Let the Rhythm Hit 'Em (MCA, 1990) by Eric B. & Rakim

Lyrically, of course, Rakim delivers.  And as far as the beats, Eric B. brings the goods.  However, i don't feel that this album is quite as good as the previous two albums from the duo.  It doesn't show much growth from the earlier work.  The title track, "In the Ghetto," and "Mahogany" are all classics, but the bragging about mic skills throughout most of the LP have been heard before.  In Rakim's case, it's pretty much true.  Yet, it does seemingly limit the album's potential.  Fortunately, it was all made up for on Eric B. and Rakim's next and final release, Don't Sweat the Technique.

Don't Sweat the Technique (MCA, 1992) by Eric B. & Rakim

"Dangerous rhymes (are) performed like surgery/Cuts so deep you'll be bleeding burgundy/My intellect wrecks and disconnects your cerebral cortex,your cerebellum is next/Your conscience becomes sub-conscious,soon your response is nonsense/The last words are blurred...mumbled then slurred/Then your verbs are no longer heard/You get your lung fried so good you're tongue-tied,he couldn't swing or hang so he hung 'till he died/Reincarnate him...and kill him again...again and again...again and again…/I leave him in the mausoleum so you can see him/I got a dead-MC'ing museum/When I create 'em, I cremate 'em and complicate 'em/You can't save 'em...there's no ultamatum/Mic's lay around full of ashes, with the victim's name in slashes/Got a long list and I'm a get every one of ya/Beware of The Punisher!"

-Rakim, "The Punisher"

Paid in Full (4th & B'Way, 1987) by Eric B. & Rakim

"I ain't no joke, I use to let the mic smoke/Now I slam it when I'm done and make sure it's broke/When I'm gone, no on gets on, cause I won't let/nobody press up, and mess up, the scene I set/I like to stand in the crowd, and watch the people wonder "Damn!"/But think about it, then you'll understand/I'm just an addict, addicted to music/Maybe it's a habit, I gotta use it/Even if it's jazz or the quiet storm/I hook a beat up, convert it into hip-hop form/Write a rhyme in grafitti and, every show you see me in/Deep concentration, cause I'm no comedian/Jokers are wild, if you wanna be tamed/I treat you like a child, then you're gonna be named/Another enemy, not even a friend of me/Cause you'll get fried in the end, when you pretend to be competing, cause I just put your mind on pause/And I complete when, you compare my rhyme with yours/I wake you up and as I stare in your face you seem stunned/Remember me?  The one you got your idea from/But soon you start to suffer, the tune'll get rougher/When you start to stutter, that's when you had enough of/biting it'll make you choke, you can't provoke/You can't cope, you shoulda broke, because I ain't no joke {*echoes*}"

-Rakim, "I Ain't No Joke"