Nas honours Rakim on the Hip Hop Grandmaster Awards

Throughout the Hip Hop Grandmaster Awards, Nas paid tribute to the golden age of hip-hop legend Rakim. 

Notably, Rakim made his identify as a part of the duo Eric B and Rakim, one of the influential acts within the style within the Nineteen Eighties and early Nineteen Nineties. Songs corresponding to ‘Paid in Full’, ‘Follow the Leader’ and ‘Don’t Sweat the Method’ shaped cornerstones of each MC and DJ tradition and had been inspirational to lots of Nas’ era. 

The Hip Hop Grandmaster Awards occurred in Las Vegas on November 18th, and began with the Illmatic rapper reciting a portion of the lyrics from Eric B and Rakim’s ‘Paid in Full’. Following this, Nas then paid tribute to Rakim and his impact on him creating his distinctive fashion. 

“That verse — that music, ‘Paid In Full’ — stated, ‘I can think it,’” he began. “Because of you, my brother, I made it,” Nas said to Rakim. 

“Because of Doug E. Fresh, Flavor Flav, I gotta shout out all my heroes.” Nas also honoured fellow inductee and Geto Boys rap legend Scarface, before continuing: “Because of y’all, I made it. And I’m endlessly in debt to y’all.”

The Hip Hop Grandmaster Awards noticed Rakim and Scarface take dwelling the inaugural grant from the Paid In Full Foundation, which honours their respective contributions to tradition and society. 100% of the online proceeds raised from the occasion will profit the Basis’s assist of hip-hop legends. 

Elsewhere, in July, Lord Jamar defined why the rap neighborhood views Rakim as a lesser figure than Nas. He instructed VladTV: “Rakim doesn’t have as many albums. We’re still talking about Rakim from his Paid In Full album. That masterpiece, how many albums does Rakim have in total? Nas got mad [amount] of albums Jay-Z got mad albums. I think Rakim might not have more than three.”

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