This is a top 5 Rakim joint for me. Yeah, he's not at his lyrical/vocal apex like he was in the 80s, but the beat is so goddamn phenomenal that it carries Ra (and Ra does well on it anyway).
My stans will love this story:
Many of them know me as The Prince of Persia.
The Arabian Nights nikka that talks about hip hop like he's the master (pun intended) yet he only started listening to the genre 5 minutes ago. blah blah blah. I was in Saudi when this song came out. And it was the first Rakim song I ever heard. I had no idea what Rakim looked like - I just assumed he was a random rapper who was killing a Premo beat. It's not until 2002 when Rakim resurfaced on Truth Hurts shyt (big record at the time) that I started hearing about how he was a legendary rapper and all.
It's a superb beat to give to Rakim if you think about it (and certainly the best beat Premo gave Rakim in their entire working relationship). The feel of it is super nostalgic, almost on some childhood fun shyt. Which I'm almost certain was the point. Preem was probably trying to capture that feeling for cats who grew up on Rakim.
For the flabby, was that the feel you got from it?
Before you rush into the thread with the usual tears, just remember that there's nothing cornier than getting angry about a poster's opinion on a forum
