the soloist, the soul controller. you gotta love rakim. if you love hip hop and you love lyrics, rakim's the guy, the legend, the god. in any ranking of best lyricist and mc, rakim is usually the unparalled number one. for me, i first heard him on an nba basketball video. that song was "don't sweat the technique" and while it was the string bass that initially attracted me to the song, rakim's smooth delivery and lyrics soon had me replaying the song over and over. and then i found his other stuff, and i was smitten.



what makes his lyrics so good? it's a number of things -- in fact, everything. his quiet voice, his delivery, his rhythm, his flow, his lyrics, his depth and his use of poetic devices. i'm not expert on poetry but what rakim brought to the hip hop world was new rhyme styles. back in the beginning, rappers were doing "cat, hat, bat" stuff, rhyming the last word of each line. this was effective but it wasn't exactly groundbreaking. rakim did so much but i'm just here to highlight one thing that i've noticed about his lines. they always rhyme the last few syllables, the last few "notes" are always the same. this may not seem all that impressive -- who can't rhyme three syllables right? -- but for rap, this was breaking new ground. you may not be amazed but if you listen to rakim, then you will be amazed to see how much of a difference this one little change makes. everyone does this nowadays so it may not seem fresh or new, but think about when rakim was doing this, this is like technicolor in 1939 wizard of oz stuff.



there's a million reasons i love rakim, this is just one.

i ain't no joke, i used to let the mic smoke

now i slam it when i'm done and make sure it's broke



when i'm gone no one gets on cuz i won't let

nobody press up and mess up the scene i set



i like to stand in a crowd and watch the people won-der damn

but think about it then you'll un-der-stand



i'm just an addict addicted to mu-sic

maybe it's a habit, i gotta use it



even if it's jazz or the qui-et storm

i hook a beat up convert it in a hip-hop form



write a rhyme in graffiti in, every show you see me in

deep concentration cuz i'm no com-e-dian

-eric b and rakim, i ain't no joke-