ARTIST: Eric B. & Rakim
TITLE: Follow The Leader (Expanded Edition)
LABEL: Geffen Records
GENRE: Hip-Hop
BITRATE: 202kbps avg
PLAYTIME: 1h 08min total
RELEASE DATE: 26 Apr 2005
RIP DATE: 26 Apr 2005
Track List
----------
01. Follow The Leader 5:34
02. Microphone Fiend 5:13
03. Lyrics Of Fury 4:11
04. Eric B. Never Scared 5:17
05. Just A Beat 2:04
06. Put Your Hands Together 5:13
07. To The Listeners 4:29
08. No Competition 3:50
09. The R 3:52
10. Musical Massacre 4:26
11. Beats For The Listeners 4:08
12. The R (Extended Remix) 9:20
13. Microphone Fiend (Extended 5:18
Remix)
14. Put Your Hands Together (Fan 5:27
Force Mix)
Release Notes:
Having already revolutionized hip-hop, Eric B. & Rakim came up with a second
straight classic in their sophomore album Follow the Leader, which basically
follows the same blueprint for greatness, albeit with subtle refinements. Most
noticeably, Eric B.'s production is already moving beyond the minimalism of Paid
in Full. Follow the Leader finds him changing things up more often: dropping in
more samples, adding instruments from musician Stevie Blass Griffin, and
generally creating a fuller sound over his rock-solid beats. It's still
relatively spare, but the extra sonic weight helps keep things fresh. For his
part, Rakim wasn't crowned the greatest MC of all time for the variety of his
lyrical content, and Follow the Leader is no different. Yet even if he rarely
deviates from boasting about his microphone prowess (and frankly, he's
entitled), he employs uncommonly vivid and elaborate metaphors in doing so. A
case in point is "Microphone Fiend," which weaves references to substance
addiction throughout in explaining why Rakim can't keep away from the mic. The
album-opening title cut is one of his most agile, uptempo lyrical showcases,
demonstrating why he's such a poetic inspiration for so many MCs even today.
"Lyrics of Fury" manages to top it in terms of sheer force, using the break from
James Brown's "Funky Drummer" before it saturated the airwaves. And, of course,
there are several more turntable features for Eric B. Follow the Leader may not
have broken much new ground, but it captures one of the greatest pure hip-hop
acts at the top of their form, and that's enough to make it a classic.
