When 18-year-old Rakim and his DJ, Eric B., debuted with “Eric B. Is President” in 1986, the most verbally dexterous, highly respected MCs of the time were Run and LL Cool J. But Rakim’s voice held an underlying menace with a Coltrane-cool level of laid-back. On Paid in Full, this new godhead MC flipped Five Percent Nation references (from “Move the Crowd”: “With knowledge of self, there’s nothing I can’t solve”) as Eric B. plied his turntablistics (“Chinese Arithmetic”). Rakim’s elevated verbals shifted the entire tectonic plate underneath hip-hop culture forever.

– Miles Marshall Lewis