This was the first Eric B & Rakim record that showed Rakim had possible chinks in his armor. Not to say this tape was weak, but everything up to this point was pure classic output. This one had some weaker songs, but still got carried by "The Ghetto", "Mahogany", and the prerequisite Eric B showing off track at the end of side A. The drumbeat to "Mahogany" is perhaps one of my favorite drum loops of all-time; in fact, I sampled it just the other day.
The great thing about this tape is, a shitty Eric B & Rakim tape is still better than 95% of the crap that's been made. Rakim gets tons of love, and rightly so, from hip hop the aesthetic collective, but Eric B was a major heavyweight in what he did as well, and that sometimes gets overlooked. I wish groups still had DJs and DJs still got to do songs on the album as well. Mixtape DJs are a far cry from "Eric B Made My Day". I don't think I ever remember hearing him shout "ERIC B! ERIC B!" every twenty-nine seconds on anything he did to get his name out.
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