I totally begged for the chance to review this disc, but in the days I waited for it to arrive in the mail, I started to panic. What if it wasn't any better than The 18th Letter? That was still pretty damn good, but nowhere near as good as anything he did with Eric B. Was I actually going to have to give a so-so review to Rakim? Well, the answer is no; this is a strong collection of songs that continues the comeback in fine style.
I do have some problems with this album, as an album: too many weak tracks by DJ Clark Kent, (three), too many tracks with Nneaka Morton whoa-whoa-ing aimlessly (one), too many producers. I hate this trend in hip-hop, having a different producer for every track, but no one's exactly busting my door down for advice. I long for the days when a rapper worked with one good producer to create an album that acted like an album; shit, even Marley Marl or someone limited but focused would have worked better than the ten different dudes pulling production credits here. So how about it, Ra? I haven't heard much from Eric B. lately...
And yet there is a unified feel here, provided purely through the timeless voice and matchless thesaurian skills of Rakim. Damn, he's good. This album is an improvement on The 18th Letter, with Rakim stretching himself for perhaps the first time in his career. There are, to be sure, flat-out I'm-the-greatest tracks (I tried to excerpt some lyrics for you, but I wore out my pause function trying to keep up), but that's not the whole story here. There's sexy stuff like "Finest Ones" (which actually shouts out to the fine ladies of different cities of the U.S.! It's so 1988!), silly stuff like the great Rahzel cameo in "It's a Must," and gritty stuff like "Waiting for the World to End," in which Rakim steps outside his own skin to narrate the story of a kid in a broken and wasted world who just might be saved by - what else? - hip-hop music.
This album isn't his best, but Rakim is definitely back in the game, people, and I think he's hungry enough to want to rule again. Get him the right collaborator and he's capable of returning to his throne in glory as the One True Microphone King. That chattering sound you hear? The teeth of every other rapper in the world.
If you like Rakim, check out:
Rakim The Book of Life/The 18th Letter
Eric B. and Rakim Follow the Leader
L.L. Cool J Mama Said Knock You Out
Lauryn Hill The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Big Daddy Kane Long Live the Kane
Nas Illmatic
Dr. Dre Chronic 2001
-- Matt Cibula
