ERIC B & RAKIM SINGLES POLL

"Follow the Leader" obv but gonna contraristan for "Know the Ledge"

"I Ain't No Joke" is v close too

the remixed version of "The R."

the r was the first rap single i bought

so, that

umm, microphone fiend is the most perfect piece of sound ever created. if it didn't exist this would be incredibly hard to choose just one.

oops closing date

w/ 2 months we may get more than 6 ppl vote in a rap poll this time tho

follow the leader for me, one of the first rap 12"s I bought (yes yes lol old men), curious about how it sounded but no way of finding out without buying (no rap radio that reached the inland, no mtv in my town & I don't think mtv was playing much rap yet at that point anyway) but 1 day "follow the leader" turns up in the used bin and I was like man I have read something about eric b & rakim being really intense so I bought it. I remember playing it and really grooving on the whole interstellar feel of the "what could you say as the planet gets further & further away?" bit & especially "am I eternal/or an eternalist?" -- really huge record for me, those awesome horn hits getting louder. I think "let the rhythm hit 'em" is underrated "follow the leader" still kills me to this day.

please add an option for double mercedes hood ornament chains!! fuck

"Follow The Leader" because it contains both "In this journey, you're the journal, I'm the journalist" and "The stage is a cage/The mic is a third rail." A song that contained one of those lines would be an immortal classic.

Know the Ledge is dope!

this is the first poll w/so many obv choices I may not be able to vote

I was a fiend
before I became a teen

"make 'em make 'em make 'em clap to this"

"clap your hands to what he's doing"

That's an awesome photo.

pretty hard poll, but it has to be "Paid In Full". i mean seriously. let's please not be challops, let's vote for the greatest rap single of all time, thx

I Ain't No Joke

"Know the Ledge," no contrarianism at all.

only flaw in "paid in full" is the corny fish/dish line. other than that, it's perfect. lord, that bass line is profound.

got a lot of love for "microphone fiend" too but damn

Follow the Leader
I Know You Got Soul
Know the Ledge
Paid in Full
Microphone Fiend

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QJBRFjtP0U

that said, IANJ

Got to be 'Follow the Leader' for me, one of my favourite videos as well

Know the Ledge, so great. Casualties of War is an underrated gem.

Paid in Full. Love the fish/dish line. An incalculably influential hip-hop single in the UK, esp the Seven Minutes of Madness mix.

"I Ain't No Joke" is their best vid imo

i'm voting "microphone fiend"

know the ledge

"I Know You Got Soul" (the original, not the silly later remix) was the big club hit round our way; one of the first of that whole wave of JB's samplers, if I remember correctly. But "Follow The Leader" is... just... perfect in every way.

Everyone was raving about the Ofra Haza sample, but I was all, "Yeah, but That bass line?"

Everyone was raving about the Ofra Haza sample

Everyone apart from Eric B & Rakim, that is! They weren't too thrilled with the Coldcut remix.

"Tell the truth James Brown was old 'til Eric and Rak came out with 'I Got Soul.'" -- Stetsasonic

My choice.

"I Know You Got Soul" also most fruitfully quoted--their own "Follow the Leader," D'Angelo's "Chicken Grease," MARRS's "Pump up the Volume," the movie Pump Up the Volume, Mobb Deep's "Where Ya From," probably a lot more...

if it were a single, for me there would be (almost) "No Competition"

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

i ain't no joke

i know you got soul

had to go w/microphone fiend just cuz that blew my head off when i saw it on yo mtv raps after jr high one day

another vote for i know you got soul. it's pretty close to perfect.

for being so far ahead of anything else when it came out and sounding as if it was beamed in from outer space - "follow the leader".

missed this before, voted "I Know You Got Soul"

had to go w/ microphone fiend follow the leader just cuz that blew my head off when i saw it on yo mtv raps after jr high second grade one day

I was a fiend
before I became a teen

I melted microphones instead of cones of ice cream
Music orientated
So when hip hop was originated
Treat it like pieces of puzzle
Complicated

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPfIIn5V_LQ

finally decided - "paid in full"

now I gotta go spend my money...

Follow The Leader, it's so dense and chunky and sounded really fresh even at the tail end of the 90s.

No love for eric b. is pres and my melody ??

I'm not sure about now, but my favourite jam back in the day was Eric B and President.

Let the Rhythm Hit 'Em

"follow the leader" maybe best single of all time

Any / All of these:
Move the Crowd
Paid in Full
Follow the Leader
Micrphone Fiend
The R
Let the Rhythm Hit 'Em
Don't Sweat the Technique

I think I voted "The R" a month ago, but today would go with "Follow The Leader" or "Microphone Fiend"

"follow the leader" maybe best single of all time

― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Monday, February 8, 2010 1:18 PM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark

^^^this

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

113 votes! wow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MY4bQbm5oiM

THREE votes for "Eric B Is President"!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVvkp3yOA7M

THREE votes for "Eric B Is President"!!

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― Mr. Snrub, Tuesday, February 9, 2010 11:36 AM (2 days ago) Bookmark

Ye terribad poll :((

or is it INCREDIBAD?

let the rhythm hit em

good writing : http://www.thetroyblog.com/2011/02/03/eric-b-and-rakim-teach-the-children/#more-4344

interesting....maybe "An Assasinator if the people ain't steppin'" is a deep old school NY gang reference?

http://www.classicnystreetgangs.com/theassassinators.htm

going to see the reunion tour tonight
beyond excited
no omega

these guys were like super heroes to me when i was a kid

this tour is really fun and the mood in the room was all love you should go

wish they were coming through phx.

these guys were like super heroes to me when i was a kid

rakim still has that delivery

also -- unlike way too many rappers live -- he realizes he has a PA and microphone and doesn't have to shout lyrics, it's cool deadpan, maybe a little more hyped than the records but not bellowing

UMS review still very much applies to last night's show in St Paul, so much fun. Also loved the guy painting a canvas on stage for the duration of the set -- ended up being a portrait of Prince in the style of the Paid in Full cover, with PRINCE IN FULL text.