follow the leader

Eric B. & Rakim stepped up their game and blazed a trail with expanded samples, deep and heavy sound effects, and an increased intensity to the furified freestyle rhythm and poetry of this hip hop landmark.  After their groundbreaking debut 'Paid in Full', the duo of DJ Eric B. (Eric Barrier) and kid wizard MC Rakim (William Michael Griffin Jr.) Allah moved from 4th & B'way Records to the Uni subsidiary of MCA Records.  'Follow the Leader' was recorded at New York City's Power Play Studios and produced, arranged, and composed by Eric B. & Rakim.   Rakim's brother Stevie Blass Griffin was brought in to add live musical flourishes to the extensive layers of samples.  

Rakim reveals:  "Most of the tracks on the first and second albums, I done those myself, no question. Back then, Eric B. wanted to be a businessman so I said 'Okay, you can take care of the business, I'm going to stick with this notebook right here'. So by not getting involved, he was right there telling them to print whatever he wanted them to print on the album cover. That was my mistake. If we did ten tracks on the album, I did like seven of the beats myself. A lot of times they were just old park records. I had a record collection, I had turntables, I had all the breakbeats"

'Follow the Leader' marched to number forty-six in New Zealand, forty-three in the Netherlands, thirty-five in Sweden, twenty-five in the UK, twenty-two on the US pop album chart and number seven on the US R&B album chart.  The album cemented the duo as one of the most influential in hip hop.  





http://www.ericbnrakim.com/









The title track samples "Nautilus" by Bob James; "Listen To Me" by Baby Huey; "I Wouldn't Change a Thing" by Coke Escovedo; and their own classic "I Know You Got Soul" from 'Paid in Full'.  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95gP3m-uBHA

Follow me into a solo, get in the flow

And you can picture like a photo

Music mix, mellow maintains to make

Melodies for emcees, motivates the breaks

I'm everlasting, I can go on for days and days

With rhyme displays that engrave deep as x-rays

I can take a phrase that's rarely heard

Flip it - now it's a daily word

I can get iller than 'Nam, I kill and bomb

But no alarm - Rakim'll remain calm

Self-esteem makes me super, superb and supreme

But for a microphone, still I fiend

This was a tape, I wasn't supposed to break

I was supposed to wait, but let's motivate

I want to see you keep following and swallowing

Taking and making, biting and borrowing

Brothers tried and others died to get the formula

But I'mma let you sweat, you still ain't formed

You a step away from frozen, stiff as if you're posing

Dig into my brain as the rhyme gets chosen

So follow me and while you're thinking you were first

Let's travel at magnificent speeds around the universe

What could you say as the earth gets further and further away

Planets as small as balls of clay

Astray into the milky way, worlds out of sight

Far as the eye can see not even a satellite

Now stop and turn around and look

As you stare in the darkness, your knowledge is took

So keep staring, soon you suddenly see a star

You better follow it, cause it's the R

This is a lesson if you're guessing and if you're borrowing

Hurry hurry step right up and keep following the leader

This is a lifetime mission, vision a prison

Aight, listen

In this journey you're the journal, I'm the journalist

Am I eternal? Or an eternalist?

I'm about to flow long as I can possibly go

Keep you moving cause the crowd said so

Dance! Cuts rip your pants

Eric B on the blades bleeding to death, call the ambulance

Pull out my weapon and start to squeeze

A magnum as a microphone, murdering emcees

Let's quote, a rhyme from a record I wrote

(Follow the leader) Yeah, dope

Cause every time I stop it seems you're stuck

As soon as you try to step off you self-destruct

I came to overcome before I'm gone

By showing and proving and letting knowledge be born

Then after that I live forever. You disagree?

You say never? Then follow me

From century to century, you'll remember me

In history, not a mystery or a memory

God by nature, mind raised in Asia

Since you was tricked, I have to raise ya

From the cradle to the grave

But remember - you're not a slave

Cause we was put here to be much more than that

But we couldn't see because our mind was trapped

But I'm here to break away the chains, take away the pains

Remake the brains, rebuild my name

I guess somebody told you a little knowledge is dangerous

It can't be mixed, diluted, it can't be changed or switched

Here's a lesson if you're guessing and borrowing

Hurry, hurry step right up and keep following the leader

A furified freestyle - lyrics of fury

My third eye make me shine like jewelry

You're just a rent-a-rapper, your rhymes are minute-maid

I'll be here when it fade, I'll watch you flip like a renegade

I can't wait, to break and eliminate

On every traitor or snake, so stay awake

And follow and follow because the tempo's a trail

The stage is a cage, the mic is a third rail

I'm Rakim, the fiend of a microphone

I'm not him, so leave my mic alone

Soon as the beat is felt, I'm ready to go

So fasten your seatbelt, cause I'm about to flow

No need to speed, slow down and let the leader lead

Word to daddy...indeed

The R's a rolling stone, so I'm rolling

Directions told then, the rhymes are stolen

Stop buggin' a brother said dig him, I never dug him

He couldn't follow the leader long enough so I drug him

Into danger zone he should arrange his own

Face it, it's basic, erase or change your tone

There's one R in the alphabet

It's a one letter word and it's about to get

More complex from one rhyme to the next

Eric B, be easy on the flex

I've been from state to state, followers tailgate

Keep coming but you came too late, but I'll wait

So back up, regroup, get a grip, come equipped

You're the next contestant, clap your hands, you won a trip

The price is right don't make a deal too soon

How many notes, can you name this tune?

Follow the leader is a title/theme/task

Now you know, you don't have to ask

Rap is rhythm and poetry, cuts create sound effects

You might catch up if you follow the records he wrecks

Until then keep eating and swallowing

You better take a deep breath and keep following the leader

'Follow the Leader'
full album:

All songs were written and produced by Eric B. & Rakim (Eric Barrier, William Griffin)

1. Follow the Leader - 0:08
2. Microphone Fiend - 5:45
3. Lyrics of Fury - 10:59 
4. Eric B. Never Scared - 15:11 
5. Just a Beat - 20:30 
6. Put Your Hands Together - 22:36 
7. To the Listeners - 27:51 
8. No Competition - 32:23 
9. The R - 36:14 
10. Musical Massacre - 40:08 
11. Beats for the Listeners - 44:36