Eric B. & Rakim: Follow the Leader (2LP) [HIP-O]

Why you'll love it

This 180g 2LP set, pressed in the EU, gives the duo's long, loop-driven tracks room across four sides. It's their best-charting album in the US, peaking at No. 22 on the Billboard 200 and No. 7 on the Top Black Albums chart.

This edition

• 2LP set
• 180g vinyl
• Pressed in the EU

About the album

Paid in Full set the bar, and Follow the Leader is Rakim clearing it without breaking stride. The duo left 4th & B'way for Uni Records, an MCA subsidiary, and recorded at Power Play Studios in Long Island City, Queens, producing and arranging it themselves with help from Rakim's brother Stevie Blass Griffin on instruments and engineers Carlton Batts and Patrick Adams.

Four singles came off it. The title track climbed to No. 16 on the Hot Black Singles chart, "Microphone Fiend" rides a heavy, rolling loop, "Lyrics Of Fury" finds Rakim at full speed over breakneck drums, and "The R" is a lean, confident flex. Eric B. gets his own spotlight on "Eric B. Never Scared," and "No Competition" and "Musical Massacre" keep the pressure on, with "Put Your Hands Together" and "Just A Beat" filling out the four sides.

As titles go, Follow the Leader turned out to be sound advice; a good chunk of rap has been doing exactly that ever since.

Also at Kops: more Eric B. & Rakim on vinyl · browse Hip Hop / R&B

Tracklist

Listen

On UNI / Geffen, a reissue of the 1988 album.