Ed calls Rakim ‘game changer’ of rap
Legendary media personality Ed Lover sat down with Carl Banks and Rakim for the New York Giant where he praised the latter for changing rap. He explained that the rapper influenced heavyweights such as Jay-Z, Biggie and Nas.
“People don’t understand Rakim changed Hip Hop — he’s a game-changer,” Ed said, before putting Rakim in the same category as the likes of Melle Mel, Grandmaster Flash, Run-DMC and LL COOL J. He also credited him for making rap “less aggressive.”
“He quieted it down and made us listen as well as enjoy the music, but you listened to what Rakim said, right?” he added. “If you would do a family tree of Hip Hop and people that came directly from other people, there is no JAY-Z, there’s no Biggie, there’s no Nas. That smoothed-out style of rhyming came from Rakim.”