Rakim is an American rapper and record producer. One half of golden age hip-hop duo Eric B. & Rakim, he is widely regarded as one of the most influential and skilled MCs of all time.
Also known as Rakim Allah, he is considered a transformational figure in hip-hop for raising the bar for MC technique higher than it had ever been. He helped to pioneer the use of multisyllabic rhymes, and was among the first to demonstrate the possibilities of sitting down to write intricately crafted lyrics packed with clever word choices and metaphors.
In 1987 Rakim released Paid in Full. It was named “the greatest hip hop album of all time” by MTV in 2006. Rakim is near-universally acknowledged as one of the greatest MCs – perhaps the greatest of all time within the hip-hop community.
