The Master

Hip-Hop · 1999 · 17 tracks

The Master

Technical lyricism and late-90s New York production. Stoic, heavy-hitting, and intellectually sharp rap from the genre's greatest architect.

December 1, 1999 · Universal Records

A cold, calculated display of lyrical dominance and street-level wisdom.

Tracklist · 17 Tracks

01

Intro

1:23

02

Flow Forever

4:12

03

When I B on tha Mic

3:43

04

Finest Ones

4:25

05

All Night Long

4:23

06

State of Hip Hop (interlude)

0:39

07

Uplift

3:09

08

I Know

4:07

09

It’s the R

4:15

10

I’ll Be There

5:10

11

It’s a Must

4:24

12

Real Shit

4:21

13

How I Get Down

4:06

14

L.I. Interlude

0:52

15

Strong Island

4:34

16

Waiting for the World to End

4:05

17

We’ll Never Stop

4:20

Moments Worth Waiting For

The surgical precision of the internal rhymes on track 3 where the beat drops out to highlight the syllables.

Where This Album Departs

How does The Master sound next to the rest of Rakim's catalogue?

Drum Machine+4.0σ

The instrumentation foregrounds drum machine far more than the catalogue usually does.

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