Album · Eric B & Rakim
Paid in Full by Eric B & Rakim
Paid in Full is an album by Eric B & Rakim, released in 1987. 3 songs from it have charted on rock radio countdowns, with 7 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “Paid In Full”, on 5 lists with a best position of #27.
Paid in Full, the debut album from Eric B. & Rakim, came out on Island's 4th & B'way label on July 7, 1987, and hip-hop hasn't been the same since. The pairing came about when Rakim answered Eric B.'s hunt for a rapper to go with his DJing, and they cut the record at Marley Marl's home studio and Power Play Studios in New York City.
Eric B.'s beats are built from heavy, clever sampling, lean and hard as a subway rail, and Rakim rides them cool as ice, stacking internal rhymes with a precision that raised the bar for every MC who came after. Five singles came off it: "Eric B. Is President", "I Ain't No Joke", "I Know You Got Soul", "Move the Crowd" and the title track. It went platinum in 1995, and in 2020 Rolling Stone ranked it number 61 on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Follow the Leader was next.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from Paid in Full on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paid In Full | 5 | #27 | – | 1987–2026 | |
| 2 | I Know You Got Soul | 1 | #36 | – | 1987 | |
| 3 | I Ain't No Joke | 1 | #727 | – | 2024 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.