Rakim

Rakim was born William Michael Griffin Jr. in 1968 and grew up in Wyandanch, Long Island. He started rapping after meeting DJ Eric B., and their first single together was "Eric B. Is President" in 1986. That track introduced his dense, internal rhyme patterns and a more relaxed vocal delivery that felt less like shouting and more like conversation.

With Eric B., he released albums like Follow the Leader in 1988 and Let the Rhythm Hit 'Em in 1990. Songs from that period, including "Let The Rhythm Hit Em" and "Documentary Of a Gangsta," showed how he could build complex verses without losing the groove. His writing drew from Muhammad Ali's cadences and some reggae rhythms he'd heard growing up.

After the partnership with Eric B. ended, Rakim kept recording on his own. The 18th Letter came out in 1997, followed by The Master in 1999 and The Seventh Seal in 2009. He never stopped working on his technique, as later tracks like "How To Emcee" and "King's Paradise" make clear. The domestic dispute that got attention in the early 2000s didn't change how other rappers talked about him.

You can hear his approach in the way later artists from the Notorious B.I.G. to Kendrick Lamar structure their lines. He treated the microphone differently, and that shift is still part of how people think about writing rhymes.