Wednesday, August 25, 2010: Eric B. & Rakim - Juice (Know The Ledge)

The late 80's/early 90's was a really formative time for me, especially for developing my musical tastes. It was an exciting time, I remember I was driving south down Citrus Avenue in Covina, California when I first heard Smells Like Teen Spirit on the radio. Now, it's seared into the pop culture psyche, so it is difficult to explain how it sounded when I first heard that song. Those opening chords where just so.........different. Sure, many bands played harder, faster, louder than Nirvana, but those lads from Seattle just seemed to encapsulate the discordant spirit of that time. The world had gone from celebrating unity and freedom as the Iron Curtain collapsed to going to war with Iraq for their invasion of Kuwait. We went from peace to conflict in what felt like no time at all.

The world was changing, and so was music. One of the most transformed genres, indeed one most malleable and ready for change, was rap music. Growing up, I had a fairly simplistic idea of rap music. Sure, I had listened to RUN DMC and LL Cool J, but not much past that. Because I felt like it was speaking about a world I wasn't a part of. Which it was. And I wasn't. And, I guess to a certain degree, that was fine by me. Their world, my world, and that's that.

Then I first heard Arrested Development. Then I heard Digable Planets, and then De La Soul, and later A Tribe Called Quest, then Heavy D, The Pharcyde, and finally Public Enemy. Rap was no longer the one dimensional playground of "the other", people I didn't know talking about places I wouldn't see, nor care to. Rap became more than just NWA getting headlines. Suddenly, I felt like people were inviting me to the party, instead of forcing me to stand over the fence and look in.

And what a party. Elements of jazz, funk and rock were seemlessly blended into the breakbeats with flair. And charm. Rappers were taking on complex social commentary with knowledge and insight. And trippy-hippy love. And furious anger.

And then there was Eric B. & Rakim.

Not interested in following the fashion of the moment, Eric B & Rakim seemed intent on keeping the hardline alive, even if it meant sacrificing fame and fortune for their art. These guys were old school even though the school had just been let out for the summer. And they were all the better for it. And rap was all the worse for losing them after their split.

Alas, from all this promise, all those artists striving to build something better for their audiences, soon it was all gone. Soon there was nothing. Rap devolved back into everything that made it one dimensional and uninteresting, braggards boasting about bitches and brew and bling, to the same tired beats over and over and over again. Rap became something worse than irrelevant. It became boring.

Now, here's the lesson. From the soundtrack to the 1992 movie of the same, starring Tupak Shakur and a young Omar Epps (Dr Eric Foreman from House), I urge you to get to know the ledge.