rakim is only a year older than Jay Z.

 

[Piff Perkins]

Part 1