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Back to Paid in Full 25-Year Anniversary

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Lyrics: "You look around and see how packed the party starts to get/ I draw a crowd like an architect/ The five boroughs react and all the islands attract/ And every state can't wait, so they attack"

Song: "As the Rhyme Goes On"

The early days of New York City hip-hop were competitive ones. While hip-hop was birthed in the South Bronx, those repping for the genre in the other boroughs were out to prove that they could put NYC on the map. Rakim was uniting all five boroughs here -- a very courageous move at the time. He said everyone would come together to check for him, when typically where you resided was where your favorite rapper resided. Then to go on to stretch it across state lines was very telling about where hip-hop ended up.