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Back to Paid in Full 25-Year Anniversary

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Lyrics: "So I start my mission, leave my residence/ Thinking how could I get some dead presidents/ I need money, I used to be a stick-up kid/ So I think of all the devious things I did"

Song: "Paid in Full"

This line follows the one previously mentioned and basically, in a few sentences, sums up the backstory of Rakim as an MC. In order to make it, you have to leave your front door, and that's just what he did. Money was on his mind and his obsession with the dead presidents lead him to do a few things he wasn't too proud of. Now, though, hip-hop was his hustle. It's a story all too familiar in the genre, but the outcome changes every time.