Tracks 7 and 8 from Eric B. & Rakim's Let The Rhythm Hit 'Em (1990)

Tracks 9 and 10 from Eric B. & Rakim's Don't Sweat The Technique (1992)

Track 11 from Gunmen (Music From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (1993)

Track 16 from Rakim's The Archive: Live, Lost & Found (2008)

Track 17 from Rakim's The Seventh Seal (2009)

Track 18 from Luke Cage: Season 2 (2018)

Obviously, Rakim's legacy is primarily his work with Eric B., but they only made 4 albums together, so I had plenty of room to collect some of Rakim's excellent solo work as well. He got to work with some great producers including DJ Premier ("Waiting For The World To End"), Pete Rock ("When I'm Flowin'"), Just Blaze ("It's Nothing").Rakim made a cameo in Juelz Santana's 2004 video "Mic Check," and a few years later "Mic Check" producer Neo Da Matrix made a similar beat for Rakim's "Satisfaction Guaranteed" and it's a pretty hard song. I was always bitter that Rakim's tenure on Aftermath Records never resulted in an album, especially because Rakim's verse on Jay-Z's "The Watcher 2" in that era was amazing. But then, the Denaun Porter beat on "R.A.K.I.M." from the 8 Mile soundtrack is awful, easily the worst song here, maybe the album would've sounded more like that. 

Back in 2013, Rakim had a Baltimore show coming up and I got the opportunity to interview him for City Paper. It was just an e-mail interview, but it was still exciting to send some questions to one of the greatest most influential rappers to ever touch a mic and get some thoughtful answers back. 

Eminem quoted "As The Rhyme Goes On" on the chorus of "The Way I Am." Jay-Z quoted different lines from "No Competition" on "S. Carter" and his "We Made It" remix. Big Daddy Kane sampled "Put Your Hands Together" on "Smooth Operator." Tricky sampled "To The Listeners" on "Makes Me Wanna Die." Redman sampled "Lyrics of Fury" on "Rated R." Salt-N-Pepa referenced "Relax With Pep" on "Whatta Man."