Smooth, chill rap started from this guy right here.

Rapp, Eric B, Rakim, Kool G Rap, AJ, Ant Live, Kelvin “50 Cent” Martin, Rob Garcia, Jason Riley, & Keith “Money” Green. 1987. Brooklyn, Queens, & Long Island represented. Pictured in front of the Jacob Javitz center, this photo is the back cover of the Paid in Full album in 1987. Rakim and Eric B had soldiers behind them but never flaunted it, these were the guys that protected them essentially as rappers were seen as food during that time.

Watch Rich in The Hood out now:

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Rakim, Father MC, EPMD, and Big Daddy Kane were my favorite "smooth" rappers... Variety is gone in rap now and I miss the days when Master P, PM Dawn, GangStarr, 2Pac, Ice Cube, RunDMC and more made it easy for everyone to have an artist that they could relate to... Those were the days...

I did security for Rakim a few years ago

I’ll go out on a ledge and say he laid the blueprint down for 90s rap

When I tell people he's the God MC, some say am joking. But just listen to rhyme structure, cadence and painting pictures vividly with words. Rakim simply the 🐐 👊🏿@Erial_Blaze

HipHop has most definitely slowly de-evolved since the GOD MC picked up the MIC … Damn

WORD! Him and many others.

Most people who understand the pen game for literature and poetry really get to appreciate this style because of technical and complex it is while still having a delivery simple enough for most people to understand. Rakim is giving out university classes when he rhymes.