RAKIM 1998 THE RETURN OF THE MESSIAH

By Silvia Volpato

AT August 30 - September 1998

RA the Sun God according to Egyptian civilization, Kimet: the ancient name of Egypt. Together they merge into Rakim...

“I believe that from Egypt comes the very origin of life, in Mecca everything began, there lies the foundation. I am convinced that the first human beings were born in that geographical area and that the first traces of human intelligence are represented by the hieroglyphics and pyramids. Even today these things are a mystery to us, and so it is clear that we are talking about special creatures with superior intelligence, beings who without the help of any machinery were able to build incredible monuments in line with the constellations. The point because I believe that in order to know oneself one must always seek the origin of things. This talk of course should be extended to Hip Hop as well...for example, a few weeks ago, I organized a little basketball tournament in the neighborhood where I was born, you know, for kids, and I wanted to have people like the Cold Crush Brothers and the Funky Four Plus One in attendance. I wanted to invite them so that they could talk to the young people, because they are the origin of rap and people need to understand where what everybody is talking so much about now comes from. You should never forget where you came from, the roots are important, also to understand the future path. The origins should be respected.”.   

One thing is clear right from the start: talking to Rakim means entering a new dimension where nothing is left to chance, each element possesses its own meaning, and where faith and thirst for knowledge reign supreme.

On his arm is tattooed the number 7, surrounded by the letters that make up his name; 7, again, is the number of the sun, but there is more, for Rami 7 are the holes through which the mind perceives the world: two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, a mouth. This, and many other small, big details make him a special person and artist. Apparently there are endless questions to ask him, but the gist of it because, anyway, we already have the answers and they are all in his lyrics, in his music. As only a great MC can do “the Ra” has always told himself and his beliefs in every rhyme, as he himself has often repeated, every little thing in his mind is converted into Hip Hop. Knowing his lyrics is the best way to understand his essence and definitely the only way he wants to be heard by the world. 

“The crown couldn't wait to see this/Nobody been most awaited since Jesus/Who wouldn't believe this/I heard the word on the street is/I'm one of the deepest on the mic since Adidas/They said I changed the times from the rhymes that I thoughta/So I made some more to put the new world in order/With mathematic, put your status above the average/And help you rappers make paragraphs with graphic.”

“The audience has been looking forward to my return/No one since Jesus has been waited this long/To those who didn't believe it/I heard that on the road/I'm still considered one of the deepest on the mic from Adidas time/They said I changed the times with my rhymes/So I wrote some more to make some order in this new world/With math I'll take you above mediocrity/I'll help you rappers compose paragraphs by means of geometry .’ (from ”It's Been a Long Time,“ 1997)

If there are rules in Hip Hop, they can only be dictated by talent, only those with talent set the level on which to compare and the boundaries to overcome, only through talent can one aspire to perfection, in any discipline. If there is one MC, in history, who has absolutely demonstrated what substance talent is made of this is undoubtedly Rakim. To this day, twelve years after the beginning of his career and after a full five of silence, he remains the man to beat. 

Five years: that's how long Rakim has been silent, and yet when some time ago The Source magazine asked a worldwide audience to vote to decide who was the best MC of all time no one had any hesitation: it was still, and always is, Rakim Allah.

When Rakim appeared in 1986 alongside Eric B his rap was really something else compared to what was circulating on the streets. “Eric B is President” and “My Melody” changed the times for all intents and purposes. First of all, their beat was several beats slower than the standard, plus Rakim presented himself with an image that contrasted that of his colleagues. He was serious, unsmiling in front of audiences, focused on what his somewhat nasal voice clearly sounded, always concentrating on his words. This was the real revolution: the words. At a time when rap music still had the flavor of play Rakim elaborated the seeds of social consciousness brought by people like Melle Mel, Granmasterflash and the Furious Five, talked about God and the prophets, brought the doctrine of Islam closer to kids and street people, explained the importance of knowledge as well as the beauty, the vastness of the human intellect. Rakim brought intelligence, better: he made being smart and knowing how to use words well ’stylish,“ and this was important not only for Hip Hop itself, but rather for the fate of an entire generation of young African-Americans who were dealing with a good rate of illiteracy and who had recently been initiated into the use of the latest prodigy of modern chemistry: cocaine ”in rocks,“ crack cocaine in the century.

The shockwave caused by an LP like “Paid in Full” crossed the ocean and reached our neck of the woods. For many, very many, this marked a turning point. Rakim's skills and lyrical power unveiled to all the possibilities of the art of Mcing; it was a beginning for many, for others the transition to a new era.

A leader by self-definition, a “Soul Controller” by nature, Rakim is aware of the power he has always wielded over people who listen to him, and he is keen to clarify his role in this regard: “I am not and do not want to be an example for anyone to follow. Your parents should be your examples. I always tell kids; you can respect what I do but you have to listen to what your mother and father say. I realize that I have a responsibility for what I write in my lyrics, but I would like to think that I am a guide rather than a role model. What I mean is that there is a big difference between understanding my words and imitating the way I live. I am an artist, a lyric writer, my words are my essence and my truth. As a human being, in life, I may stumble and sometimes fall, but that is not what I want people who follow me to do. I want them to listen to my words, my knowledge, what I have studied. So if you tell me that I am an example for my wisdom, then and only then will I accept and take on this role.”

We are the ones asking the questions, but inevitably he is the one who takes us by the hand and leads the game with the class of a champion, he is the one who decides where to go with the words...and almost always we travel deep, very often beyond...

“You're a step away from frozen/stiff as if you're posin’/Dig into my brain as the rhymes get chosen/So follow me, I'll have ya thinkin’ you were first/Let's travel at magnificent speeds around the universe/What can you say as the earth gets further and further away/Planets are small like balls of clay.../So keep staring, soon ya suddenly see a star/You better follow ‘cause it's the R.”

“You're one step away from freezing/You're as stiff as you're posing/Go ahead and dig into my brain while the rhymes are being chosen/I caught you while you thought you were the best, so now follow me/We're traveling at incredible speeds in the universe/What about now that the earth is getting farther and farther away/And the planets are getting as small as specks of dust.../Keep watching, soon you'll see a star appear/You'd better follow it, ”cause that's R.“ (from ”Follow the Leader," 1988)

Between 1986 and 1992 there were four “Eric B & Rakim” label albums that crashed down on an ever-growing audience, four real milestones that allowed Rakim to really shine as a star in the Hip Hop firmament. The last LP is “Don't Sweat the Technique,” 1992 indeed, a little later Rakim participates in the soundtrack of “Juice,” that will be his last track for a long, long time. The separation with his colleague is officially sanctioned by the release of Eric B's solo album, but nothing more of Ra. Rumors and gossip of various natures overlap to no avail, someone tries the slander route: he went to jail, drug dealing they say...naaa, old stuff, they had tried to make us believe it already a few years before, but he knocked everyone out by replying with a rhyme: “If I go to jail, it won't be for selling keys, it'll be for murdering MCs...” (“If I ever go to jail, it won't be for dealing, it'll be for murdering MCs.”). So we wait. True also, that in those five years Hip Hop heads around the world find themselves busy absorbing the huge wave of new faces, new voices, new styles...but he, by all accounts, leaves a void that is silently, almost religiously kept free. It is ’95 when there is a glimpse of his possible return; some American mixtapes containing unreleased tracks come out, some more or less clandestine vinyls also arrive, immediately a fuss is raised...then, again, nothing more: ‘The truth is that at that time I was working on a real album. What happened, however, was that too many people, including the staff of MCA (Rakim's former label, ed.), had access to my material, so some tracks came out of the studio without my knowledge. It was really MCA that felt entitled to sell my tracks that ended up on several mixtapes, even Hot 97 started playing them, along with other radio stations in New York. That completely stuck with me, you know what I mean? Those were just demos, I was still working on them. They were about six or seven tracks, they started traveling the streets of NY and some of them even came here to Europe. Basically that material represented the 90% of my album at an embryonic stage. The only thing I could do was destroy almost everything and put myself back down at the table.“.

Two more years of work then keep Rakim away from the scene. In the early summer of ‘97 his return is the talk of the town. As he had left us, with a soundtrack, so Rakim reappears, this time it is the one for the film “Hoodlum.” The title track of the album bears his signature alongside that of Mobb Deep...can you believe it; old and new school are together and it is really cream for our palates.

At this point we're not feeling it anymore, but Rakim is one who keeps his promises...a few months later “The 18th Letter” is released, truly one of the most anticipated albums in the history of Hip Hop. We go through it, still a little incredulous, but happy and greedy like children who found out where mom hid the candies from us, the good ones, of course...It contains 10 tracks plus 2 rmxes accompanied by ’The Book of Life“; a collection of the best past hits whose presence he himself explains: ”I've been away from people for almost five years, there will undoubtedly be kids out there who don't know my story. There will also be some who need or want to retrace the past path. I simply wanted to remind people who I am, where I came from, what I've done with my music, you know, brush up a little bit of history and bring it back to light for the future.“

One of Rakim's best skills has always been to paint, through rhymes, intense and brilliant images in an attempt to use all the colors on the palette and all the shades possible. There is no topic that his lyrics have not addressed, from war to love for women, from battles at the microphone to the origin of life. “The 18th Letter” fully reflects this style, as he himself points out, “...I always try to create a chemistry that works in my albums. I have been touring for several years and realized that I have a very wide audience with different tastes. There are those who like to dance to my records, there are the underground heads who want a harder flava, there are those who listen to me for the meaning of my pieces, and then there are the women who love and respect my work. I always try to bring all these elements together, although I can never please everyone, there is a good portion of the audience that I can target my music toward.” Going into specifics about the individual tracks on the album, the topic ends on the track “New York”: “We live in an era,” Rakim explains,” in which Hip Hop has really become universal. There are people from every country who represent it, and I felt I had to remind everyone of the history and location of my city, to make everyone understand how Hip Hop is lived, felt and represented by us.” However, we know that some years ago he and his family left NY and moved to Connecticut. As we talk about this Rakim's wife, who never left him for a moment, nods and smiles in the direction of her husband who explains: “I used to live on the street you see, in the projects, but now I have three children, I wanted to take them out of the ghetto to show them a better life and at the same time I was looking for a more relaxing place for myself, I wanted things like a garden, you know, a meadow with dogs that can run around...I've been living hell for a good part of my life and at some point I felt the need to move...”.

Coming back to the album, we can't help but ask the Ra something about his most profound track “The Mystery, who is God?” “ Yes, there are many things in that piece, I wrote it for all religious people, for those who want to feed their conscience and their intellect, but also for all those who have a question mark in their head, you know: who is God, where do we come from, questions of that nature. At the same time, there I talk about what I study every day of my life and what I believe in with my whole self. That piece I really feel it's mine, even if I don't have to do anything else anymore, knowing that I wrote “The Mystery” I still feel that my existence is complete...and then there's another thing...I owed it to Allah.” But it is really too easy to dismiss Rakim's relationship with religion so briefly, we decide to talk about it later, meanwhile we continue our discussion of the work on the latest LP and move on to discuss productions. Illustrious samplers such as those of DJ Premier, Clark Kent, and Pete Rock have participated in the work, and some time ago there was also talk of RZA and Dr. Dre's presence, but once again Rakim takes the discussion to another level. “Shahy (Father Shah, ed.) also produced for me, it's his base for “The 18th Letter,” and then “The Mystery” is by Naughty Shorts, there's also another brother; Nick Wiz who produced “Show Me Love.” The point is this, I'm just looking for flava, if it's Clark Kent who can give it to me that's fine, if another brother who no one's ever heard of can do the same, I'm satisfied just the same. I don't go and buy beats from people who have a name. If you have a beat that I like, I want that beat, I don't care about the name, that's how it works for me.”.

“I was a fiend before I became a teen/I melt the microphone instead of cones of ice cream/Music oriented so when Hip Hop was originated/Fitted like pieces of puzzles, complicated/’Cause I grab the mic and try to say yes y'all/They try to take it, they say that I'm too small...”

“I was an adversary before I was even a kid/I was melting the microphone instead of the ice cream cones/I was oriented toward the music, so when Hip Hop was born/I fit into it like the piece of a puzzle, but like a puzzle it was complicated/Because I'd take the microphone and try to say “yes y'all”/But they'd take it away from me, say I was too small...” ( from “Microphone Fiend,” 1988)

“Baby, I was so little when I started...it was a long time ago, even before the first rap record came out: “King Tim The III,” I was rapping long before that record....I've always been a fanatic and an opponent of the microphone, I've always been a “microphone fiend,” it's been ingrained in me for as long as I can remember. When I was really a kid, it would happen that I would be hanging out with friends and, you know, at some point I would hear a beat coming from some corner of the street and then I would run up to it, I would look for it. Maybe I'd be there with my jeans all dirty because I'd been who knows where and I probably had snot dripping out of my nose too and I'd come up to these guys who had the music and I'd ask, “yo, yo give me the microphone, can I have the microphone?” and they'd say things like, “Hey shorty, little man, get out of my way, go play basketball, go somewhere else, you've got to go home to mommy in an hour anyway!” You know? That's where the essence of my relationship with the microphone comes from, it's a confrontational thing. At that point my crew and I would always get kicked out and then we would combine everything; we would kick the speakers, pull the plugs off or pour orange soda on them, anything to silence the microphone that we couldn't have...I was so small...and then music has always been a part of my life,’ Rakim continues, ”my favorite genre is jazz. My mother loved to sing, she sang everything from jazz to opera. Music has always been in my house; when I got up in the morning there was music, at night I went to sleep and still there was music. It was the Motown era, and I consider myself lucky to have grown up during such a great time. I also started playing a few instruments, but when Hip Hop came along I was still very young and all my musical energy went into Hip Hop and for Hip Hop.“. 

A few years later would come the almost chance meeting with Eric Barrier, an encounter through which Rakim would make his final entry into the record market, an encounter without which, paradoxically, Ra would never have taken his own attitude to the microphone seriously, as he himself tells us, “He and I met for strictly business reasons, and unfortunately our relationship remained on that level. How can I explain...we didn't grow up together, we never had to pool our pocket change to buy a bag of chips when we were kids, we were never together on the road without a penny in our pockets...we didn't know hell together. We were simply introduced for work by a mutual friend; he brought him to my house and said, “Hey, this is Eric, you two could work together and make a record!” I had already been rapping for a long time at that time, so I said to myself that maybe since I was presented with this opportunity, I could give it a try. In fact, at first it was just “Eric B featuring Rakim,” think I didn't even want to sign the contract! The fact is that at that time my goal was to play college football. The idea of making a record might have enticed me, but I wasn't convinced at all. Eric talked to me at length and explained that I could only appear as a guest on his record, even without signing anything, and that I would still get the money I was entitled to. That's how it went in the beginning.”

“Eric B is President” and “My Melody” were recorded in that spirit. Marley Marl produced them and launched them over the airwaves via that historic program hosted alongside Mr. Magic that was “Rap Attack.” I venture to say that the rest was history.

Of course, since the days when DJs and mc worked side by side and were “Paid in full,” a lot of water has indeed passed under the bridge. This is evidenced by the fact that, after their separation, Rakim was stuck with countless legal problems because his former colleague would not agree to sign the contract that would leave him free to pursue a solo career. Yet Eric, at the time, had his opportunity to make a solo album, an operation that turned out to be rather unsuccessful and thus led him to continue his career as a producer (now his label is “Street Life,” to be clear, the one for Craig Mack's latest album “Operation: Get Down”). Today their paths have unequivocally parted, but Rakim has a hard time talking about what happened with Eric. He seems almost unable to find the words to do so, most likely lacking the will to remember, and it is to be sworn, by the way, that his relationship with Eric B is the topic on which most often the media, and others, halfway around the world have unleashed their curiosity. In the end, his words remain rather general, measured, and yet very, very clear: “Eric and I had different points of view, different visions of Hip Hop. I wanted to follow a specific direction, he wanted different things, so we got to the point where I was forced to tell him, “okay Eric, you do your thing and I'll do mine,” but then there were also a lot of problems related to the contract.....if the two of us had been friends before working together things would have been different. I think there would have been more understanding between us even on a professional level and maybe we would still have respect for each other now, even after the legal problems. It didn't turn out that way, you see, I am in Italy alone today. I still wish them the best but... ”Eric B & Rakim” will never exist again.”.

“Since the world metamorphis, and the planet's kept in orbit/Turntables we spin off but the needles never skip off it/Rhythms we're expressin’ similar to our ancestors/It'll answer your questions if you understand the message/From the days of slave choppers, to the new age of prophets/As heavy as Hip Hop is I'm always ready to drop it/From the mind which is one of Allah's best designs/And mines will stand the test of time, when I rhyme.”.

“From the time when the world underwent its own metamorphosis, and the planet went into its orbit/We kept spinning the cymbals without the needle ever leaving the groove/Expressing ourselves through rhythms similar to those of our forefathers/End this will answer all your questions, if you can grasp the message/From the days when cleavers were used on slaves, to the era of the new prophets/I'm always ready to spread the message, heavy as Hip Hop can be/A message that comes straight from the mind, which is one of Allah's best creations/E mine will win the tests of time, whenever I rhyme.” (from “The 18th Letter,” 1997)

Time and space sometimes dissolve in Rakim's words, losing their known properties to merge into a universal, eternal message.

Rakim appears to be a person in harmony with the world, a condition attainable only by those who know they possess the answers, only by those who are sustained by unwavering faith. Ra's faith is Islam, it is God in all his forms, it is man, it is himself.

The very fact that he calls himself “Allah” is for him an acknowledgement towards God who generated man in his image. Whatever our beliefs Rakim seems to be telling us that, in this light, human beings were created to be great, perhaps perfect, and that each person must be aware of his own capabilities (“Knowledge of Self”), must know how to cultivate and elevate them. This is what the Qur'an and the Bible taught Rakim, but how did it happen?

“...I want to start at the very beginning to explain it to you. You see, I was born in ‘68, very often I found myself talking about that era with my parents. We all know that it was a time of revolutions and destruction, for the whole of humanity. Many leaders were killed: Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, John F. Kennedy...they were all assassinated, and the emotions of the people, especially my people, were strong and terrible. I was in my mother's body in those moments, but a child feels the emotions and the vibrations...it was so, I know that inside me I also carry what my father felt the night I was conceived. I was born at a horrible time for my people and during my childhood I knew injustice, but I could not understand it then, I was too small. I needed guidance, someone to take me by the hand and explain...Islam was there, I clung to it with all my strength and I have not let it go since. I think Allah guided me and showed me the world as it really is. You know what I mean. I am now in Italy, I started in ’86 and so many artists have come out since then, but I am still here, despite my absence of 5 years. I'm back and I'm collecting hugs from all over the world, you know, all over the world! It must be Allah, his blessing goes with me and I will continue to follow him. That's why I wanted to bring the Message with Hip Hop. When I started talking about these things in my lyrics, people didn't really understand. I tried to put it in a simple way that was acceptable to everyone, so that people didn't think I was standing there preaching. Now a lot of people are picking up on the Five Percent Nation concepts and all that.”. 

Especially the Wu Tang, we add, what do you think about that?

“Yes, even the Wu. I think it's good, maybe now people will say, “well, then Rakim was not a lonely fanatic.” It's good because believe me, even today, only the majority is taken seriously.’

Yeah, we agree, this still has not changed however many other things have, especially in Hip Hop a lot has changed, transformed, sometimes to progress, sometimes to regress. What is Rakim's vision in this sense?

“Well, today the scene is much more diverse, there are a lot of MCs out there. The most important thing is that everyone knows how to bring out their talent. There are a lot of problems in the world, but it is crucial to remember that Hip Hop is an art, you can't get too political. When that happens unfortunately you lose the love and passion that drives you to write. I experienced this myself; at first rhyming was fun for me, but then it became my job, and before you know it, politics enters your art and takes away its soul. I know a lot of MCs go through terrible situations every day of their existence and feel they have to talk about it in their lyrics, but this is Hip Hop! It is the thing we love the most and it was born precisely to make us forget about problems. It happens like that to everyone I suppose, when you're sick you say to yourself, ’okay, let's put on a good record so we don't think about it anymore!“ Music was born to take away war, but today people put war in music. If you want to find some peace today you can hardly listen to Hip Hop, you have to look for an old r&b or jazz or soul record, that is what we sample, our origins. Everything should be brought back to when it was fun. I don't want to say the policy is wrong, okay talk about it, but not in every piece, leave more room for your talent, creativity, you have to love Hip Hop...what is Hip Hop? Hip Hop...is a culture. You can't just talk about it as a genre of music because it's a way of life. You see, the brothers out there were Hip Hop long before the first rap record came out because this is a way of life, it's the way we wear a dress, it's the way we tie our shoes, it's a way we walk, it's a way we talk, it's the way we do things. You see, for a DJ, for example, it's not just about moving a fader back and forth, it's the feeling you convey that counts, it's that feeling you get under your skin...it all goes so far beyond the music. It does, it's a culture that defines us, it's a way of relating to others, it's expression, it's being...but if I have to simplify it even more, then I will tell you that Hip Hop is us. Word up! Rakim Allah. Peace.”.