Abbie: Do you feel a certain responsibility as an MC, or having the ability as an MC, or being able to put out records that millions of people are going to hear. Responsibility to not cross the line to threaten somebody, not that it had anything to do with why Tupac was murdered, but just taking that liberty and abusing it to make threats on records. Do you feel you have a responsibility as an artist?

Abbie: Like what?

Rakim: No, I'm not gonna' say no names. You know what I'm saying. I gotta turn around and tell my daughter don't let me hear you singing that no more, you know what I mean. She don't understand what, you know what I'm saying? When she gets older, then she'll realize some of the terms that we using right now are not fit for our children. So, you know me, I just want to make hip-hop so everybody can listen to it. If somebody, a mother, wanna go buy a record and listen to it with them, they gotta buy Rakim, you know what I mean? But still, at the same time, if a thug want some hip-hop, he can buy Rakim and still feel like he's not being cheated.

Abbie: You know, I know you don't want to mention names, and that's fine but I know right now in the current state of hip-hop there has been a lot of controversy around Lil' Kim and Foxy Brown because of the type of music they're doing for women to be out there and the example they are setting for younger girls. Their defense is they are doing what they got to do to make money, which men have been doing for a long time. Being a father and having daughters, you know, where does it start to instill that kind of, that level that not everything has to be done for money? You know, that you can, whether it's become a doctor, a lawyer, a school teacher, whatever it is that there are other routes to go. Or if you are a performer that there is a certain level that you can be hard and real without, you know, kinda selling yourself like that?

Rakim: As far as the music industry, you definitely got people out there dipping in the market with a gimmick, and they're just presenting themselves a certain way so they can sell. You got male artists doing that, you got female artists doing that. I don't know, it's like some people speak on what they know, you know what I mean. You're not supposed to knock nobody for what they know, if that's all they know then... You can't really blame them, you got to blame the people for saying "Oh, that's hot. Play that on the radio. Yo, play that again," or "I'm going to buy that," you know what I'm saying.

At the same time, it's like the generations always get wiser and more brilliant as it goes on, like when I look at my kids, they're doing things that I wasn't doing till I was a certain age, and when they look at their kids, their kids aren't gonna be doing... you know what I'm saying, they keep getting... People is trying to be, to date a little too much, or just doing what they do best, you know what I mean. At the same time, like some of the female rappers I listen to, you know, they write their own stuff and they nasty. Some of them, it's just their lyrical content. You take that same rapper, and put some jewels in their mouth and let them use the same flow, they would be incredible. You know, so it's up to us. It's gonna take time, but we gotta clean the game up.

Abbie: Right, so you're saying take your talent and you can do the same thing and people are still gonna buy it, because you have the talent, you have the skills, the lyrics to be able to flow like that. That's what's selling the records. But it's interesting how we're conditioned to kind of go to the negativity, whether it's the movies or different types of records. If it was nasty, it was like you wanted to hear it more, so what do you think is that leading, especially nowadays it's even more so for me. It may have been a Patti LaBelle record that was scandalous in the 70s.

Rakim: You know that's what I'm saying. I guess society helped train us. I mean, if you go to the movies, a movie ain't really hitting unless they have blown up half the state, flipping over cars, shooting for 20 minutes in the movie, so in other words, violence, what do they say... drugs, sex and violence sells, you know what I mean, and it's bad, but it had to come from training. It ain't just happen like... it ain't one movie the producer didn't come out and, "You know what, let's put action let's put..." it ain't happening over a day. People sit down and say what's selling right now.

Abbie: I just wonder why we gravitate to it almost kind of naturally. You gravitate towards that almost you know...

Rakim: I guess it's interesting, you know what I mean. It's something people don't see every day, so you know, if they go to the movies, they don't want to see nothing normal because they see it every day, so they want to see the bizarre, and I guess it's getting like that with music right now. They want to hear the bizarre, so like I said, it's going to take the majority of conscious people to keep every thing moving to keep it strong.

Abbie: I want to talk about the record a little bit, and some of the meaning behind it. First, the album title with "The 18th Letter," what does that mean?

Rakim: Well the 18th letter is "R," the 18th letter in the alphabet, and I used that as one of my codes through a few records that I had. It's just my little code word that keeps people thinking because a lot of people... like yesterday I was doing an autograph signing in Connecticut, this cat came up and was like, "Yo! What the 18th letter mean, G?" I said what's the 18th letter man?

Abbie: So he starts going, "A, B, C..."

Rakim: I said "R, man." I said "R... Oh I see. Yo son, you shouldn't do that man. You said you was a fan. You listen to my joints, I mentioned that in a few records." The 18th letter, that's just my little code.

Abbie: I also want to talk about "Guess Who's Back." That's definitely a stand out track on the album that I think is your first single, right? So, it's probably self-explanatory, but why did you decide to come back with something old school like that.

Rakim: Well um.. I'm trying to say true to the roots of hip-hop, you know what I mean, because right now people are starting to use records that were already hits almost, you know what I mean, so I just wanted to take it back to the way it was. We used to dig in the crates until we found something that was... the song may have been a little popular years ago, but we try and look for something that's untouched but fresh, you know what I mean. So, the track, Karl Kent busted me with the track, but he hit me with what I wanted, what I needed, you know what I mean, and once the craft sat down, I heard, "Yo, that's the one I want," and vibing to it. I want to let people know, "Yo, I'm back, you know what I'm saying." Technical difficulties is through, nothing changed but the year, and I'm gonna be here, you know what I'm saying, so that's one of the joints, why I have to just let people know, you know what I'm saying, I'm back.

Abbie: So you're saying technical difficulties meaning you had some problems with record labels? You switched labels.

Rakim: Well, my main problems is with Eric B., you know. After the "Technique" album, that was the big hold-up which right after an album, you always want to start off where you left off, and always hold that last thought in your head, but that long little gap of four years, and then going into studio and doing demos and they get leaked out so that's like where do I start now? I left off somewhere, but the whole world in here, all the demos that got leaked out, so I'm like, "Where do I start now?" So you know, it was a hard thing to do as far as to get stable and to start off on this new album and get focused, but I guess I had to do I guess what the world wanted and...

Abbie: Well what happened with Eric B., what happened with your relationship with him?

Rakim: Well, after the "Technique" album, he came up with the idea he wanted to do a solo record, and I do a solo record and that would be the last two albums that we owed on our contract so we were going to do that and then get back together and sign a new contract. Well he did his, you know. I signed the paper so we could do it. I signed the contract, and when it was my turn, he had a problem with signing the contract because he felt like once that was over like the label wasn't going to pick him back up, so I was like, "Yo G, you're supposed to be my dog, son. If they pick me up, I'm going to make sure they pick you up," you know what I mean? But I didn't explain that to him, I just watched his ways, and if that's how he felt, I tried to get it signed and he just kept beating around the bush and after a while I just dropped it, and MCA fixed me another little contract and I did my thing, so you know on that note I'm a loyal person. I keep it real with the people I deal with, and that's all I ask of the people that I deal with, the people I deal with to do with me, and he ain't do that, so Eric B. is dead. So more power to you E, do your thing, Don.

Abbie: I'm not quite sure what year it was, but the track you did with Jody Watley for "Friends," that really seemed to break down the barrier that at the time was between rap and R&B, especially on the radio. On black stations, you did not hear lot of rap at the time, and that song sort of broke down the walls, and since then, it's like every R&B track has a rap appearance. How do you feel about that? Do you think you were a groundbreaker in that also?

Rakim: Well um...you can call it that, you know what I mean, but at the time we didn't even realize what was going on. Myself I was just playing with... Jody Watley asked me to do something on her record, you know what I mean, and I just went there and tried to jive her Rakim because that's what she wanted. But then when it blew up... because I wasn't sure how people was gonna accept it, you know what I'm saying. Everybody feeling me as one of the hardcore artists so I'm like, "I got mad respect for Jody Watley. I'm gonna do it anyway, and I'm gonna make it sound like you know what I'm saying they wanted it to sound." You know when I did it, I didn't know people was going to embrace it like they did, and like you said, today everybody's doing it now so it must of been... it must of been, well you know what I mean. Plus it was a joint. It's one of my favorite joints because it was real as far as something that happened. It something that's happening every day so people can identify with it and feel it, so it come with that.

Abbie: A lot of people or many people that I know consider you a legend and I want to know how you feel. It's hard to ask somebody "do you think you're a legend" without coming off a certain way, but what do you think? Do you think of yourself as a legend in hip-hop?

Rakim: Well, when people call me that, I take it as a blessing, you know what I'm saying? But I'm on it like this, a legend is someone that is finished with their craft and is always looked back to like a measuring stick, but if they want to give me that title right now, I'll hold it and expand on it. A living legend, like in one of my joints I said the legacy lives, you know what I'm saying, that's all good too.

Abbie: That's a good way to take it. When you talk about the beginnings of hip hop, when you look back at the time when you came out, did you see it as a genre that was going to have the longevity that it does or that it has proven to have?

Rakim: No, when we first came out I had no idea the world was going to embrace it like they did. When we first came out, I didn't even sign a contract. I was trying to get my grades together and go to college and play football, you know what I mean, since I was small, football, that was my dream... I wanted to be a black quarterback in the NFL, that was my dream. So at that time, when somebody introduced me to a guy like Eric B. I was rhyming already for about seven years, so I was like, "Yeah man, I rhythm a little bit. Yeah I know Bla-Z-Bla. Yeah, that's cool, yo," so I let him hear a little something. He said we should make a record out of that. To make a long story short, I said, "Look man, I'm going to college. You can take it, make sure I get my paper and just put me as like featured on the record where as we don't have to sign no contracts," so that's why the first joint was Eric B. featuring Rakim. But then when it blew up, the quest for it I had to realize, you know, the door was open and somebody was knocking, so I took the opportunity and used it to my fullest capacity and here I go today.