Combat Jack Eric B. interview: Scars still cut deep with Rakim
- Thread starter Mr. Met
- Start date
WTF. In the interview he made it out like he's fucking Macguyer with equipment.....lmbao!
lol.. i was just starting to sit down.... where's that "can I please have some more" pic
I hear Yall. and I know my the fam like vandamation ain't never lied and shit. But my question has always been why wasn't rakim's records without Eric b as hot as those with Eric b if Eric wasn't doing shit as peeps say? Not to take anything away from him wanting to go in a new direction or whatever, but shit just wasn't as magical as those Eric & Ra records, and certainly no where near as successful either. Mind you i suppose the same can be said for Eric b's output after the split.
What pisses me off is that fact that Eric acts like Large and Nas were just hanging out at their sessions. The reality was engineers like Eli Toborg... Ivan DOC Rodriguez... who helped produced their 2nd album would not work with them because Eric took credit for shit he didnt do.... Here's something to think about...How come Marley Marl NEVER WORKED WITH THEM AGAIN AFTER ERIC B FOR PRESIDENT AND MY MELODY? There's a reason why that happen. Large SAVED THAT ALBUM and those dudes shitted on him. But niggas wanna talk that fake tribalistic muslim shit. Muthafuckas were black devils. That's why till this very day, I cringe whenever I hear Rakim talk that righteous bullshit. And lastly... All that you was gonna knock somebody's head off... That's strange because I was at the Apollo that night and all Eric did was stare at niggas. Fox was fronting like he wanted to fight but Eric never said nothing or did nothing. He also was fronting when he talks about his interaction with Nas. Eric told Large that Nas was wack...on NUMEROUS OCCASIONS. The thing is... His own peoples... Like Fed D...Supreme... Sha... G RAP...were all like,' Nah... You bugging... That kid is nice.' Rakim barely even knew who Nas was. Rakim barely came to the studio back then. I was at damn near every session for a year and some change and Rakim may have come to 5 or 6 sessions in that time. I've said it before and I will say it again... The REALEST GUY at that time...The one person who would look out for us at that time was KOOL G RAP. I HAVE SOOOOO MUCH RESPECT FOR THAT DUDE because he was the person who never fronted on anybody. He was the guy who would make sure Large and Nas were straight. G RAP always told the truth about Large doing his album.
yo @vandamation ..please keep dropping the gems...
It was magical because of the people who worked with them. Eli Toborg is official.... Ivan Doc Rodriguez is offical... Marley Marl...Large Professor... These are wizards behind the magic. If Eric was such profilic producer, then where's the music beyond ERIC B AND RAKIM? What has Eric done after he and Rakim?
Eli has worked with too many artist to name...Doc was KRSONE's DJ and an engineer and producer.... And Large and Marley speak for themselves. If Eric was that guy then where's music outside of your group?
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Exactly. I hear you fam. So really Eric b and rakim was a whole group of talented cats and one dope ass rapper.It was magical because of the people who worked with them. Eli Toborg is official.... Ivan Doc Rodriguez is offical... Marley Marl...Large Professor... These are wizards behind the magic. If Eric was such profilic producer, then where's the music beyond ERIC B AND RAKIM? What has Eric done after he and Rakim?
Oh shit. Vandamation make this interview seem like the bizarro version of events.....lol.
I'm surprised Foxx didn't show at the Apollo so this kinda takes away from the mystique of the PIF posse legend.
Also I didn't know that he and G Rap were actually related which put a whole spin on the rumor of Eric running him out of NY.
On Rakim and the righteous shit, let's face it most of those niggas were fronting with that shit i.e. Pimp Daddy Kane...lmbao!
As for Ten, to be fair Rakim had a few bangers post Rakim. Where's Eric's production catalogue post the group?
I'm surprised Foxx didn't show at the Apollo so this kinda takes away from the mystique of the PIF posse legend.
Also I didn't know that he and G Rap were actually related which put a whole spin on the rumor of Eric running him out of NY.
On Rakim and the righteous shit, let's face it most of those niggas were fronting with that shit i.e. Pimp Daddy Kane...lmbao!
As for Ten, to be fair Rakim had a few bangers post Rakim. Where's Eric's production catalogue post the group?
It was magical because of the people who worked with them. Eli Toborg is official.... Ivan Doc Rodriguez is offical... Marley Marl...Large Professor... These are wizards behind the magic. If Eric was such profilic producer, then where's the music beyond ERIC B AND RAKIM? What has Eric done after he and Rakim?
Glad you alright out here fam. Hope everything is good with you.
Who was the glue in the camp that kept everything stable? Was it g rap?
Would you be open to doing an interview with me?
Yeah... I'll do it. Hit me up in my inbox...there were a few glue guys... Federal D was one...My homeboy, Joe Fatal was definitely one...probably those 2 guys more than anybody else. They did a lot to keep things together.
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Eric and G Rap are NOT BLOOD RELATED. G Rap and Eric were super tight. So much that they consider each other family.... BUT... SOME SHIT WENT DOWN... And that shit is over. And yes.. G Rap basically booked out of NY over something that happened with associates of Eric. Eric has no catalog outside of him and Rakim.
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Eric B. and Rakim were more than a rapper and DJ duo, they were hip hop innovators. Widely known as the most influential DJ/MC duo not only in the history of hip hop but in pop music, Eric B. and Rakim helped usher in a new era of the sound by combining the minimalized beat that Run-D.M.C. was famous for with clever, methodical lyrics, and for a time in the late '80s until their breakup in the early '90s, very few hip hop acts could touch this duo.
The origins of the duo lie in Elmhurst, Queens, and it was here that a boy name Eric Barrier would develop a love for music. Throughout his high school years, Barrier learned how to play the trumpet and drums, but after he graduated, he began to learn how to work the turntables.
Calling himself “Eric. B,” it didn’t take much time for him to gain notoriety in the New York area, and in 1985 he was offered a DJing gig at legendary New York City hip hop station WBLS. It was here where he met Alvin Toney, a Queens music promoter, and Barrier hooked up with Toney to search for MCs to rap over his beats.
Originally, they zeroed in on Freddie Foxxx, an MC from Long Island, and when Barrier went to visit Foxxx, he wasn’t home. So, with Foxxx scratched out, they went with their second choice: William Griffin, better known as Rakim.
Rakim was also into music as a teenager, but instead of playing instruments, he wrote rhymes. He took his name from the Nation of Gods and Earth, and in 1986, Barrie and Rakim decided to record material together under the name Eric B. and Rakim. The man that made it happen was New York City hip hop legend Marley Marl, and the first single that the duo would record was “Eric. B is President.”
Using the break from Fonda Rea’s 1982 hit “Over Like a Fat Rat,” the single became an underground sensation in the New York area and it lead them to score a record deal with 4th and Broadway/Island Records, a subsidiary of MCA Records at the time.
In 1987, the single was included in their debut album Paid In Full, an album that was unlike any other at the time, both sonically and lyrically. On the sound side, the duo took the minimalized beat that fans had gravitated to at the time and smooth it out, and lyrically, Rakim didn’t boastfully spit out his cleverly written rhymes, but instead got his point across using a smoother, softer tenor that still went hard. Fans ate up Paid in Full, and by the end of the year, the LP was sitting in the top ten of the R&B/Hip Hop album charts.
Wasting little time in capitalizing on the success of Paid in Full, Eric B. and Rakim released Follow the Leader the very next year, and it was an even stronger album than Paid in Full. Follow the Leader became their highest-charting album on the pop side, going to number seven, and going one spot higher on the R&B/Hip Hop side (No.7, Paid in Full went to No. 8).
Thanks to their two huge albums, Eric B. and Rakim found themselves near the top of the hip hop world. In 1989, they teamed up with Jody Watley on her top ten hit “Friends,” but when it came to collaborating with other rappers, it was a no-go for the duo.
In 1990, fellow New York City MC KRS-One, who was enjoying his own success at the time, gathered other hip hop MCs in the area to put together a single to support his Stop the Violence Movement. Eric B. and Rakim were the only ones absent from the single, “Self-Destruction,” but years later, Rakim told HalftimeOnline.net that KRS didn’t even contact the duo to be on the single, feeling like they carried the negative image he was trying to speak out against.
Nevertheless, it didn’t stop their commercial winning streak, and that same year they released Let the Rhythm Hit ‘Em to critical acclaim. Commercially, it was a minor setback as it narrowly reached the top ten of the R&B/Hip Hop album charts and only went to number 32 on the pop side, but it was hailed as one of the best hip hop albums ever made, and it also was the first album to receive a “5 Mic” rating from The Source magazine.
In 1991, they appeared on the House Party 2 and Juice soundtracks, and the next year, they released their fourth album,Don’t Sweat the Technique, that was both a commercial and critical success. But that same year, both Eric B and Rakim expressed an interest in recording solo LPs, but in order for them to do it, the two of them would have had to sign a clause that would release them from their original deal with MCA.
Fearing that Rakim would abandon him, Eric B. refused to sign the clause and this would lead to Rakim taking Eric and MCA to court over the release clause in 1993. But instead of finding a resolution between the two, the court case wound up dissolving the duo.
In the aftermath of their breakup, Eric B released a solo album in 1995, but legal woes held up Rakim’s solo debut until 1997. Although they went their separate ways creatively, Eric. B and Rakim are still friends today, and in 2011, they were announced as finalist to be inducted into Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, which is much deserving because hip hop would not be where it is today if they sweated the technique.
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yeah he had a few dope tracks, matter of fact I used to promote them back them for the labels.
as for eric's stuff all I know was I didn't like his solo album or the craig mack album he did post badboy.
Vandamation is 100% correct.. Dude I have to know you..lol... I'm sure of it..
And foxx and g.rap were the coolest dudes out them all..foxx used to drop jewels on me all the time..and g.rap used to drop hoes on me all the time..lol.. Me and g.raps cousin pop were running wild on northern blvd.. Most or Erics people came out of fort Greene..puzzle(r.I.p) black..preme..etc..sha was a couple years older than me.. We were all on 97th street..96th street..24th ave.. I remember we had a party in Eric's back yard one night and shit popped off..man dudes were pulling out guns and getting they shit took ...foxx almost shot me running up out that dark as alley way between Eric's house.. Man those were the days..
Shout out to ..nyquil..pop..don.._Paul..r.I.p no teeth tone..F... B.b and the bomb building squad..
Dudes slept on the Hurst but we have more artist that blew than any other queens neighborhood besides Jamaica..
And foxx and g.rap were the coolest dudes out them all..foxx used to drop jewels on me all the time..and g.rap used to drop hoes on me all the time..lol.. Me and g.raps cousin pop were running wild on northern blvd.. Most or Erics people came out of fort Greene..puzzle(r.I.p) black..preme..etc..sha was a couple years older than me.. We were all on 97th street..96th street..24th ave.. I remember we had a party in Eric's back yard one night and shit popped off..man dudes were pulling out guns and getting they shit took ...foxx almost shot me running up out that dark as alley way between Eric's house.. Man those were the days..
Shout out to ..nyquil..pop..don.._Paul..r.I.p no teeth tone..F... B.b and the bomb building squad..
Dudes slept on the Hurst but we have more artist that blew than any other queens neighborhood besides Jamaica..
Oh and my man effrom used to do some scratches on the album too..he was Eric's neighbor like 15..preme cause us our first drum machine..me and e were the team..EFF on the cut I was on the raps..lol they had me battling niggas in from Eric's house one day..saladeen came with his damn rhyme book and I still ate em..lol
Same shit I heard. And the few times we were on tour with Kool G, that cat was one of the real ones. No fronting, but everyone knew he was the best MC on stage.
OK... Im from flushing but I hung out in the Hurst and Corona all of the time. I remember Eff... He was younger though. I knew Nyquil... Basically... I was with Fatal and Large. And you know like I know.... Paid inFull Posse had 2 sides... The music side and that "other" side. We strictly stayed on the music side... But... I'm sure you've seen me in the Hurst before.
That lawsuit definitely killed Rakim's momentum. It felt like forever between Don't Sweat The Technique and The 18th Letter releases.
Shoutout to @vandamation and @380snubnose for the knowledge. I love Hip Hop.
Vandamation if u know EFF and nyq..then u definitely know me.. I lived right across the street from nyq..I used to be in the bland also... Anyway..big up to you..old head..lol
What country was that video made in?
all that nigga can do is play a record...
It was magical because of the people who worked with them. Eli Toborg is official.... Ivan Doc Rodriguez is offical... Marley Marl...Large Professor... These are wizards behind the magic. If Eric was such profilic producer, then where's the music beyond ERIC B AND RAKIM? What has Eric done after he and Rakim?
Bong
Yeah some of the stuff he said didn't add up at all.
I never heard this Rakim/Eric B and Nas mentor type stuff.
When he came at Extra P and Marley like he was angry that shocked me. It's like he really wants full 50% credit for Eric B and Rakim, and doesn't want them to get any. I mean how can you shit on Marley and Large Professor? That's like dissing Pete Rock and Premier. Because it has your name and because you paid him upfront doesn't mean he didn't produce the song.
Then he went in to the George Bush shit and he had more black people on his cabinet bullshit. That shit right there set my spidey senses off. And I hate when dudes do the, if he has a problem he can speak to me bullshit, because you can do the same fucking thing
I could have sworn at one point he sort of dissed Jazzy Jeff or other DJ's. I forgot what he said. But I said Jazzy Jeff? Really? The God DJ?
You really seeming sort of bitter.
Word. Those guys works speak for themselves. I think alot of artists from back in the day got engineering confused with production. Just because you pick the loops and bring them to the engineer to chop and arrange doesn't make you the sole producer. The engineer should be credited as a co-producer unless y0u tell him/her absolutely everything to do with the samples. The Quincy Jones analogy he used is way different. Writing music from scratch with no prior compositions is totally different.
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