The third album from Eric B. & Rakim, 1990’s Let the Rhythm Hit ’Em, expands the repertoire of the storied duo. Once reigning masters of slow flows and measured precision, the pair greeted the 1990s by adding fast-raps and incorporating more storytelling—while doubling down on their tried-and-true battle gnashers and scratch workouts. At the time, Let the Rhythm Hit ’Em was Eric B. & Rakim’s most diverse effort, thanks it to its varied production (the music was handled by the duo, with some uncredited assists from legendary beatmaker Paul C, as well as legend-to-be Large Professor). Though Let the Rhythm Hit ’Em’s influence doesn’t loom as large as 1987’s Paid in Full or 1988’s Follow the Leader, the album was an artistic, commercial, and critical success—among other achievements, it was one of the first albums to receive the famed “five mics” rating in The Source. Reeling from his father’s death in 1989, Rakim met Paul C, and found a connection in one of the producer’s dark, unforgiving beats—a track built off a loop of the unheralded funk group 24-Carat Black. Matching its chilly feel to his own mood, Rakim wrote “In the Ghetto,” a song that released his anguish and reignited his creativity. Other tracks on Let the Rhythm Hit ’Em find the duo attempting to match the high-BPM style of Public Enemy: “Let the Rhythm Hit ’Em,” “No Omega,” and “Untouchables” all feature sped-up tempos, but even with that furious pacing, Rakim loses none of his labyrinthine style (“I push a power that’s punishin’, prepare to be a prisoner/The hit man is the brother with charisma”). One of the album’s most lasting tracks, though, finds Eric B. & Rakim in a romantic mood: Over a loping Al Green sample, Rakim takes the role of both lothario and yarn-spinner on “Mahogany,” a track named after the Diana Ross film. It’s easily the greatest story-rap of his career—a love song that’s sensitive but never soft. It would later be sampled on Nas’ 1994 classic “N.Y. State of Mind.”