Rakim – Welcome to infinitefreetime dot com

Today was a Tuesday, in case you were wondering. I don’t know what it is about Tuesdays. But today was definitely a Tuesday. I think I need a T-shirt or something.

At any rate, on the way home from work the following two songs flashed into my head. I still have every syllable of both songs memorized. I probably haven’t listened to the Kool Moe Dee song in the larger part of a decade. It’s really weird how the music that you were listening to when you were in middle school and high school sticks with you forever.

Or maybe it’s not, I dunno. It’s not like I’m not still listening to the same stuff. 🙂 At any rate, enjoy some old-school hiphop while I go to bed early and try to recharge enough to make it through Wednesday.

Artist: Eric B. & Rakim
Best Album: Paid In Full
Best Song: Let the Rhythm Hit ‘Em

Why I’m Writing About This Artist: I’ve said before that the easiest way to see how influential a rap artist is is to check and see how often their lyrics are quoted or sampled by future artists. By that standard Eric B. & Rakim are the most influential rap duo of all time. Virtually every single line of Paid in Full has been turned into a hook or repurposed by someone. Rakim is one of the greatest lyricists in the history of rap, period. This was another “No way to leave them out” group. Go ahead, give the couple of videos here a listen and see how much of it sounds familiar already. It won’t be hard.

Have a video!: