"Paid in Full" | ||||
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Single by Eric B. & Rakim | ||||
from the album Paid in Full | ||||
B-side | "Eric B. Is on the Cut" | |||
Released | 1987 | |||
Genre | Hip hop | |||
Length | 3:48 (single and album version) 7:10 (Coldcut "Seven Minutes of Madness" remix) | |||
Label | 4th & B'way | |||
Songwriter(s) | Eric Barrier, Rakim Allah | |||
Producer(s) | Eric B. & Rakim | |||
Eric B. & Rakim singles chronology | ||||
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Audio sample | ||||
Music video | ||||
"Paid in Full" on YouTube |
"Paid in Full" is a 1987 song by American hip hop duo Eric B. &Rakim. Written and produced by group members Eric Barrier and Rakim Allah,the song was released as the fifth single from the duo's debut studio album of the same name. It became one of the group's most successful singles,owing heavily to a popular remix of the song by English electronic dance music duo Coldcut.
In 1985,Eric B. launched a search for a rapper to complement his turntable work at the WBLS radio station in New York City. Rakim responded to his search,and the two later began to record tracks together in the home studio of one of Rakim's close friends,Marley Marl. [1] After Def Jam Recordings founder Russell Simmons heard the duo's debut single "Eric B. Is President",he signed them to Island Records and began recording their debut studio album in early 1987,alternating between Marley Marl's home studio and Manhattan's Power Play Studios. [1] The resulting album, Paid in Full ,was released in July 1987.
English dance music duo Coldcut were commissioned to produce a remix of the song to be included on the "Paid in Full" single,with the result being given the subtitle "Seven Minutes of Madness". [2] When "Paid in Full" was eventually released as the album's fifth and final single,it became a hit in American clubs. [2] It experienced much more commercial success overseas,however,thanks largely to the Coldcut remix. "Seven Minutes of Madness" became one of the first commercially successful remixes,becoming a top fifteen hit in countries such as Germany,the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. [2] [3] [4] [5] Coldcut were paid 700 pounds for their remix work. Despite its success,Eric B. dismissed the remix as "girly disco music";Rakim,however,called it the best remix he had ever heard. [6] Along with the track,"Move the Crowd","Paid in Full" peaked at #3 on the US Hot Dance Club Play chart. [7]
Like much of the duo's output,"Paid in Full" –produced by Eric B. &Rakim themselves –utilizes several sampled elements. To construct the song's drum track,Eric B. looped a portion from "Ashley's Roachclip",a 1974 song by funk group The Soul Searchers. [8] The bassline was sampled from "Don't Look Any Further" by singers Dennis Edwards and Siedah Garrett. [9] Towards the end of the track,Eric B. also repeatedly scratches the line "This stuff is really fresh!" from "Change the Beat",a much-sampled record by hip hop pioneer Fab 5 Freddy. [10]
Coldcut's remix of "Paid in Full" has been described as a selective remix –one which adds or subtracts material from the original composition. [11] Coldcut incorporated several new elements in producing their remix,including the addition of various vocal samples. [11] The most prominent of these samples was the voice of Israeli singer Ofra Haza,taken from her recording of "Im Nin'alu". [2] Jonathan More of Coldcut had previously played the Haza record in clubs and found that when he lowered its pitch,it synced perfectly with the "Ashley's Roachclip" drum sample. [6] The success of the remix helped thrust Haza into the public eye. "Im Nin'alu" was remixed and released as a single in its own right,and sales of Haza's 1984 album Yemenite Songs increased dramatically. [12] Haza only took issue to the fact that she was not informed of the sample. [12] Another notable element of the Coldcut remix is its opening vocal sample,"This is a journey into sound!" –the voice of British actor Geoffrey Sumner. [13] "Now wait a minute,you better talk to my mother" comes from Humphrey Bogart and the 1946 classic film The Big Sleep . An actor portrayed Bogart for this portion in the music video. [14] The lines "Pump up the volume" and "Def with the record" are sampled from Eric B. &Rakim's own song "I Know You Got Soul",also from Paid in Full. [2] Other sample sources present in the remix include an anonymous James Brown,Don Pardo,the Peech Boys and the Salsoul Orchestra. "Paid In Full" is believed to be the first hip hop record to implement layers of singing vocal samples over a drumbeat. [15]
“Paid in Full”was one of three songs the duo recorded at Power Play studios the night before a record label deadline. Engineer Elai Tubo substituted for Patrick Adams,who engineered most of the tracks on the album but was too tired to work another overnight session. Rakim wrote the lyrics in about five minutes,just before recording,and Eric B added the ad-lib at the end to lengthen the song. [16]
"Paid in Full" received acclaim from music critics,who complimented the song's lyrics and production.
British DJ and presenter of radio and television Tim Westwood picked it as one of his favourites in 1995,adding,"This defines the sound of hip hop for years to come. Rakim was the greatest lyricist of all time. Incredible lyrics –they conjure up incredible imagery." [17]
Rolling Stone magazine named "Paid in Full" the tenth greatest hip hop song of all time and number 132nd best song on their "Top 500 Best Songs of All Time". [18] Rakim's wordplay was praised and comparisons were drawn to American jazz musician John Coltrane:"[Rakim's] incandescent thought-bubble rap –barely a minute long –is all iced flow and sly beat-dodging,a good-vs.-evil meditation that calmly frames thug life inside real-life economics and a novelist's eye for detail." [19] In 2022,the magazine ranked it number 36 in their list of "200 Greatest Dance Songs of All Time". [20] VH1 placed the song at number 24 on their list of the "100 Greatest Hip Hop Songs". [21]
The Coldcut remix has also been acclaimed,with its utilization of samples –particularly that of "Im Nin'alu" –being complimented. Dorian Lynskey of The Guardian named it a "benchmark remix" and placed it in his top ten list of remixes. [13] Chuck Eddy of Spin called the remix Coldcut's "greatest moment". [15]
The official music video was directed by Bruno Tilley,who was the in-house art director and later creative director at 4th &B'way's parent company Island Records. [22]
Chart (1987–88) | Peak position |
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France (SNEP) [23] | 49 |
Netherlands (Single Top 100) [4] | 5 |
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ) [24] | 2 |
UK Singles (OCC) [5] | 15 |
US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs ( Billboard ) [25] | 65 |
West Germany (Official German Charts) [3] | 27 |
Coldcut are an English electronic music duo composed of Matt Black and Jonathan More. Credited as pioneers for pop sampling in the 1980s,Coldcut are also considered the first stars of UK electronic dance music due to their innovative style,which featured cut-up samples of hip-hop,soul,funk,spoken word and various other types of music,as well as video and multimedia. According to Spin,"in '87 Coldcut pioneered the British fad for 'DJ records'".
Ofra Haza was an Israeli singer,songwriter and actress,commonly known in the Western world as "the Madonna of the East",or "the Israeli Madonna". Her voice has been described as a "tender" mezzo-soprano. In 2023,Rolling Stone ranked Haza at number 186 on its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.
Eric B. &Rakim are an American hip hop duo formed on Long Island,New York,in 1986,composed of DJ Eric B. and rapper Rakim. They first received acclaim for their 1987 debut album Paid in Full,which featured versions of the popular singles "Eric B. Is President" and the title track. They followed with three successful albums:Follow the Leader (1988),Let the Rhythm Hit 'Em (1990),and Don't Sweat the Technique (1992).
William Michael Griffin Jr.,better known by his stage name Rakim,is an American rapper. 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). He also released three solo albums:The 18th Letter (1997),The Master (1999),and The Seventh Seal (2009).
Follow the Leader is the second studio album by American hip hop duo Eric B. &Rakim,released on July 26,1988. Following their debut album Paid in Full (1987),Eric B. &Rakim left 4th &B'way Records and signed with Uni Records,a subsidiary label of major label MCA Records. They recorded Follow the Leader at Power Play Studios in New York City. The duo produced,composed,and arranged the album with additional contributions from Rakim's brother Stevie Blass Griffin,who contributed with various instruments. Eric B. &Rakim worked with audio engineers Carlton Batts and Patrick Adams on the album. In a similar manner to their first album,a "ghost producer" was brought in for two songs. In a 2007 interview with Unkut.com,The 45 King said he produced both "Microphone Fiend" and "The R". "Microphone Fiend" was originally made for Fab 5 Freddy,until 45 King gave it over to Eric B.,the group's "DJ".
Louis Eric Barrier is an American rapper,record producer,DJ,and actor from New York City. One half of the golden age hip hop duo Eric B. &Rakim,he formed the group in 1986 and served as its primary producer and DJ. Their debut album,Paid in Full (1987) was named the greatest hip hop album of all time by MTV in 2006,and the duo were nominated in 2011 for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Paid in Full is the debut studio album by American hip hop duo Eric B. &Rakim,released on July 7,1987,by Island-subsidiary label 4th &B'way Records. The duo recorded the album at hip hop producer Marley Marl's home studio and Power Play Studios in New York City,following Rakim's response to Eric B.'s search for a rapper to complement his disc jockey work in 1985. The album peaked at number fifty-eight on the Billboard 200 chart,number eight on the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums 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".
"Pump Up the Volume" is the only single by British recording act M|A|R|R|S. Recorded and released in 1987,it was a number-one hit in many countries and is regarded as a significant milestone in the development of British house music and music sampling. The song derives its title directly from a lyrical sample from "I Know You Got Soul",a hit single by labelmates Eric B. &Rakim,released months prior in that same year.
Let the Rhythm Hit ’Em is the third studio album by hip hop duo Eric B. &Rakim,released on June 19,1990. The group's sound develops further,with Rakim adopting a deeper,more aggressive tone of voice,and 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 "Let the Rhythm Hit ’Em."
"I Know You Got Soul" is a song recorded by Eric B. &Rakim in 1987. A commercial and artistic success,it was ranked #23 by Rolling Stone on their list of Top 50 hip-hop songs,and #396 on their list of 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
"Im Nin'alu" is a Hebrew poem by 17th-century Rabbi Shalom Shabazi. It has been placed to music and sung by Israeli singer Ofra Haza and others. Haza first performed this song with the Shechunat Hatikva Workshop Theatre,appearing on television on IBA's General Television in 1978. The original version was included on the 1984 album Yemenite Songs,also known as Fifty Gates of Wisdom. The remixed version was part of her international debut Shaday of 1988.
"Girls Around the World" is a song by American recording artist Lloyd. The song features rapper Lil Wayne and was written by Lloyd and Lil Wayne,along with Eric Barrier and William Griffin. The song was produced by his production team,Big Reese and Jasper Cameron,who also produced his breakthrough hit,"You",which also featured Lil Wayne. The song served as the lead single for Lloyd's third studio album Lessons in Love. "Girls Around the World" received positive to mixed reviews from critics,some of whom noted it as generic,and others named it as a top track from the album. It reached No. 64 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 13 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The song samples the drum break from "Ashley's Roachclip" by the Soul Searchers,as well as interpolating Rakim's verse in "Paid in Full" by hip hop duo Eric B. &Rakim.
Shaday is an album by Israeli singer Ofra Haza,released in 1988. Shaday,recorded in both Tel Aviv and England,became Haza's international breakthrough album and includes the Hebrew-English language remix singles "Im Nin'alu" and "Galbi," as well as "Shaday" and "Da'Ale Da'Ale," also released as remix singles.
Yemenite Songs is a 1984 album by Ofra Haza,in which the Israeli pop star returned to her roots interpreting traditional Yemeni Jewish songs with lyrics coming from the poetry of 16th century Rabbi Shalom Shabazi. The album was recorded with both traditional and modern musical instruments;wooden and metal percussion,Yemenite tin and tambala,strings,brass and woodwind as well as drum machines and synthesizers. The songs are sung in Hebrew with a Yemenite accent and in Arabic.
"Galbi" is an Arabic musical poem by Yemenite Aharon Amram that was sung by Israeli Yemenite singer Ofra Haza and others. The 1988 remix of the song,taken from the album Shaday,was issued as the follow-up to Haza's worldwide chart hit "Im Nin'Alu ".
"Follow the Leader" is a song by American hip-hop duo Eric B. &Rakim. It was written by group members Eric Barrier and Rakim Allah and released as the first single from their second studio album of the same name.
"I Ain't No Joke" is a song by rap duo Eric B. &Rakim,released as the second single from their debut studio album Paid in Full. It peaked at number thirty-eight on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles &Tracks. Described as one of the album's "monumental singles",Michael Di Bella wrote in the All Music Guide to Rock that "Rakim grabs the listener by the throat and illustrates his mastery of the rhyming craft". A music video was made for it,featuring dancing from Flavor Flav of the group Public Enemy. The song was selected by Jay-Z for the NBA 2K13 soundtrack. It was also featured in the video game Saints Row,as well as in the soundtrack of MLB The Show 23.
"Say Kids What Time Is It?" is the debut single of British dance music duo Coldcut. It is renowned as one of the first tracks to be built entirely around music sampling.
The discography of Eric B. &Rakim,an American hip hop duo,consists of four studio albums,five compilation albums,15 singles,and nine music videos. Eric B. &Rakim formed and signed a record deal with Zakia Records in 1985. The following year,the duo signed a deal with 4th &B'way Records. Their debut album Paid in Full was released in 1987. In the United States,it peaked at number 58 on the Billboard 200,number 8 on R&B/Hip-Hop Albums,and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It appeared on the Dutch,New Zealand,and UK Albums Chart. Paid in Full produced five singles,four of which appeared on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. The fifth single "Paid in Full" (1988) peaked in the top five of the Dutch and New Zealand Singles Chart.
"Paper'd Up" is a song by American West Coast hip hop recording artist Snoop Dogg,taken from his six studio album,Paid tha Cost to Be da Bo$$ (2002). It was produced by Fredwreck and features guest appearances by Kokane and Traci Nelson. The beat,drum breaks and harmonies are heavily sampled from Dennis Edward's 1984 Disco Classic "Don't Look Any Further" featuring Siedah Garrett. The oriental vocal sample is from Ofra Haza's song Im Nin'alu. This combination of sample material was already employed by Eric B. &Rakim in 1987 for their dancefloor classic Paid In Full,which was made famous by Coldcut 's Seven Minutes of Madness Remix.