Eric B and Rakim: Paid in Full: Platinum Edition vs. Deluxe Edition

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So I've got the Platinum Edition released in '98 and I was listening to it today, and the sound is not hot. Really thin and just plain ugly and warped sounding at spots. So did they work on the sound for the Deluxe Edition? A famous re-master perhaps? I guess the DE has also got one extra song on the bonus disc, but if the sounds no better than on the Platinum Edition then I'll probably leave it alone.

Or am I totally missing the point and looking for "hi-fi" sound quality on Paid in Full is like wanting the same from Psychocandy?

― matt2 (matt2), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 15:12 (twenty years ago)

I don't know, but I was just in NYC and saw a great t-shirt that said "FUCK BUSH, ERIC B. IS PRESIDENT"

― Haikunym (Haikunym), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 15:15 (twenty years ago)

I say screw both the Platinum AND the Deluxe editions! Neither of them have Fatboy Slim's godlike "Double Trouble" remix of "I Know You Got Soul" that samples The Jackson Five's "ABC"! That's, like, the best thing the Fatboy's ever done ever!!

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 16:41 (twenty years ago)

Yeah! Screw 'em both! The Fatboy Slim is like sooooo much better and more important than Eric B and Rakim that it's like totally obvious! Norman Cook! Housemartins! Christopher Walken! Whitey's on the moon!

― Haikunym (Haikunym), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 16:48 (twenty years ago)

Still, though, a bunch of my late eighties hiphop CDs sound pretty poor. One of the worst is By All Means Neccesary - I put 'My Philosphy' on a mix disc a while back and it was appalling - it should have been much louder and bassier than the tracks around it, but it was quiet and un-thumpish instead.

Can we get a remaster, please?

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 16:55 (twenty years ago)

There was an edition of Rakim's The 18th Letter that had an Eric B. & Rakim best-of CD tacked on as a purchase incentive. It sounded pretty good if memory serves.

I have a version of "I Know You Got Soul" on a rap comp cassette that samples "I Want You Back". Is this the same mix that Mr. Snrub is referring to?

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 17:12 (twenty years ago)

Yes it is.

That Norman Cook remix of "i know you got soul" is pretty bad. All the Eric B. & Rakim U.K remixes suck apart from the Coldcut one, even the later ones from the 90's like the "U.K club" version of "don't sweat the technique".

I wish they'd stop putting "paid in full" out every couple of years and remaster "let the rhythm hit em".

― Ellis, Wednesday, 17 August 2005 17:43 (twenty years ago)

the fatboy 'i know you got soul' is glorious, in some ways. can you imagine anyone playing it out?

― Enrique, naked in an unfamiliar future where corporations run the world... (Enri, Wednesday, 17 August 2005 17:54 (twenty years ago)

So the Deluxe Edition of Paid in Full is or isn't a remaster? The review on AMG says it has "improved fidelity" but doesn't say it's remastered.

Also, yes to Ellis re: Let the Rhythm Hit Em

― matt2 (matt2), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 18:05 (twenty years ago)

follow the leader motherfuckers

― Enrique, naked in an unfamiliar future where corporations run the world... (Enri, Wednesday, 17 August 2005 18:13 (twenty years ago)

People always forget about "no competition", "the r" and "musical massacre" from "follow the leader" and just talk about the incredible 3 tracks, don't they ? Didn't that get reissued recently ?

Great Eric B. & Rakim songs that wren't on the "18th letter" bonus disc..

As the rhyme goes on.

No Competition.

The r.

Musical massacre.

No omega.

Untouchables.

What's on your mind.

Kick along.

Don't sweat the technique.

To be fair, that Norman Cook remix is a hell of a lot better than the Derek B remix of "paid in full".

― Ellis, Wednesday, 17 August 2005 19:10 (twenty years ago)

I actually enjoy Disc #2 of the Deluxe Edition more than the original album of Paid In Full, these days.

Paid In Full was definitely an important album, but I find that there are many tracks that I skip over just because they haven't dated as well and sound kinda, well, "basic".. That's not meant to mean "boring". It's just that I'm so used to hip-hop having many layers, given its history over the years, and Paid In Full is a groundbreaking effort as explained by many in the lush and almost over-praising liner notes.. MC Serch's liner notes pretty much nail it as far as time and place go.

Still, I feel Follow The Leader is the better album in retrospect, and every track has a little more to offer there. Not the best analogy but if this album is their Yo! Bum Rush The Show, Follow The Leader is their It Takes A Nation......

― donut ferry (donut), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 19:35 (twenty years ago)

The 7 actual songs on "paid in full" are all ace (well, "move the crowd" is a bit corny but i still love it) but it's the terrible, unlistenable scratch tracks like "eric b is on the cut", "chinese arithmatic" and pointless instrumental filler like "extended beat" which let it down.

That the version of "eric b is president" is a butchered edit of the original 12" mix doesn't help either. So many '87/'88 rap albums have awful editted versions instead of the original versions from the singles. I always hated the minute shorter version of "my philosophy" on the second BDP album compared to the 12" version.

― Ellis, Wednesday, 17 August 2005 19:53 (twenty years ago)

Ellis, do you know where the full orginial 12" version of "Eric B is President" is available on cd?

― matt2 (matt2), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:24 (twenty years ago)

Paid in Full version of "Eric B Is President" >>>>>>>>>>>>> original version of "Eric B. Is President"

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Thursday, 18 August 2005 13:44 (twenty years ago)

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