In one week Rakim will be dropping his first album in 10 years. It seems hard to believe that one of hip-hop’s most legendary legends has not dropped an album in a decade. Since enough time has passed after all of the anticipation and musing that was taking place over Rakim’s collaboration with the good doctor and the recovery for everyone involved when that project never saw the light of day due to “creative differences” , fans are eager to unwrap Rakim’s early Christmas gift: The Seventh Seal (11/19). Hip-Hop, at its essence, has always been an exercise in mathematics, so as we look forward to the Seventh Seal dropping in a week, let’s also take a look back to a little over a week ago when Rakim and Rhymefest proved that in this number’s game two is always better than one.
On 10/28 Rakim brought his Seventh Seal tour to the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles, California. Rhyme “El Che” Fest’s set was broken down into a tribute for Michael Jackson (where he performed material off his tribute project: Man In The Mirror), classic cuts such as “Brand New”,a freestyle session, and a freestyle battle including hungry participants from the audience (local MCs Jigsaw and Chewie were among the participants). This set, which embraced many of the elements of hip-hop was impressive as a statement Fest made during a break between songs: “I am not Lupe, Wale, Kanye; I am Rhymefest. I am not a pretentious rapper.” He went on to say that for this tour he had been staying with fans, making sure to continue to build a strong fanbase. If you read between the lines, Fest clearly isn’t calling out those other highly talented MCs. However, he is making it clear that there is a distinction between those other hard working, one of a kind MCs and himself. He wasn’t calling these artists out or saying that they were pretentious but stressed that his desire to stay close to his fans, make something he believed in, and never give up his passion for hip-hop is what makes him uniquely who he is.
This notion of staying connected with fans was the major theme of Rakim’s set. Coming out to his new single, “Holy Are You “, Rakim made it a point not just perform all of his classic cuts (Paid in Full, Microphone Fiend, Don\’t Sweat the Technique,In the Ghetto, Eric B for President) in his catalogue but more importantly to give the fans a chance to be involved as well. Throughout the course of his set he would often let the audience take over. What can only be described as the ultimate show of gratitude, Rakim invites his fans, more than any other hip-hop artist, to perform classic songs with him. It is a give and take situation where RA shows his gratitude for all of the years of support by allowing the audience to join in on his time at the mic and in turn the audience does not disappoint by providing each and every word, on point, without messing up. Ending his set with “Juice (Know the Ledge)you couldn’t help but embrace the moment and smile. Here was the man who embraced Jazz unlike any other artist. He didn’t just want it to be sampled for his music. He didn’t make simple references to famous Jazz musicians, but his flow, cadence, rhyme scheme, was the very embodiment of the art form. And here we are, so many years later, hip-hop is still excited to see what RA has up his sleeve. The Seventh Seal is just around the corner, and El Che will be released shortly as well. Two hip-hop albums from two the genre’s best. This isn’t pretentious rap. This isn’t ring tone rap. This is timeless rap; the sort of rap that you can go see live, have the artist invite the audience to perform half of some of the songs and it still be one of the best shows you have ever been too.
I love Raqim!