jondoejondoe195

What happened was Dre wanted Rakim to be rapping about Gangsta type shit, and Rakim wasn't feeling it, so they split. They only worked on a few tracks together but Dre told Ra he could use them if he wanted. Ra said he probably won't b/c they are old/dated now (and this was a couple yrs ago at least).

brocknot666

props is there a single out?

PAP

Cant W8 For This To Drop This Album Should Be Good

BucK_MarleY_07

- Tony Yayo

-50 Cent

They are freemasons, satanist. 50 released War Angel on the eve of this upcoming war and Yayo released Swine Flu 2 a day before the Pandemic began. No coincidences.

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Murderer Bill Jesuit Coadjutor Clinton laughing then caught fake crying at Ron Brown's funeral after seeing camera.

Europe Guy

lmao, no. Mel-Man on that topic:

Hey everyone. I wanted to say a few words about the Rakim situation and why he left. Keep in mind I was as disappointed as anyone Oh My God never dropped on Aftermath. Also keep in mind I had nothing to do with any of the decision making in regards to the situation. I want to give everyone a little third party view of what happened, while at the same time respect the privacy and honor of everyone involved. Why did Rakim leave? Who is to blame? Rakim left due to a number of reasons. The main reason is that it just wasn't meant to be. Everyone involved is partially to blame (me included). There was so much hype about this album that a lot of pressure was put on before and during the recording of the album. On this forum a long time ago while Rakim was still on Aftermath I placed a lot of the blame on Jimmy I for the album taking so long to come out. To clarify i immensly respect Jimmy. I personally have no problems with him. He is a giant in the industry and he deserves the respect and kudos he gets. However he is known for always wanting a pop hit to release as a first single. It seems like any album submitted always gets rejected and kicked back until a "perfect" pop single was done. Rakim never wanted to do a pop album, a pop single, or a gangster rap album. Those three things definelty put a strain on getting Interscope's full backing and promotion for the album. For the record Dre never personally requested Rakim to "get the guns out". Dre wants every artist to be themselves and won't ever ask them to change who they are. However Dre knew that Oh My God would never come out until Interscope got the album they wanted so it really put him in a tough spot. Dre and Rakim really struggled finding a way to balance things out and make the album dre and rakim wanted while at the same time make the album Interscope wanted. My main beef with Jimmy is that when it comes to rappers he sometimes only wants to release controversial artists or black rappers that relay the sterotypical gangster image. Rakim definelty isn't either of those and that definetly hurt him. Rakim also didn't really want hooks. Songs without hooks somehow aren't good enough these days. Never mind that Rakim's greatest songs never really had hooks. making pop hooks was not something Rakim was good at, so he struggled in that area. Rakim is by far the most talented rapper I have ever heard. Rakim is a lyricist not a hook writer. And there was no way Rakim would ever let someone write a hook for him. So that was another problem. So there defineltly were conflicts there. Dre and Ra could never come up with the balance they needed and it was really tough on both of them. In the End Dre and Ra realized that it was going to be really tough to do the music they wanted and get Interscope's approval and their machine behind the release. So I disagree with Rakim saying he and Dre had creative differences. Ra and Dre simply could never find a way to make interscope happy and yet make an album they themselves were happy with.
I think Rakim would really get frustrated by interscope's wishes and really struggled with preparing himself the way he needed to put 100% of himself into making the record. The thing with Dre is that he expects his artists to be there when asked and be ready to work as hard as they ever had before. Rakim is a very cool cat, but at the same time kind of an enigma. Somedays he would be gung ho ready to go and other days he would be hesitant or not in the studio. When he was focused Rakim was pure magic. When he wasn't he was hard to figure out. Common thought is that only a few tracks were recorded for Oh My God. That is false. We may not have got a lot of full songs with vocals recorded (altough we did more than has been reported)but we created a lot of instrumentals with Rakim in mind. Like Dre rakim is very picky in the beats and sometimes he would pass on beats that we thought were perfect. However the shit Ra and Dre did do together were mind blowing. I wish you could of heard it. I would get crazy excited when those two were orchestrating tracks together. I was convinced that a classic was being created. In the end though it just didn't work out. I will always wonder what might have been. I am sorry you guys never got the album you deserved. It just wasn't meant to be. I have the utmost respect for Ra, he is truly a lyrical genius with the perfect voice and flow - and a good man. I don't know if you are ever going to hear a new Rakim album ever again. I just don't know if he will ever be able to put it together. Dre won't tell me if he and ra have recorded since Ra left or if they have made any plans to do so. Dre did tell me right after rakim left that he was confident they would be able to work together again someday and when they did they would make the classic shit that they should have been allowed to make on Aftermath. In the end no one will every truly know the exact reason Rakim left, except Rakim and Dre. I hope he one day is able to share his god given talents to the world one more time, with some help from Dre of course. I do ask that you guys don't place too much blame on any one person. Like I said it just wasn't meant to be. Let's just keep our fingers crossed that a new version of Oh My God gets released someday with a few tracks featuring the greatest mc ever and the greatest rap producer ever working their magic together. peace

a lot to read, but thats a good read

S.P.I.C.

major propzzz.

mos def to lil wayne: "You better than RAKIM?"

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S.P.I.C. = Spanish People In Control

"Ignorance is not bliss, it's evil" - NYOIL (The Ideal)