Rakim - The 18th Letter

Check out The 18th Letter sound clips at
The Planet of Sound.

White America loves to reminisce. Stars of the past, from Milton Berle to Tony Bennett to Barry Manilow, can easily find an audience for performances of old hits: Hello, Vegas! The hip-hop aesthetic, on the other hand, is a forward-looking, progressive genre that's all about attitude; how many rappers would be caught dead on the same Vegas stage?

Maybe Rakim. His comeback album, The 18th Letter, combines one disc of new material (five years in the making) with one disc of greatest hits. All of which makes you wonder if he can still push the hip-hop envelope.

With his turntable partner Eric B., Rakim pushed hip-hop in new directions in the '80s, incorporating hard-edged James Brown backbeats into the hip-hop vocabulary. Rakim's pointed raps eschewed typical sucka MC braggadocio in favor of roll-off-the-tongue street wisdom on tracks like "Eric B. Is President," "Lyrics of Fury," and the hugely influential "Paid in Full." The duo paved the way for the easy-rollin' big beat hip-hop of the early '90s.

Just like all great rock 'n' rollers, Eric B. and Rakim crafted chaotic songs that sounded on the verge of falling apart. But they didn't. Without Eric B. backing Rakim up, beats on The 18th Letter never quite catch fire. Instead, Rakim takes up the Puff Daddy philosophy of ripping off entire songs and rapping over them. "Stay a While" may be catchy, but that's only because it's Loose Ends' "Stay a Little While Child" almost uncut. There's none of the terminally funky turntable play of yore. Instead, he's rolling out rhymes over mantra-like vamps.

Rakim's lyrics still pack a punch when he's focused, but he struggles on The18th Letter. Does he really need to remind us in every song that he's back? "It's Been a Long Time," "Remember That," "Guess Who's Back"--we understand, Rakim, you've got a new album. And one wonders if he's out of lyrical ideas when he spits out lines like, "I'm not with Eric B. anymore." Duh.

Rakim does catch fire on a few tracks; the title track especially sounds like a new Rakim, making something exciting and new while keeping his edge. Still, the new songs pale in comparison to the disc of hits, 15 of the most inventive hip-hop tracks ever.

Rakim's not finished, and he's got the skills to update the hip-hop aesthetic. He might make vital music, but not on The 18th Letter. Still, Rakim's not headed to Vegas just yet.

Back to A&E...