Review:

on 2011-04-22 CharlesMartel Said:

I first listened to this when a well-meaning friend decided that I needed to be introduced to what he regarded as the best of hip-hop and sat me down and proceeded to play me several of what he said were the greatest albums of the genre. Now I could not listen to six or seven albums straight off of any genre - the lack of variety would get tedious - and therefore being asked to do this for a genre which had hitherto had absolutely no appeal to me was, in retrospect, probably an exercise in futility. "Paid in Full" came towards the end of the list and, I will admit, by the time it came on, I was in no mood to compromise. I had had enough.

Now, having taken another bashing at the hands of some fans on a message board thread on hip-hop elsewhere, I felt that I may have been overly harsh and decided to give this, and another highly rated album which also came towards the end of that evening's listening pleasure, "Illmatic", another chance. I sought the advice of one of the more knowledgeable hip hop fans around, as to what to look out for and he kindly provided me with some pointers. So, I downloaded six tracks of the album (as I would do with any album I am checking to see if it worth buying), uploaded them onto the iPod and gave them a week of listening.

Just before I go any further, in case anyone wonders, though there is no reason why you should, I write reviews totally subjectively. I am listening to it and I am not doing so to fit in with the crowd or to please anyone else. Just because others rate an album as a classic does not mean that it is going to get the same status from me, and there are reviews to "Sgt. Pepper", "Loveless" and "Grace" around to testify to that.

To begin with I will put aside the fact that this album is nearly twenty years old. To me the production sounds empty and tinny, but I am prepared to accept that, in these relatively early days of hip hop, a distinct production technique was still evolving. In some ways the production is quite quaint - it has an almost live feel to it as if it was recorded in one take - which provides an atmosphere if nothing else. I will take as read Rakim's status as an MC way ahead of his time and therefore see this album as being the first, rather than the latest, of a particular style of MC-ing.

My standard criticisms of hip hop are, particularly with relation to gangsta, the odious persona which goes with it and the straining of the language to fit artificial rhythms determined by beat rather than the natural flow of stressed and unstressed syllables, what I describe as the difference between poetry and doggerel. Thankfully, "Paid in Full" avoids the first trap. There are no macho-man drug dealers smacking up their bitches, so a plus there. As for the poetry-doggerel argument, listening to it I could detect the occasional strain on the English language, but it was nowhere near as overpowering as some and did not dominate to the extent, as has been the case with some other hip hop albums I have heard, that you find yourself, almost subconsciously, ignoring everything else and waiting for the next inappropriate stress. Another plus.

Unfortunately, the plusses stop there. I was advised to pay attention to the lyrical content. Now it may have been unfortunate in terms of the six tracks I downloaded, but of them, one, "Chinese Arithmetic", was an instrumental and the lyrical content of the other five seemed to revolve around I'm Rakim, I'm an MC. He's Eric, he's a DJ. Twice I heard the same reference to MC standing for move the crowd. Now self-promotion on songs - any songs - always strikes me as a bit naff. On five out of six it is just over the top. A concept album? Hmm, OK it's not about the hobbits beloved of the prog rockers, or wizards and demons of metal, but I find it hard to believe that anyone could make a concept album out of being a rapper and, just as if someone made a concept album out being a guitarist or a rock singer, the subject would not be something which gives me any satisfaction.

As for the beats, well, given that this was 20 years ago and the style was still comparatively new, the sampling comes off as interesting at first. But after six tracks of "chi-ah, chi-ah, chi-ah" vinyl scratching, the novelty quickly wears off. By the time I got round to "Chinese Arithmetic" there was not enough innovation, in my book, to hold an instrumental.

So how do I rate this? I will accept that the one star I gave it was probably a little harsh and that, for the innovation of its time it deserves more. If I had bought this I would have done so on a recommendation only and by my rating criteria, adjusted for the non-purchase, that's three stars.
Rating: 3/10