From 1987-1992 Eric B. & Rakim released four full length albums that would forever cement them as one of Hip-Hop's most influential and important duos. Since the release of their '86 Zakia Records debut, "Eric B. Is President"/"My Melody" there was a mystery that surrounded them beyond the fact that there was no video for the songs.

Early videos such as "I Ain't No Joke", and "Move The Crowd"provided a small glimpse into who Eric B. and Rakim were. On their first Soul Train appearance, host Don Cornelius was able to get a little more about the duo out of their awkward interview.

"I ain't no joke," Rakim replies when asked why he rarely smiles. "Our image is a strong positive image," Eric B asserts. "I might give you a little smile, but Rakim wont give you none at all." Over the four albums we would get a deeper glimpse into Eric B. & Rakim, as well as a catalog of some of the best music the the genre has to offer.

Check out the reunion of Eric B.& Rakim live at the 2025 Rock The Bells Festival.

Paid In Full - 1987

The hype from "Eric B. Is President"/"My Melody" was still extremely strong when Eric B. & Rakim dropped their debut album, Paid In Full. Kookie Gonzalez, the album's A&R rep explained to Rock The Bells that Paid In Full was extremely rushed.

"The clock was ticking, so Eric & Ra would go into the studio, come back and play some songs for us," he said. "At the time they came back with 'Paid In Full,' 'Move The Crowd' and 'I Ain't No Joke.' At this point I knew that it was time to do the album, and it had become my project. I went to the legal department and told them that we needed to to the album and they checked with the owner, Chris Blackwell, who approved it, and we were ready.

The thing is that the clock was ticking and Rakim is a perfectionist, you don't rush Rakim. But my retail department is beatin' me down asking when the album will be ready, and I have to explain that Ra is still working. It got to the point where we couldn't wait, we had to release the album. Everything about Paid In Full was rushed, even the back of the record cover. There's just a picture of the crew, barely any credits or anything. There was no time."

For a "rushed" project, Paid In Full was perfection. Sure, "Chinese Arithmetic" and "Extended Beat" were filler, but the demand for this album was gargantuan. "Paid In Full", "I Ain't No Joke", "Move The Crowd', "As The Rhyme Goes On", and the groundbreaking "I Know You Got Soul" comprised one of Hip-Hop's greatest releases.

"Me and Eric Sadler (a member of the Bomb Squad production team) heard 'I Know You Got Soul' by Eric B. & Rakim and we said that it was inconceivable that a song could be that good," Public Enemy front man Chuck D told The Foundation in 2012.

"The final straw was when me and Eric Saddler went to Old Westbury College where Kool Moe Dee was still a student and the DJ played 'I Know You Got Soul' five times in a row, and every time he played it, it got better and better. It was the greatest fuckin’ record I ever heard in my life, man. We knew that we had to make a record like that, and we had to use James Brown. The noise was 'The Grunt' by James’ band The J.B’s. The result was 'Rebel Without A Pause.'"

Follow The Leader, 1988

In July of 1988, Eric B. & Rakim released one of their most celebrated albums, Follow The Leader. Rakim had already astounded audiences with his cadence and rhyme structure the year previous with Paid In Full and Follow The Leader was lyrically an extension of Ra's poetic genius.

The album's lead single and video, "Follow The Leader," was musically based on Bob James' "Nautilus," but replayed by Rakim's brother Steve Griffin. Although the "Follow The Leader" had a cosmic feel that was punctuated by Rakim's esoteric verses, the video (which was the first video aired on Yo! MTV Raps) was based on the 1987 mafia movie Untouchables, complete with machine guns, classic cars, clothing and a remake of Robert De Niro's infamous "baseball bat" scene.

Not only did "Follow The Leader" create great anticipation for the upcoming album bearing the same name, it cemented Rakim as one of the best lyricists of his generation, and stands today as a testament to hod God status.

Follow The Leader as an album did not disappoint. The singles released from the project are among not only the best in the genre, but in Rakim's discography. "Microphone Fiend," "The R," and "Follow The Leader" stand out on an album that features Rakim at his lyrical best. Musically, it's more adventurous than any other project in his discography — this is due to his brother's live instrumentation and the creative sampling that stamps the album.

"No Competition" shows Ra flowing confidently over an uptempo beat. He boldly proclaims: "Competition is none/I remain at the top like the sun/ and I burn whoever come/ in my chambers of torture I caught ya/ you shoulda brought ya neighborhood to support ya.'"

"To The Listeners" features a slick Stevie Griffin' bassline over a foundational Headhunters' breakbeat, while Rakim spits in his classic monotone cadence.

"Lyrics Of Fury" is a standout track with its sped up "Funky Drummer" loop combined with Funkadelic's "No Head, No Backstage Pass." The energetic song contains some of Rakim's best lines: "The scene of a crime every night at the show/ the fiend of a rhyme on the mic that you know/ it's only one capable, breaks the unbreakable/ melodies unmakeable, pattern inescapable/ a horn if want the style I possess/ I bless the child, the earth, the gods and bomb the rest/ for those that envy an MC it can be/ hazardous to your health so be friendly/ a matter of life and death, just like a etch-a-sketch/ shake 'til your clear, make it disappear, make the next/ after the ceremony, let the rhyme rest in peace/ if not, my soul'll release."

Eric B's solo cut track, "Eric B Never Scared" is a dope mashup of Bob Marley, The Eagles, and Rakim's classic "Eric B make 'm clap to this" line. "Musical Massacre" and "Put Your Hands Together" round out an album that has aged well after three and a half decades, and is often provided as audio proof for those who maintain that Ra is the best to ever do it.

Let The Rhythm Hit 'Em, 1990

1990's Let The Rhythm Hit 'Em continued Eric and Ra's strangle hold at a time when harder edge music from the west coast was starting to dominate. The album's lead single and title track received a big boost from its action packed video, which saw the duo save the day when they took down a drug dealer as rescued one of his customers.

"In The Ghetto", the album's second single also benefited from its video which featured Ra with dreads. "Mahogany", the tale of Ra finessing a fine female before show time was another hit single from the project, and a fan favorite.

"No Omega", "Step Back", and "Untouchables" complete a solid album in the Eric B. & Rakim discography.

Don't Sweat The Technique, 1992

In June of 1992, Eric B. & Rakim dropped Don't Sweat The Technique, their fourth and final studio album as a duo. Released in the wake of the Gulf War, many of the uptempo songs dealt with the subject of war. Songs like "Know The Ledge" from the Juice soundtrack and "What's On Your Mind" from House Party 2 were released in 1991 and appeared on the album.

The album's title track and lead single "Don't Sweat The Technique" was the perfect introduction to the 12 song project. With its flashy video and horn driven track, "Don't Sweat The Technique" picked up where 1990's Let The Rhythm Hit 'Em left off.

Rakim reminded listeners that he was the God with lines like, "I made my debut in '86 wit a melody and a president's mix/ and now I stay on target and refuse to miss and I still make hits with beats, parties, clubs in the cars and jeeps/ my underground sound vibrates the streets MC's wanna beef then I play for keeps when they sweat the technique."

"Pass The Hand Grenade," "Casualties of War," "Teach The Children," and "The Punisher" were extremely timely with their vivid war themes. On the album's second single "Casualties Of War" Ra spits "President Bush said attack /flashback to Nam, I might not make it back /missile hits the area, screams wake me up from a war of dreams, heat up the M-16 basic training, trained for torture /take no prisoners, and I just caught ya /addicted to murder, send more body bags /they can't identify em, leave the name tags. 

The songs video features Eric B. & Rakim sporting camouflage outfits, standing in a cemetery combined with actual war footage. Many of the tracks on Don't Sweat The Technique are greatly influenced by jazz, featuring upright bass and horn samples and a live drummer feel. Rakim revealed in a podcast with King Crooked that he played drums on Know The Ledge, which contains an upright bass loop. "I played drums on 'Juice (Know The Ledge)'. It was an ill situation they asked if I wanted to see the movie and write a song for it, not the title track," he explains.

"I was going record shopping all the time, and I would put records to the side so I could come back and sample 'em up later," he explained. "I came back home and went to a stack and grabbed a record and no exaggeration, it was the record with the bassline [to 'Juice'], so I sampled it. "I was lookin' for a particular style of drums and I couldn't find it, so I just found a little drum sample that I could put on it to start writing."

Ra says that he was so consumed with writing the song that he never found a permanent drum sample. " I got on the studio and there was a stack of records, but they still didn't have the drums that I needed. So, I looked in the back and asked the engineer to mic up the drum set. I went in and I played the drums on 'Juice'. So whenever you hear 'Juice' and it's rockin, thats ya boy!"

"Relax With Pep", "Keep The Beat", "What's Goin' On, and "Kick Along" round out a proper last album from an iconic duo.