Consumer Guide Album

Eric B. & Rakim: Don't Sweat the Technique [MCA, 1992]
Rakim didn't really frag that general in Iraq--wasn't even there. He's just trafficking in the metaphors nightmares are made of, exploiting the interface between horror movies and the postmodern imagination. Putting it literally: "My intellect wrecks and disconnects/Your cerebral cortex/Your cerebellum is next." And metaphorically: "I took a kid and cut off his eyelids/Killing him slow so he could see what I did/And if he don't understand what I said/I push in his eyeballs way to the back of his head/So he could see what he's getting into/A part of the mind that he's never been to." As for the star of the show, Rakim calls Eric B.'s new groove--a jazzy minimalist funk trailing uncentered horn hooks--relaxing with pep. When he hits it right, it's like the mouth you love doing the spot you forgot. A−