Eric B & Rakim – Follow the Leader

This record is widely considered a classic, so I felt I should own it. And I LOVE Rakim. But this album was underwhelming to me. Aside from the terrific “Microphone Fiend” and “Follow the Leader”, there weren’t many real songs. The majority of the songs were 3 minutes of Eric B. mixing a respectable beat, punctuated by a 45-second Rakim verse. It felt thrown together, with no thought to song structure. Which may have been the point. But my take is this: when you have the greatest MC of all time (a contention I will defend some day) sitting in the studio next to you, why not use him as much as possible? It’s like resting Jordan for a game to let Pippen and Rodman take over. You’ll probably still win the game, but the fans who came to see Jordan would be pissed.