June 25, 2018 | Abby O’Neill — It had been nearly a decade since Rakim released new music, but that drought ended Friday when the godfather of rap lyricism and one half of the revered duo Eric B & Rakim released a new song, “King’s Paradise.” The track was written for Season 2 of Marvel’s Luke Cage, which premiered on Netflix the same day, but it wasn’t entirely new to select NPR staff; they heard it days earlier when the God MC performed at the Tiny Desk.
The New York rap icon wasn’t the only legend in the building that day. Ali Shaheed Muhammad of A Tribe Called Quest — who produced and co-wrote “King’s Paradise” with keyboardist Adrian Younge under their new project The Midnight Hour — played bass, and rising blues torchbearer Christone “Kingfish” Ingram sat in on guitar.
“King’s Paradise” pays homage to the heroes of the Harlem Renaissance as well as its fictional superhero, the bulletproof Luke Cage. Rakim tipped his hat to Philip Payton Jr., Joe Lewis, Lena Horne, Malcolm X, Maya Angelou and Louis Armstrong, before concluding with a few bars about the comic book-inspired series.
Younge then led the nine-member backing band through two of Rakim’s undeniable classics: “Paid in Full” and “Know the Ledge.” For the former, drummer David Henderson rolled right in with the unmistakable breakbeat, — originally sampled from The Soul Searchers “Ashley’s Roachclip.” Muhammad, who’s been playing bass since age 19 despite being known for his production and DJ work, provided the low end for “Know The Ledge.”
Rakim released his first single 32 years ago, yet the timbre of his voice and Dali Llama aura remain strong. Let’s hope this is the beginning of another renaissance.
Set List
“King’s Paradise”
“Paid In Full”
“Know The Ledge”
MUSICIANS
Rakim (vocals), Adrian Younge (keys), Ali Shaheed Muhammad (bass), Jack Waterson (guitar), David Henderson (drums), Loren Oden (vocals), Saudia Mills (vocals), Angela Munoz (vocals), Stephanie Yu (violin), Bryan Hernandez-Luch (violin), DeAndre Shaifer (trumpet) , Jordan Pettay (saxophone), Joi Gilliam (vocalist), Christone Ingram (Kingfish) (guitar)
CREDITS
Producers: Abby O’Neill, Morgan Noelle Smith; Creative Director: Bob Boilen; Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin; Videographers: Morgan Noelle Smith, Khun Minn Ohn, Maia Stern, Beck Harlan, Kara Frame; Production Assistants: Catherine Zhang, Téa Mottolese; Photo: Eslah Attar/NPR.
How do you love rap when rap doesn’t love you back? From Rico Nasty’s harassment from toxic Carti fans, to Saucy Santana's unapologetically femme aesthetics in a queerphobic industry, to the assault case that put Megan Thee Stallion’s entire image on trial, each episode of Louder Than A Riot – the second season of our investigative hip-hop podcast – unpacks the unspoken rules of rap that hold the entire culture back. Tap in to our first episode at https://n.pr/louder-season-2.
"The only lady he ever loved is life is gone. Escaped prison to fight, to right his wrong. No question. He gonna take on the whole hood, he in a holey hoodie, no weapons, no cape on."
Rahim still a goat at dropping BARS. Word play is crazy.
I've known rakim since the early days. Been through the good and the best times together. We used to kick it on the streets as kids. He's been rhyming since the age of about 4yrs old. Honestly, he's one of the best, if not the best. We used to do rhyme after rhyme on the streets. And as kids it was just a bit of fun. As we grew up we got more into it, but because it was so hard to get a record deal rakim wanted to quit. I told him no. He was that good that his break will come. And it did. Oh boy it did. We got with Eric and it just blew up. He wanted me to join him but I didn't want to be famous. So I told him this is something he must do alone. Which he fully understood. We worked on many tracks together. He's is a legend. As you can see in this video, he just flows. We still hook up every week or so for a catch up. And kick it… old school .
How do you love rap when rap doesn’t love you back? From Rico Nasty’s harassment from toxic Carti fans, to Saucy Santana's unapologetically femme aesthetics in a queerphobic industry, to the assault case that put Megan Thee Stallion’s entire image on trial, each episode of Louder Than A Riot – the second season of our investigative hip-hop podcast – unpacks the unspoken rules of rap that hold the entire culture back. Tap in to our first episode at https://n.pr/louder-season-2.
The reasons to why he's been one of our favorite Artist growing up, blessed to be apart this era of CLASSIC!
RAKIM THE GOD
❤ We got KINGFISH on the Guitar … IM HERE APPRECIATION
Master of the rap game.
A big s/o to Ali Shaheed Muhammad
"The only lady he ever loved is life is gone. Escaped prison to fight, to right his wrong. No question. He gonna take on the whole hood, he in a holey hoodie, no weapons, no cape on."
Rahim still a goat at dropping BARS. Word play is crazy.
G.O.A.T
All I wanna see are blk folx musicians plz n thnx
Rakim needs a DO OVER!!!!
My dad used to always talk about this dude he use to say these dudes today don’t got nothing on Rakim lol
Rakim…The One and Only…Continual Flow…❤
2:10, this dude did Jade Cargill's theme too
Gotta fix the teeth man
Kingfish came in full
Respect
Salvation is found in Jesus Christ . Jesus Christ loves you all
I've known rakim since the early days. Been through the good and the best times together.
We used to kick it on the streets as kids. He's been rhyming since the age of about 4yrs old. Honestly, he's one of the best, if not the best. We used to do rhyme after rhyme on the streets. And as kids it was just a bit of fun. As we grew up we got more into it, but because it was so hard to get a record deal rakim wanted to quit. I told him no. He was that good that his break will come.
And it did. Oh boy it did.
We got with Eric and it just blew up. He wanted me to join him but I didn't want to be famous. So I told him this is something he must do alone. Which he fully understood. We worked on many tracks together. He's is a legend. As you can see in this video, he just flows.
We still hook up every week or so for a catch up. And kick it… old school .
Beautiful and class!
Being a blues head and a Kingfish fan made me a Rakim fan today.
Much LOVE from NEPAL!!!
Ali Shaheed Ill on the bass Kid !!!
Rakim Allah & KRS the Illest ever Kid !!!
THE GOD, THE GREATEST MC THAT EVER WALKED THIS EARTH, RAKIM ALLAH!!!
GOD MC
Don't Sweat The TechniqueeeeeE
Rakim, The Living Hip Hop, R&B, Jazz, Rap, Musical Legend.
The Living Hip Hop, R&B, Jazz, Rap, Musical Legend.