Eric B. & Rakim – Don't Sweat The Technique 2xLP - (From The Complete Collection 1986-1992 Box Set)

Geffen / 4th & Broadway / UNI / MCA (2018, Reissue)

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo! MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for thirty plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

For the next few Ed Lover Wednesdays, I'm going to go through each of the records in this Eric B & Rakim box set.  I only had the album Don't Sweat The Technique in my vinyl collection when I decided I needed to get the others.  When I started poking around, it just made more sense to buy this box set as opposed to the other records individually.

Don't Sweat The Technique is the Eric B. & Rakim record I have always been the most familiar with as it's the one that came out in my hip hop heyday.  It's also the only one I had on vinyl prior to picking up this box set, so it's a bit of a double dip as I've already written about it before on this site.  But I'm happy to talk a bit more about it again.  I've mentioned before that "Know The Ledge" from the Juice soundtrack was my first introduction to Eric B. & Rakim.  To this day that's still my favorite song.  It was also the song that taught me to not buy hip hop soundtracks as those songs ALWAYS ended up on the next full length album of whatever group or rapper contributed it.

Weirdly, the opening track, "What's On Your Mind?," is pretty awful.  The production is sappy and smooth in an R&B influenced way that feels like a reach towards crossing over.  It first showed up on the House Party II soundtrack, and it really could have stayed there in my opinion.  But after that rare misstep, the rest of the album is flawless.

The production holds up so well and is on par with any golden era release that came out in 1992.  For me, it's the one that sounds current and modern, or at least whatever was current and modern in 1992, a year that I was just devouring any hip hop I could get my hands on.  Every song is incredible and Rakim once again showed why he was just next level in that era.  This was the last Eric B. & Rakim record and the last time we'd hear from Rakim for five years, but it was a hell of a way to go out.

Eric B. & Rakim – Don't Sweat The Technique:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_l-GjbNZ7R2ORynPapp800gTpmXuLxTl98

Eric B & Rakim - Don't Sweat The Technique 2xLP

UMG/Geffen (2017, Reissue)

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for 25+ years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

Eric B & Rakim are one of those revered hip hop artists from the early 90s.  I remember from reading The Source at the time that Rakim was always lauded as one of the top 2 or 3 MCs on the planet back in those days.  My first exposure to them was the title track from the Juice soundtrack "Juice (Know The Ledge)."  After buying said soundtrack I was primed and ready for the song "Don't Sweat The Technique" to be released as a single.  That's the one that prompted me to buy the full album on CD in 1992.

While maybe a slightly unpopular opinion, it has always been my favorite Eric B & Rakim release.  Others sing the praises of Paid In Full and how ahead of the curve it was and others will die on the hill of saying Let The Rhythm Hit 'Em is the best.  But for me, Don't Sweat The Technique is where the beats and production finally caught up to Rakim's lyrics.

Sure the record isn't perfect and in fact starts off with my least favorite song "What's On Your Mind."  It's kind of a slow, sappy track that doesn't showcase Rakim or the group's production chops all that well.  It sounds like a grab at some sort of crossover that never panned out.  But once you get past that, the album is hit after hit.  "Pass The Hand Grenade" and "Casualties of War" are a one-two shot of fierce beats and imagery and are some of the real standouts.  But just as strong are "The Punisher" and "Kick Along."

Though, to this day, my very favorites are "Know The Ledge" and the title track "Don't Sweat The Technique."  All these years later it's striking how perfect these two songs are.  It's kind of funny how they are buried at the back end of the album and it makes me wonder if the fact they had both been out before the album itself led to their placement.  Sequencing aside, this is such a great album.  Eventually I will likely need to add some of the other Eric B & Rakim albums to the vinyl collection, but it was important to me to make sure I added this one first.  It will always be my favorite of theirs.

Eric B & Rakim - Don't Sweat The Technique (Full album playlist):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPuE9YyPlxs&list=PLrbFUdbfepXVMOjDOinVwfnkTWFr5OQ5D