Eric B. Is President

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"Eric B. Is President"
Single by Eric B. & Rakim
from the album Paid in Full
B-side	"My Melody"
Released	1986
Genre	Hip hop
Length	5:00 6:23 (Album version)
Label	Zakia Records 4th & Broadway
Songwriter(s)	Rakim Allah
Producer(s)	Eric B. Marley Marl (Uncredited)
Eric B. & Rakim singles chronology
"Eric B. Is President" (1986) "I Ain't No Joke" (1987)
Audio sample
Menu 0:00 file help

"Eric B. Is President" is the debut single released by hip-hop duo Eric B. & Rakim. The bassline is an interpolation of Fonda Rae's "Over Like a Fat Rat". Marley Marl is often credited with handling production duties for the song, but Eric B. has disputed this in recent interviews. During an interview in 2008, Eric B. said,

"I took 's 'Over Like A Fat Rat' and said 'This is the bass line I'm going to use for this record.' Rakim spit the beer all over the wall and thought it was the funniest shit in the world. I told Rakim, just like you laughing now you going to be laughing all the way to the bank and be a millionaire one day because of this record."^[1]

As far as the production controversy, Eric B. told Allhiphop.com, "I took the records to Marley Marl’s house in Queensbridge and paid Marley Marl to be the engineer. Marley got paid. That’s why he's not a producer, that’s why he is not getting publishing. I brought the music. I just couldn't work the equipment because that’s not what I did..."^[1]

Samples[]

• "Funky President" by James Brown
• "Impeach the President" (snare) by The Honey Drippers
• "The Champ" by The Mohawks
• "Long Red" (drums, vocals) by Mountain
• "Over Like a Fat Rat" by Fonda Rae (replayed bassline)

References[]

External links[]

• "Eric B. Is President" at Discogs