Rakim coulda been the greatest ever....

[DJMethods]

But he didn't put in enough work after the Eric B era, and missed his chance not releasing an album like this.

You fucked up Rakim, now only true heads will know you existed, the world doesn't know you.

[Tracks]

yea i pretty much agree, still top 5 though.

BUT

his albums still had alot of HEAT on them.

[Shogah]

He was the king in the late 80's and early 90's, but it seems that he got lost in the winds of change. Like he couldn't deal with the new era, and failed to adjust to the new sounds.

[Ghost In The 'Lac]

[YungSunny]

He IS the greatest ever.

[DJMethods]

No, he's really not.

[cap]

haha great video,lmao at these cats teaming up on hamilton

[Ritter]

Rakim is the greatest ever. He released a near classic-classic "18th Letter" and a mediocre-solid "The Master" which only lacked good beats.

But DAMN, Hoodlum is heavy.

[YungSunny]

No, he's really not.

Who is?

[junius]

x

[snakesonawiggly]

Hes the best ever no doubt but if Oh My GOD came out in 04 on Aftermath hed be more known know

[junius]

Are you fucking retarded? Rakim hasn't done SHIT worth listening to in nearly 15 years. Explain that. Likewise, he was NOT a complete mc then, and he fell apart before he had the chance to mature.

We can make a similar case for Big Daddy Kane, although there it was more of a slow fade out.

Rakim is still the great enigma but I'd like to see one person-- stan or foe-- speak the truth about it, even a partial one.

[ALCATRAZ]

2pac > All

[FasterBlade]

he is the GOAT, but the Seventh Seal needs to be very strong. its taken forever with not much in between

cats can sleep on The Master all they want, he was spittin amazing shit on there. just needed some more polished beats

[YungSunny]

COULD HAVE is correct, thank you. I know we love to hate-- myself included-- but I'd still like to know what really happened with R. Face it, there's almost nothing after the Eric B. era that matches those four records. Was it drugs? Depression? Burnout?

A similar thing happened with Kool G. Rap, of course, with "4, 5, 6" being the transition from great artist to tired, self-parodying hack. ("18th Letter" is 3/5, no better, btw.)

KRS-One, by comparison, has always been a GREAT mc, although his albums since the 1990s rarely show it, mostly because he stopped teaching and just kept jabbering about "real" "hip-hop."

Nobody actually listens to the guy anymore (his new stuff, that is) but Guru has a much larger, greater body of work than Rakim, tho' you can't kill those four with Eric B.

What? Funny how those are 3 of my favorite albums right now. (Especially 4, 5 , 6)