by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)
Today’s GBN Daily Drop Podcast for Tuesday, February 22, 2022 — aka Washington’s Birthday — based on the “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day®️ Calendar for 2022.
In it we talk about legendary duo Eric B. & Rakim and the song that became their industry calling card and helped up the game in hip hop – 1986’s “Eric B. Is President.”
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FULL TRANSCRIPT:
Hey, this Lori Lakin Hutcherson, founder and editor in chief of goodblacknews.org, here to share with you a daily drop of Good Black News for Tuesday, February 22nd, 2022, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by Workman Publishing.
With the 1986 release of their first single, “Eric. B is President,” Eric. B & Rakim shook up the proverbial hip-hop tree. Deploying complex rhymes, internal musings, and visual storytelling, Rakim revolutionized the MC game, referencing Greek mythology in one bar and Janet Jackson songs in the next.
Eric B., meanwhile, as the DJ scratched, mixed, and sampled the bassline from Fonda Rae’s 1982 single “Over Like a Fat Rat,” added in drums from James Brown’s “Funky President (People It’s Bad),” threw in bits of “The Champ” by the Mohawks, along with the Honey Drippers’ “Impeach the President,” a few more samples, and one of the all-time classic punch lines ever rapped, “Eric B. Is President” was just the ticket to land them a major record deal at RCA and solidify their place in hip hop history.
To learn more about “Eric B. Is President,” check out the links to sources provided in today’s show notes and in the episode’s full transcript posted on goodblacknews.org.
This has been a daily drop of Good Black News, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar for 2022,” published by Workman Publishing, and available at workman.com, Amazon,Bookshop and other online retailers.
Intro and outro beats provided by freebeats.io and produced by White Hot.
For more Good Black News, check out goodblacknews.org or search and follow @goodblacknews anywhere on social.
Sources:
- https://www.okayplayer.com/news/marley-marl-remakes-eric-b-is-president.html
- https://www.whosampled.com/sample/35392/Eric-B.-Rakim-Eric-B.-Is-President-(Original-Mix)-James-Brown-Get-Up,-Get-Into-It,-Get-Involved/
- https://www.songfacts.com/facts/eric-b-rakim/eric-b-is-president
Songs sampled in episode:
- “Eric B. is President”by Eric B. and Rakim
- “Over Like a Fat Rat” by Fonda Rae
- “Funky President (People It’s Bad)” by James Brown
- “The Champ” by the Mohawks
(paid links)