I had listened to Paid in Full a few years ago and it didn't move me, but lets check out what difference a year in their career and a few years in my listening to hip hop makes.
The difference helped, mostly. The rapping's super solid, with enough unexpected turns and breaks in structure to put it alongside Big Daddy Kane in that "dudes were getting this interesting in '88?" file. Mostly tight, and the places where its slightly off gives it a live cred that I prefer over some too-perfect rap. Not to obsess over Edan, but he obviously was influenced by this guy, and even had a song called Torture Chamber that cops a line from Microphone Fiend. The production's the problem here really. Its great when its backing the rapping. Great beat, complex sampling (Lyrics of Fury!), decent scratching, some fun vocal effects worked in.
But then it takes over in its own right in ways that's obtrusive and breaks up the flow of the album. Do we really need that minute-long outro on Microphone fiend that really doesn't go anywhere, and isn't even really a good groove? The long instrumental tracks were probably super groundbreaking at the time, but that just don't live up to what I've heard since, and simply aren't compelling except as a history lesson. The result is a hard one to know what to make of - I really like a lot of the rapping, but think I'll have to suffer through some of Eric B's indulgences. Maybe they'll grow on me 3.5/5
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