Eric B. & Rakim

Eric B. & Rakim

Eric B. & Rakim were a hip-hop duo composed of DJ Eric Barrier (born November 8, 1965) and MC Rakim (born William Michael Griffin Jr. on January 28, 1968).

Hailing from Long Island, New York, the pair are generally considered by hip hop enthusiasts to be one of the most influential and innovative groups in the genre. During hip hop's "golden age" of the mid 1980s to the early 1990s, the duo was almost universally regarded as the premier MC/DJ combo in hip hop. The two had a potent chemistry; the duo's beats built on the hard-hitting sound of Run-D.M.C. by adding James Brown samples and Eric B's scratching, setting the stage for hip hop's late-1980s/early-1990s infatuation with samples from Brown.

Notable journalist Tom Terrell of NPR referred to the duo as "the most influential DJ/MC combo in contemporary pop music period," while the editors of About.com ranked them as #3 on their list of the 10 Greatest Hip-Hop Duos of All-Time. They were nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011.