Paid in Full is the debut studio album by American hip hop duo Eric B. & Rakim, released on July 7, 1987, by Island-subsidiary label 4th & B'way Records. The duo recorded the album at hip-hop producer Marley Marl's home studio and Power Play Studios in New York City, following Rakim's response to Eric B.'s search for a rapper to complement his disc jockey work in 1985. The album peaked at No. 58 on the Billboard 200 chart, No. 8 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and produced five singles: "Eric B. Is President", "I Ain't No Joke", "I Know You Got Soul", "Move the Crowd", and "Paid in Full". Paid in Full is credited as a benchmark album of golden age hip-hop. Rakim's rapping, which pioneered the use of internal rhymes in hip-hop, set a higher standard of lyricism in the genre and served as a template for future rappers. The album's heavy sampling by Eric B. became influential in hip-hop production. The record has sold over a million copies and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified it platinum in 1995. In 2020, the album was ranked number 61 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".
There's some cool stuff in here, I particularly enjoyed Extended Beat along with the first track and the title track. "I hold the microphone like a grudge" is a great line. I'm not versed enough to understand the landmark status this album appears to have in the genre. Without that knowledge I can just rate it "pretty cool". 3.5 rounding up on faith.
How was this not in the original list? era and genre defining and setting the standard for all who follow. How did they leave us without a dope beat to step to?
Two of the best to ever do it
I do love it when I hear an album that's been recommended here, and realise that "Hey, this is where that thing I absolutely love is sampled from!" - and in this case it's "I Know You Got Soul" - which was sampled by DJ Steve Thorpe in his mix "blow the speaker". Steve Thorpe was resident in the breaks room at Tangled - one of Manchester's longest running club nights, and to this day I think that "blow the speaker" is one of the best DJ sets I've come across - you can find it on his SoundCloud and I suggest you do. To hear it here in presumably its original form is quite, quite wonderful. But - that's a distraction from talking about the actual album at hand, which is also wonderful. The flows are tight, the beats minimalist - dry but catchy. The scratching is accomplished. You'll spot things throughout this that became hip-hop staples, and that's just great. Great suggestion - and one I'd argue should be in the main list. Punt out a valueless Dylan album, for sure.
Ridiculous to think that this wasn’t on the list proper. If there ever was a classic rap album, this is it! The beats haven’t yet caught up to Rakim’s futuristic rhyming sense by this point, but the rapping is more than enough to carry the lp.
Paid in Full was huge when I lived in the Netherlands. The rest I didn't know. It's good old school hip hop. I really enjoyed it.
Cool beats. 4/5 Great addition to the list.
This kind of thing is bordering on classical music by now. Not much for me to say, pretty foundational material of a significant stylistic shift in hip hop.
Solid
About to get my money up
Feels kinda flat overall – the instrumentals feel repetitive, and neither MC seems jazzed to be performing. Some interesting samples here and there, but nothing to write home about.