By Odeisel

Rakim. The God MC before Jay-z’s hubris. The man responsible for a permanent upward shift in lyrical execution.  You don’t see him much, but his presence is always felt across the music and his legacy is unassailable.  It’s been a long time, and he left us.  Victim of Interscope red tape and Dr. Dre’s notorious OCD. Back on the scene with his own label situation with Universal, Rakim took the stage last night at New York’s Highline Ballroom, to both remind the crowd of how great he is and to introduce them to his new material.

As with many meals, you work yourself to the main course with an appetizer.  The soup du-jour, Wutang’s U-god took the stage with not much fanfare.  When you think of the Clan you mention him almost as an afterthought as bouts with incarceration and personal tragedy, as well as inter-crew disagreements have conspired to reduce his visibility. His set is full of surprises when you hear all of the beats that he has rhymed over in his career.  A couple of his new joints are surprisingly good.  He mixed new with old and dropped verse from “Mystery of Chessboxing,” “Cherchez Le Ghost” and other Wu hits. He’s a bit out of shape but he was engaging, spirited and confident on stage.  Not your starting five, but a capable bench player who can deliver when called on.

Next up was the world’s greatest DJ, Kid Capri.  He gave lesson after lesson in Hip-Hop history, cutting with laser sharp precision and going deep in the crates with pre-Run DMC breakbeats and showcasing some of the grooves that form the musical base of many of today’s hit records.  Then Kid brought out the first great MC Grand Master Caz who did one of his old DJ Charlie Chase routines along with Kid.  It was very necessary and the crowd was all ears.  No mistakes, a great knowledge or records and all the personality that endeared us over the years we’ve seen him on Def Jam allowed Kid Capri a great bridge to stall the crowd until Rakim arrived.

The big surprise of the night came when Rick Ross, fresh from performing at a John Legend show in neighboring Madison Square Garden, showed up when he heard Rakim was performing, and took the stage at Kid Capri’s request.  Say what you want about Ross, but he’s been in this game far longer than you think, appearing on Erick Sermon’s Erick Onassis album as Teflon long before his appearance with Trina.  He obviously loves this music and the crowd gave him much love and respect.  He performed “Hustlin” and “Magnificent” to the crowd’s delight and he straight ripped it with aplomb. Who cares about his personal life.  If Kid Capri (and later Rakim) can show that man love and respect, then get over it. He stayed the whole show in the crowd on the side of the stage. No security, no body guards, and no army of thugs.

The headliner of course has a catalog so strong that if he just put the records on and left the stage, we’d still sing word for word and be okay.  Luckily for us, he did no such thing.  Opening his set with “It’s Been A Long Time” and “Guess Who’s Back,” Rakim was just warming up for what would be a very spirited set.

The god wasted no time getting into his classics with “Check Out My Melody” “Follow The Leader” and “The Ghetto.”  He and Kid Capri had great chemistry on stage together as they went into the classics and Kid would change the pace of records, switch to break beats, and Rakim would ironically follow the leader with precision. After slowing the pace with “Mahogany” for all the ladies in attendance he took it to “Paid In Full.” From there it was “Microphone Fiend” and the crowd of all races and a fairly large age range all knew the words from either firsthand experience or from research and love for the culture.

Rakim’s show was far better than I remembered, as sometimes his ultra coolness translates to a subdued stage show.  Not the case this night. Minus Eric B., Rakim was still president and the Highline audience conceded such.  But to a god, a king is just a title, and Rakim’s reign and legacy show no signs of rust or tarnish.

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