How many albums really alter the course of hip-hop? Maybe you can count them on two hands. But Paid in Full by Eric B. & Rakim is indisputably one of the small handful of albums that redefined how things were done.

Eric “Eric B.” Barrier and William “Rakim” Griffin III may not have set out to change the game when they recorded their debut LP, but after it was released 35 years ago, hip-hop was never the same. It’s not an exaggeration to say it’s among the five greatest hip-hop albums ever recorded, and it’s a reasonable candidate for the greatest ever.

Rakim Allah, known as the revered God of lyricism, changed the way emcees rapped with Paid in Full. This was square one in a career that has been defined by lyricism at its very highest level: an exhibition of how to put together words and phrases in a way that hadn’t been heard before.

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