Early years and Paid in Full Eric Barrier was born and raised in the
East Elmhurst, Queens. He played
trumpet and
drums throughout high school, and later switched to experimenting with
turntables prior to graduation. The newly dubbed "Eric B." soon began DJing for radio station WBLS in
New York City, including WBLS' promotional events around the city. Barrier wound up meeting Alvin Toney, a promoter based in Queens. Eric B. had been looking for rappers and Toney recommended he use
Freddie Foxxx, a
Long Island MC. Toney took Eric B. to Foxxx's home, but Foxxx was not there, so Toney suggested another option: William Griffin, a.k.a. Rakim. Griffin had begun writing rhymes as a teenager in
Wyandanch and had taken the name "Rakim" as a result of his conversion to
The Nation of Gods and Earths. Eric B. borrowed records from Rakim's brother, Stevie Blass Griffin (who worked at a plant pressing bootleg albums) and began cutting them in the basement for Rakim, who was down there drinking a beer and relaxing. Said Eric B., "I took
Fonda Rae's "Over Like A Fat Rat" and said 'This is the bass line I'm going to use for this record.' Rakim spit the beer all over the wall and thought it was the funniest shit in the world. I told Rakim, just like you laughing now you going to be laughing all the way to the bank and be a millionaire one day because of this record." Eric B. would later admit that the album was rushed. "The reason
Paid In Full is so short is because we stood in the studio for damn-near a week. The whole album came together in a week. Listen to the lyrics on it and listen to how short they are. That's because Rakim wrote it right there and we'd been in the studio like for a whole forty-eight hours trying to get the album finished." Marley Marl stated that his cousin
MC Shan was an assistant engineer on some tracks, including the single "My Melody," though Eric B. denies this. The record has sold over a million copies and the
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified it
platinum in 1995. On the heels of the album's incredible platinum success, the duo were the first rap act to sign a million dollar record deal as they entered into an agreement for three albums with
MCA.
Follow the Leader and ''Let the Rhythm Hit 'Em'' Follow the Leader, the duo's follow-up to
Paid In Full; saw their production move away from the blunt minimalism of their debut. The
title track and "
Lyrics of Fury" were two of Rakim's most acclaimed lyrical performances. In 2003, comedian
Chris Rock referred to Rakim's rhymes on the "...Fury" as 'lyrically, the best rapping anyone's ever done...' Rock also listed
Follow the Leader as 12th on his
Vibe magazine's list of the Top 25 Hip Hop Albums of All-Time. The album was another massive success for the duo and included the classic single & video “Microphone Fiend”. The video became a staple on the No. 1 rated show on Mtv, Yo Mtv Raps. In 1989, the pair teamed up with
Jody Watley on her single "
Friends" from the album
Larger Than Life. The song would reach the Top Ten on the
Billboard Hot 100 chart and was one of the first notable collaborations between hip hop and dance pop. Eric B. & Rakim rarely collaborated with other rappers. This was evident in early 1990, when KRS-One's
Stop the Violence Movement put together the charity single "
Self-Destruction". The song featured numerous notable rappers, but Rakim was noticeably absent from the proceedings. He told HalftimeOnline.net years later, "I don't think they hollered at me or they hollered at Eric B. and he didn't say anything to me. I was a little bitter with that shit because I felt I had something to do with bringing consciousness in hip hop to the table. I came out and did what I did in '86 and then you know people started running with it. Then when it comes time to do something they didn't holler at me so I was a little bitter. At the same time a lot of reasons I didn't do records with people is because I never wanted their light to reflect on me. I don't have a problem with it but everybody who knows at that time knows they were trying to say I was responsible for
gangsta rap, too. They thought I was that dude in the hood so maybe they didn't holler at me for a reason. I love Kris, though — he definitely contributed a lot to hip hop. I've been on tour with him and I know him as a person. He's a good dude. I like Kris, but they definitely didn't holler at me for that man because I would have definitely did it." The album was one of the first to receive the honor of a 5 mic rating in
The Source. But, much like their debut album, there is controversy over the production credit.
''Don't Sweat the Technique'' and split up The duo made an appearance on the
soundtrack for the 1991 comedy
House Party 2, ("What's On Your Mind") and also recorded the theme for the film,
Juice. Both singles were included on what would become the duo's last album together. ''
Don't Sweat the Technique'' was released in 1992. The album was not supposed to be the last; but their contract with MCA was due to expire. During the recording of the album, both members expressed an interest in recording solo albums. However, Eric B. refused to sign the label's release contract, fearful that Rakim would abandon him. This led to a court case involving the two musicians and their former label. The legal wrangling eventually led to the duo dissolving completely. Eric B. has clarified that the monetary problems stemmed from labels like
Island and others claiming ownership of the masters — not from any financial disputes between him and Rakim: "The money got split 50/50 from the door, because I remember people would try to keep shit going. When we first came out, people were saying 'Eric was getting all the money' and 'he was trying to shine more than Rakim,' but that's not true. [I] would go to all the interviews, [because] Rakim didn't want to go to the interviews. He didn't like that part of the business. [But] we split all the money from dime one. I don't care what money I spent in the past, that money is never coming back. Whatever money we made, we split 50/50. Even up until now, we split every dime 50/50."
Post-breakup and legacy Eric B. released a self-titled solo album in 1995 on the independent label 95th Street Recordings. Legal issues continued to delay Rakim's solo career, but he finally released
The 18th Letter in 1997. In 1999, Rakim's second solo album
The Master was released to less favorable reviews. By the turn of the millennium, Eric B. was pursuing other business interests outside of music. Rakim signed with
Dr. Dre's
Aftermath label in 2000, but the expected album never materialized. Since then, Rakim has made guest appearances with numerous other artists such as
Jay-Z ("The Watcher, Part 2"),
Truth Hurts ("Addictive"),
Nas,
KRS-One and
Kanye West ("Classic"). In 2002, "Don't Sweat The Technique" appeared in the video game
Aggressive Inline. In November 2009, Rakim released
The Seventh Seal. Ownership of the duo's catalog consolidated in 1999, when
PolyGram (which owned
Island Records, which released
Paid in Full) merged with
Universal Music Group, an outgrowth of
MCA Records, which owned the rest of the duo's albums. Eric B. & Rakim were announced as one of fifteen finalists to the
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in September 2011 and were nominated for a second time in 2024.
Reunion On October 20, 2016, Eric B. announced via
Twitter that he and Rakim reunited as a duo after 23 years and would tour in 2017. This was confirmed by Eric B's business representative
Uncle Louie during an interview with
Rolling Stone. The duo's first reunion concert was held at the
Apollo Theater in New York City on July 7, 2017. In 2018, they announced a 17-date American tour for that spring. ==Artistry==