Rakim On The Breakfast Club

[Supa]

It's in the interview

 

[DMVLeGenD]

@0:29

That was just one line though. He had more bars that I don't know about.

 

[The Ruler 09]

Ra got a book out?

That's the reason he came on the show to promote the book. It's dope.

 

[Threnody]

I took my time while at work and got through the interview real powerful joint na mean?

the part about the prom dress had me dying cause my some similar shyt happened to me and my girl also said fukk it

I always said Ra's reaction to the Nas song was fair....song wasn't all that...and Nas was basically doxxing the God and his fam on some real life "Stan" shyt

 

[King Kai]

 

[Amestafuu (Emeritus)]

I took my time while at work and got through the interview real powerful joint na mean?

the part about the prom dress had me dying cause my some similar shyt happened to me and my girl also said fukk it

I always said Ra's reaction to the Nas song was fair....song wasn't all that...and Nas was basically doxxing the God and his fam on some real life "Stan" shyt

wikipedia was out. you can't doxx someone with public information

apparently paying homage is frowned upon and people don't know what an autobiography is, there's nothing in that song that wouldn't be on vh1 behind the scenes or a biography on film

 

[WesCrook]

Greatest rapper ever!

*remembers when my pops let me use the SAAB. was all up and down Southern Blvd blasting "dont sweat the technique."




BX bytch!!

He even got it cleaned up for you...

 

[NormanConnors]

The goat

 

[Atsym Sknyfs]

Correction. He was accepted into a Pre-Engineering program. His mother was friends with the admissions officer at MIT and they needed black kids. Will’s SAT’s were high enough for him to get in but he never wanted to nor intended on going to college so he didn’t apply.

According to Smith, "My mother, who worked for the School Board of Philadelphia, had a friend who was the admissions officer at MIT. I had pretty high SAT scores and they needed black kids, so I probably could have gotten in. But I had no intention of going to college."

LOL ... had pretty high SAT scores.... LOL... its well documented he got a perfect score 1600...

i dont know why he's downplaying being smart ....

 

[NormanConnors]

I know NYC holds on to dude being the GOAT ...but I've never seen it ....his shyt was always hella boring to me ...in 1987 I was 9 so obviously his stuff didn't appeal to me...but as I got older and went back to listen it still don't hit....to me the best from NYC at that time was LL, KRS, and Kane...plus he didn't last long enough and too many ppl surpassed him quickly.....

and I'm not an NY dude/am a Detroit breh all day

 

[Ziggiy]

1. irrelevant...nas is notoriously reclusive and funny style to people on his own TEAM (nature,quan,cormega,have talked about him flaking on them on projects) he missed scheduled video shoot for song he appeared on with kay slay debut album. So will smith being his label mate would be irrelevant here.
2. will smith jumping on stage during a nas concert in the last 10 years is proof that they are long term fans of each other's music ?
3. This is more like it. You just made the argument for why nas wrote the song. Having arguably the greatest rapper ever there to write/ghostwrite the lead single for a project that you are involved with would be a no-brainer for Stoute.
Chop it up? emphatic now cypher.

The irrelevance is in NOT believing what comes from the horses mouth. Nas says he didn’t write the song. Point blank in his own words.

What I want to know is where is this overwhelmingly universal belief that Will isn’t talented enough to pen his own shyt? Where is the proof? Where are the reference tracks? Where are all these other MC’s coming forward saying they wrote all these Will Smith songs? Will had been rapping for damn near a decade when Summertime came out and its just suddenly OUT of the realm of possibility that he wrote the song? Granted, he bit the F U C K out of Rakim’s flow but Rakim and Eric B both debunked the Ghostwriting accusations YEARS ago.

Also, what type of song is Gettin Jiggy With It supposed to be that Will can’t write it? Its a fun, happy go lucky single in a catalogue chalk FULL of Fresh Prince happy go lucky singles.

 

[Deltron]

who in the fukk would think the God had a ghostwriter?!

 

[get these nets]

The irrelevance is in NOT believing what comes from the horses mouth. Nas says he didn’t write the song. Point blank in his own words.

What I want to know is where is this overwhelmingly universal belief that Will isn’t talented enough to pen his own shyt? Where is the proof? Where are the reference tracks? Where are all these other MC’s coming forward saying they wrote all these Will Smith songs? Will had been rapping for damn near a decade when Summertime came out and its just suddenly OUT of the realm of possibility that he wrote the song? Granted, he bit the F U C K out of Rakim’s flow but Rakim and Eric B both debunked the Ghostwriting accusations YEARS ago.

Also, what type of song is Gettin Jiggy With It supposed to be that Will can’t write it? Its a fun, happy go lucky single in a catalogue chalk FULL of Fresh Prince happy go lucky singles.

3. Having arguably the greatest rapper ever there to write/ghostwrite the lead single for a project that you are involved with would be a no-brainer for Stoute.

I'm focused man, tell Stoute to holla at me man...


cued and watch until 26 minute mark


cliff notes for those who can't watch now

• Steve Stoute, said "we had a couple of people write for Will on the project and I convinced Nas to write some of the lyrics to the "Getting Jiggy with it" song by telling him how lucrative the publishing could be for a Will Smith album"

*I said that your comment about, how they would randomly be in the studio together" because they were label mates" was irrelevant because of Nas' noted behavior towards his own personal friends and protegees .

 

[Pop123]

Is this worth a listen? Ra is the God, but his interviews are kind of boring.

Add him being madd tired on top of him doing dull interviews and that's what this is, lol. I didn't watch the whole thing tho, maybe he livens up a little as they go.

 

[ahdsend]

Rakim: The Cream Interview

As an unknown 18-year-old from Long Island, Rakim turned the music world upside down with his partner Eric B. in 1986. Their debut single “Eric B. is President" and subsequent LP Paid in Full were stylistic and lyrical triumphs. Rakim managed the difficult task of maintaining a calm microphone presence while creating amazing rhymes and phrases in almost magical fashion. Paid in Full remains a hugely influential album, deemed by many critics and fans as one of the best hip-hop albums ever — more than a few call it the best. No one, however, questions Rakim's brilliance as an inventive and inspirational force. The duo went on to influence a host of other rappers before going their separate ways in 1993, then reuniting in 2016.

Rakim's new book Sweat the Technique: Revelations on Creativity From the Lyrical Genius (Amistad) provides fans a rare glimpse into his life and career as well as a look at the thought process behind his exceptional rhymes and lyrics. Rakim has two engagements in Nashville on Sunday, Sept. 29: He’ll be at Parnassus Books at 4 p.m. to sign copies of the book (see Parnassus’ site for details), and he’ll headline Sunday night at Exit/In. (Topflight local rapper Tim Gent opens the concert at 9 p.m. Tickets start at $20 and are available right here.)

Rakim recently answered some questions from the Scene on a variety of topics via email.

Who were some of your early inspirations? What kind of music did you grow up hearing?

There was a constant flow of music at my house growing up. My moms and pops kept the turntable spinning from a collection that ranged from jazz icons like Coltrane and Monk to the R&B, blues and soul of the ’60s and ’70s. There was room for everyone from Sinatra to M.J., Etta to The O'Jays, P.-Funk to Teddy Pendergrass. My aunt Ruth Brown took the stage at The Apollo regularly and my brother Ronnie played keys for Kurtis Blow, so music of all types was with me always.

Did you have any idea that either your career or hip-hop culture in general would ever explode as it has?

Zero. Rapping was just a pastime, something we did at park parties and in the school lunchroom to show each other up a little. It was a side hobby that took a back seat to football for me, and I even refused to sign the first contract with Eric so I could stay college eligible. But by the time a few months to a year passed by, and we started making thousands performing every night, things had obviously changed. I think it hit me stepping off the plane in Japan the first tim,e when the fans couldn't speak any English — but knew every one of my rhymes.

What led you to develop your style on the microphone? It was innovative and extremely different from much of what was happening at the time, and is still quite unique today.

I just felt like doing things differently, and I had that jazz background from band in high school and my brother to fall back on, so I started emulating the flows and syncopation of those greats. On that era, things were already moving along from the standard "Hipp Hippy Hip Hop and Ya Don't Stop" call-and-response, and artists like Run-DMC and Slick Rick were starting to experiment with their own personae. I tried the same thing my own way and I guess it resonated.

How do you feel about thematic developments in rap?

I'd like to see a little more consciousness in lyrics. It cycles around. Ebbs and flows. And the genre could use a little re-injection of it right now. I think some of the newest rap styles are pushing boundaries. Some work, and sometimes they fall flat. But pushing boundaries is at the core of hip-hop, and I'd rather hear something with original thought than a lot of the rap-by-numbers, follow-the-last-hit mentality.

What made you decide to do a memoir at this time?

I think Tracy [Sherrod at Harper Collins] and I were on the same page about what the book should be. Not a straight memoir — a guide to how I write and how other artists can tap into creativity using their own inspirations, observations and experiences. There's been a lot going on in my life over the last few years. I welcomed new additions to the family on one hand, but lost some family and friends on the other. I got back together with Eric B. after decades apart and saw the fans’ positivity and excitement. It just seemed like the right time and the right format to pull back the curtain a little.

Which contemporary rappers do you enjoy today?

I hate making lists. You point out a few people in the moment and questions come up about why you left people off. I'm a fan of rap. I'm a fan of music. If it’s original, conscious, well-produced — I’m bumping it in the crib or car. I can have ’60s reggae playing up next to last weeks R&B release, and there's a lot of new rappers out there who are on the playlist.

What are some things you'd like to do in the future career-wise that you haven't yet done?

[jokingly:] I want to start the first hip-hop landscaping franchise. I like the idea of storytelling in different genres and mediums. I think a lot of my thoughts would translate visually. A musical re-imagination of Follow the Leader is the No. 1 jazz album out right now. Exploring that genre further is interesting. And I'd like to take some of my studio knowledge and make it accessible. I'm pretty sure I will still want to write and spit rhymes until the day I move on. I've got two very different but very solid album concepts I'm kicking around on days off right now, but here's a lot more to accomplish outside of the booth as well.

Are there any artists out there with whom you'd like to collaborate or do joint projects?

I may be working on them already! Can't let the cat of the bag on everything.