Rakim

William Michael Griffin Jr. (born January 28, 1968), better known by his stage name Rakim, is an American rapper.

Then known as Kid Wizard, he made his first recordings live at Wyandanch High School in the year 1985.

First meeting in 1985, Eric B.. and Rakim went on to release four studio albums before their separation in 1992.

The duo were described by journalist Tom Terrell of NPR as "the most influential DJ/MC combo in contemporary pop music period", while the editors of About.com ranked them as No. 4 on their list of the 10 Greatest Hip-Hop Duos of All-Time.

Rakim was initially introduced to the Nation of Islam in 1986; he later joined The Nation of Gods and Earths (also known as the 5 Percent Nation) and adopted the Arabic name Rakim Allah.

He also chose to use “Rakim Allah” as his stage name, although it was most often shortened to simply “Rakim”.

During his career he has been nicknamed the "God MC" because of his acclaimed status as an MC and a reference to the "Allah" in his stage name, which is the Arabic word for God.

The first tracks they recorded—"Eric B.. Is President" and "My Melody"—were released as a single/b-side on the independent Zakia Records in 1986.

He is one half of golden age hip hop duo Eric B.. & Rakim, with whom he released four albums: Paid in Full (1987), Follow the Leader (1988), Let the Rhythm Hit 'Em (1990), and Don't Sweat the Technique (1992).

The editors of About.com ranked him No. 2 on their list of the 'Top 50 MCs of Our Time (1987–2007)'.

After Def Jam Recordings founder Russell Simmons heard the single, the duo were signed to Island Records and began recording the album in Manhattan's Power Play Studios in early 1987.

On July 7, 1987, the duo released their debut album, Paid in Full, on the Island-subsidiary label 4th & B'way Records.

The album peaked at No. 58 on the Billboard 200 chart and produced five singles: "Eric B.. Is President", "I Ain't No Joke", "I Know You Got Soul", "Move the Crowd", and "Paid in Full".

While its singles attained moderate success, Follow the Leader performed better on music charts than Eric B.. & Rakim's debut album and reached number 22 on the U.S. Billboard Pop Albums chart.

It has been certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for shipments in excess of 500,000 copies in the United States.

Released during hip hop's "golden age", the album was well received by critics and has since been recognized by music writers as one of the most groundbreaking and influential hip hop albums of all time.

American author William Jelani Cobb wrote of the album's significance, "On the heels of Paid in Full, Eric B.. & Rakim delivered a full clip of album titled Follow the Leader in 1988. Featuring a broader spectrum of sounds than the James Brown samples that had defined the initial release, Follow the Leader saw Rakim at his most lyrically fierce, issuing deft and death threats on such tracks as 'Microphone Fiend,' 'Lyrics of Fury,' and the nearly felonious 'No Competition.' The release marked the high point in the collaboration between the two and prefaced the long slide they faced in the 1990s."

The back cover features a dedication to the memories of Rakim's father William and producer Paul C., who had worked on many of the album's tracks before his murder in July 1989.

His protégé Large Professor completed his work.

Let the Rhythm Hit 'Em, released in 1990, was Eric B.. & Rakim's third album.

This album saw the duo's sound develop further, with Rakim adopting a deeper, more aggressive tone of voice, as well as more mature and serious subject matter.

Musically, the production ranges from smoother soulful tracks such as "In the Ghetto" to the hard-edged assault of the title track.

Though it could not support singles as popular as the duo's previous albums, it is considered by many to be the duo's most coherent album.

It is one of the few albums to have received a "five-mic" rating from The Source.

He also released three solo albums: The 18th Letter (1997), The Master (1999), and The Seventh Seal (2009).

Rakim is considered a transformative figure in hip hop for raising the bar for MC technique higher than it had ever been.

Rakim helped to pioneer the use of internal rhymes and multisyllabic rhymes, and he was among the first to demonstrate the possibilities of sitting down to write intricately crafted lyrics packed with clever word choices and metaphors rather than the more improvisational styles and simpler rhyme patterns that predominated before him.

Rakim is also credited with creating the overall shift from the more simplistic old school flows to more complex flows.

Rapper Kool Moe Dee explained that before Rakim, the term 'flow' wasn't widely used – "Rakim is basically the inventor of flow. We were not even using the word flow until Rakim came along. It was called rhyming, it was called cadence, but it wasn't called flow. Rakim created flow!"

In 1998, the album was selected as one of The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums.

Paid in Full was named the greatest hip hop album of all time by MTV in 2006, while Rakim himself was ranked No. 4 on MTV's list of the Greatest MCs of All Time.

Steve Huey of AllMusic stated that "Rakim is near-universally acknowledged as one of the greatest MCs – perhaps the greatest – of all time within the hip-hop community".

They were nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011, although they did not make the final selection.

After Rakim responded to Eric B..'s search for "New York's top MC", Eric B..'s friend and roommate Marley Marl allowed them to use his home studio.

In 2012, The Source ranked him No. 1 on their list of the "Top 50 Lyricists of All Time".

Rakim is the nephew of the late R&B singer and actress Ruth Brown.

He grew up in Wyandanch, New York on Long Island.

He wrote his first rhyme at seven years old, about the cartoon character Mickey Mouse.

He initially aspired to play professional football, and was a quarterback on his high school football team.

However, after being introduced to local DJ Eric B.. by his friend Alvin Toney, he began writing lyrics to fit Eric's instrumentals and chose instead to focus on a career in music.