From Snoop Doggy Dog, to Grandmaster Flash, we’re hopping in a time machine as we go through Hip-Hop’s 25 Most Memorable Album Covers.

25. Juvenile, 400 Degreez (1998)

From the diamonds and flames, to the Z in “Degreez” being a dollar sign…There’s just something about the WordArt feel of this album that keeps fans coming back.

24. Wale, Attention Deficit (2009)

The obvious shoutout to a digital world reigns as the focal point for this album cover. A strong, yet simple message burns through the vibrant cool colors, and captures your attention immediately.

23. De La Soul, 3 Feet High and Rising (1989)

You’ve probably seen these flowers before, or maybe even these 3 talented young men. Fun fact, rap group De La Soul actually hates this album cover. They felt that everyone would be associating them with flowers, peace, the whole hippie movement, when that wasn’t them at all!

22. Kanye West, 808s and Heartbreak (2008)

The minimalism in this cover is the beauty of it all. Kanye was hurting, simple as that!

21. 2Pac, Me Against The World (1995)

This album shook the charts, and you couldn’t go anywhere in 1995 without seeing it. 2Pac rocked the world right before his unfortunate passing, and sold hundreds of thousands copies of the album.

20. Run-D.M.C., Run-D.M.C. (1984)

Run-D.M.C.; Pioneers, legends, superstars. This classic cover had to make the list!

19. Lauryn Hill, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998)

Firstly, it’s Lauryn Hill etched into a school desk. This album taught everyone a couple of things. No further explanation needed.

18. Snoop Doggy Dogg, Doggystyle (1993)

From the dogcatcher in the back to the Snoop Dogg lookalike on top of the dog house, this album cover is full of style, steeze, and comedy!

17. Eric B. & Rakim, Paid in Full (1987)

Money. Harlem was all about money. Eric B. and Rakim made it clear that they had it, and there was never any problem getting it! The Dapper Dan Gucci sweatsuits, the huge rope chains… The aesthetic of it all represents a very transitional era in the development of Hip-Hop music.

16. Ice Cube, Death Certificate (1991)

Ice Cube next to Uncle Sam’s corpse. No further explaining to do.

17. Missy Elliott, Supa Dupa Fly (1997)

Missy Elliott has always held more swag than most artists in the music industry, remaining humble and subtly stunting on everyone! This cover embodies exactly who she is; chilling for the moment… but don’t forget that she’s fly.

18. Wu-tang Clan, Enter the Wu-tang: 36 Chambers (1993)

This album cover is actually kind of wild. Firstly, no face, no case. Secondly, does the guy in the front have a finger gun? This album cover is great for its immense mystery.

17. Jay-Z, The Blueprint (2001)

Jay-Z wearing a Rocawear jean jacket smoking a cigar. He won.

16. A Tribe Called Quest, Midnight Marauders (1993)

The various facial expressions in the background, the bulging eyes… What do we look at first?! This album cover is great because it leaves so much space for interpretation, the colors on the cover represent so many things, and everyone would formulate their own meaning.

15. Kendrick Lamar, To Pimp a Butterfly (2015)

We need to take over the White House… and keep it. Bring our culture, our families, our music… make it OUR country. Simply put.

14. Kanye West, The College Dropout (2004)

We all know the bear. This bear costume (that Kanye FOUND, by the way) looks like any college student during the longest finals week ever: TIRED. The album cover is warm, relatable, and not complex; perfect in a sense.

13. Grandmaster Flash, The Source (1986)

Do we start off with the fly guy with this legs crossed, or old boy with the red leather hat to match his shoes? This album cover embodies the true start of Hip-Hop. B-boys, spitting bars in New York City’s uptown train station, even down the pager on homeboy’s hip!

12. Snoop Doggy Dogg, The Doggfather (1996)

The Godfather is a critically acclaimed cult classic, and Snoop Dogg actually might’ve done something, by simply switching 2 letters! This was Snoop’s final album on Death Row Records under his name of Snoop Doggy Dogg, and he was owning the game. The West coast made no moves without you hearing about Snoop, rightfully making him the Doggfather.

11. NWA, Straight Out of Compton (1988)

One of the most controversial groups, with one of the most rebellious albums of all time. These young men all banded together and shook the West coast with words that everyone in Compton couldn’t bring themselves to say.

10. The Fugees, The Score (1996)

Firstly, Lauryn Hill AND Wyclef Jean on ONE album cover… That’s art. The beauty lies in the minimal yet intense typography, and the 3 beautiful black faces.

9. Nas, Illmatic (1994)

This kid is too cute. Too cute for the cover, and too cute for the hood he reigns from. Nas showed that everyone was suffering and surviving, even the young.

8. Master P, The Ghettos Tryin To Kill Me! (1994)

The lace bra hanging from Master P’s name, the Boosie fade, my man creeping in the window “Cell Therapy” style… The lo-fi quality wraps it all together, you feel like you’re watching a movie, and you’ve barely even looked at the cover.

7. DMX, Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood (1998)

This album cover is bloody and gory, in every sense. Its beauty lies in the naive state of such a “Ruff” guy, and almost goes to show that the black man is one of the most sensitive species.

6. Redman, Dare Iz a Darkside (1994)

Redman is stuck buried in this Children of the Corn looking field, and its freaking me out. I love it.

5. Outkast, Stankonia (2000)

This album cover is great for 3 reasons: One, Andre 3000 was having an amazing hair day. Two, so was Big Boi. Thirdly, it calls out the entire country, so subtly, being a black and white world. We all knew… But did we really know?

4. Gang Starr, Daily Operation (1992)

Gang Starr is really giving off intellectual and successful vibes, and who doesn’t love that? “The goal is money, and this is how we get it. Don’t ask no questions, I thought this through.” Guys from the hood are smart too!

3. Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Return of the 36 Chambers (1995)

Have you seen the O.D.B tv special, where he took America into the food stamp office in Brooklyn, and got his money right? This man never cared, was never too embarrassed to live his life and let whoever wanted to look come and see. Hoping his unbothered soul is resting in peace.

2. The Notorious B.I.G., Ready to Die (1994)

Foreshadowing? This was Biggie’s debut album, and just as his career was being born, he was ready to die. Sadly, he would pass away 2 years after its release. But in those 2 short years, he conquered the world. He started off on top, and he achieved what he needed to; he was truly ready to die.

1. Geto Boys, We Can’t Be Stopped (1991)

This man… Is in a hospital bed. The rap trio is standing in a hospital, posed for an ALBUM COVER. Who was stopping the Geto Boys? NOTHING! They literally cannot be stopped, no matter the circumstance. This cover is full of hustle and desire to reach success, and has to be respected as THE most memorable. Who’s forgetting this?

Do you have any albums you think should’ve been on this list? Leave a comment below and let us know!

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1. I Ain’t No Joke

As dated as the Casio drums are, the jazzy sax loop does well to compliment the R’s off-kilter flow (just imagine how this sounded to a world that was used to The Beastie Boys and Run DMC) that he recently explained was derived from John Coltrane’s solos. Rakim lands a number of sly, poetic haymakers, particularly showing out on the second verse’s opening: “I got a question as serious as cancer / Who can keep the average dancer / Hyper as a heart attack…” The verses here are packed with such flavor–Ra even invents the word “imaginate,” which makes the perfect kind of sense you don’t question, you simply nod.

2. Eric B. Is On The Cut

Paid In Full was the studio debut and life investment of Rakim Allah and Eric Barrier. Do you know of any rap album where an artist or group, let alone an unproven one, was willing to leave the second track entirely for scratching? What?! Even though Rakim is clearly the frontman, and the member infinitely more praised through history, he still shares the album rather evenly with his DJ. After all, it isn’t “Rakim & Eric B” on that cover.

3. My Melody

So after a hookless barrage of rhymes and an all-instrumental-and-scratch cut, we make it to “My Melody,” the head-nod inducing, nearly seven-minute demonstration of Rakim’s mastery of rhyme. The God MC spits verse after seemingly endless verse of fluid funk; listen to the way he spells his name in the first verse, “My name is the R / A K I M not like the rest of them, I’m not on a list.” Not only did he speed up by almost double when hitting that second line, but he also threw in an internal rhyme before moving along. Not like the rest of them indeed. Eric B scratches the title for a hook, and this one winds up equal parts clinic and celebration.

4. I Know You Got Soul

In the first 16 or so bars, Rakim shows off what feels like 50 different flows, all custom made to fit the bouncy, playful beat of “I Know You Got Soul.” After inviting us in with some simpler rhymes about how we should “follow the leader,” dance, or clap our hands, Ra gets a bit more poetic, spitting lines that were eventually borrowed by Mos Def: “I start to think and then I sink / Into the paper like I was ink / When I’m writing, I’m trapped in between the lines / I escape when I finish the rhyme…” That there is the reason why Rakim was lauded as coming from another universe of MCing, and the reason those in 1994 saw a young Nas as his second coming.

5. Move The Crowd

No beat on Paid In Fullis chunkier, stranger sounding, more ’80s, or full of flavor than “Move The Crowd.” The stiff, ridiculously heavy bass, triumphant horn loop, and that unorthodox snare snap–the beat almost shines as bright as Ra. Eric displays his best scratching of the entire album as well, crafting a solid title-based hook. Rakim also notably shouts out Allah and drops some 5% knowledge about his 360 degrees.

6. Paid In Full

The title track is also the most lasting hit of the record. While this might be because of the inviting, minimal beat, driven by a now iconic but almost unassuming bass line, it’s more likely because of the pure poetry of Rakim’s rhymes, and just how well that intersected with his particularly sing-songy, melodic flow here. Every day, a few more rappers of varying ability quote and paraphrase that opening bar, “Thinkin’ of a master plan…/ ‘Cause ain’t nothing but sweat inside my hand,” and not once has anyone followed those lines with anything that matches the pure, crisp summation of Rakim’s life that follows. Self-mythologizing is one of rap’s oldest traditions, and “Paid In Full” has many of the best examples–“I start my mission, leave my residence”–as well as some unprecedented wordplay–“Don’t nothing move but the money.” Rakim plays parts both enlightened and threatening with confident ease.

7. As The Rhyme Goes On

No one, no one, rhymed stuff like “mix and” with “quick sand” in 1986. No one had metaphors/similes like “I draw crowds like an architect.” Rakim’s attitude and prowess come across on full display here again, and somehow he pulls off spelling his name out for the second time on the same album: “I’m the R, the A, to the K I M / If I wasn’t, then why would I say I am?” You may recognize that cadence from Eminem‘s “The Way I Am”; the sheer number of legends to pay respects to the God MC, and this album in particular, is simply astounding.

8. Chinese Arithmetic

Another instrumental cut! Out of nowhere, Eric B comes in playing around with the melody that is for some reason regarded as the sound of China, and gives us some sort of repetitive, albeit pretty dope, scratches, mixed in with some wild sounds. What is that water-pouring effect doing there though? The track is a bit of a mess, an unseemly sign of the times that, if anything, reminds us just how ahead of its time the rest of the album was.

9. Eric B. Is President

“Thank you, DJs” a recorded voice says, bolstering the support for the disc-jockey community that we’ve already heard throughout the LP. Rakim goes particularly wild with the flow on the second verse, and is matched by some funky organ stabs. The way Ra subtly plays with his inflection and where the linebreak cuts off his phrases is just nuts. Check out an extended quote.

But can you detect what’s coming next from the flex of the wrist
Say indeed and I’ll proceed cause my man made a mix
If he bleed he won’t need no band-aid to fix
His fingertips sew a rhyme until there’s no rhymes left
I hurry up because the cut will make ’em bleed to death
But he’s kicking it cause it ain’t no half stepping
The party is live, the rhyme can’t be kept in-
Side, it needs erupting just like a volcano
It ain’t the everyday style or the same old

10. Extended Beat

The God went out on such a high note on “Eric B. Is President” that he leaves the whole last cut to E to play a little more “Move The Crowd.”

In conclusion: Sure, Paid In Full is full of wack ’80s sound effects and every now and then Rakim says things like “I drop science like a scientist,” but for the majority of the album, this man nonchalantly reinvents the way the hip-hop weapon can be wielded more times than even he can count. Wish this classic a happy birthday–it’s still aging well.

The post Listening to Eric B & Rakim’s Paid In Full On Its 27th Birthday appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Eric B & Rakim‘s Paid In Full is still one of hip-hop’s most treasured albums, and the God MC, as he’s often called, is still heralded as one of the art’s biggest innovators, in terms of wit and rhythm. Now, you can hear it directly from the man himself–he kicks off the interview by blatantly stating that the way he shaped his flow on Paid In Full, (which was the only way hip-hop got from the rigidity of flows like “Rapper’s Delight” to all of the complex rhyming that we have today) is modeled directly after John Coltrane‘s solos. Keep listening to learn how a skeptical young Ra met Eric B at a time when he would have rather played football than make a rap album amidst other remembered gems. Check out RBMAradio.com for more dope interviews.

The post Paid In Full Turns 27 Today, Here’s A Great Rakim Interview appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.