Rakim looks set to finally be “paid in full” 36 years after releasing his and Eric B‘s critically-acclaimed album baring the same name.
Alongside Scarface, the iconic MC is set to be the inaugural recipient of a big grant from the Paid In Full Foundation. The two rappers will be honored at the foundation’s Hip Hop Grandmaster Awards in Las Vegas on November 17.
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The event, according to the foundation’s website, is thrown by Nas, as well as Ben Horowitz, co-founder of the venture capital firm Andreesen Horowitz, and Ben’s wife Felicia.
This is not Horowitz’s first venture into Hip Hop. He was an early investor in the lyric annotation site Genius (then known as Rap Genius), and has been friends with Nas for many years.
The news of the Grandmaster Awards was first revealed by Steve Stoute on the latest episode of the Rap Radar podcast.
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“Myself, Ben Horowitz, Fab 5 Freddy, QD3, Felicia Horowitz, Ben’s wife — we have a fund, a charity called Paid In Full. And on November 17, we are honoring those who have led the culture, but have not received the financial rewards that’s on par with their cultural contribution.
“And we’re giving significant money, a half a million dollars, and health care, to these people who we believe were contributors who didn’t get what they deserved.”
More information has been shared on the foundation’s website: “Unfortunately, many of the most impactful original [Hip Hop] artists never received recognition proportional with their exceptional contributions to arts and culture.
“The Paid in Full Foundation aims to rectify that through its grantmaking program, by both honoring the people who built Hip Hop and enabling them to pursue their creative and intellectual pursuits for the benefit of society.”
In addition to Nas, Stoute, and Ben and Felicia Horowitz, Rakim’s social media post thanks Quincy Jones, his son QD3, Fab 5 Freddy, Shaka Senghor, and rapper-turned-fintech-entrepreneur Divine.
Stoute did not clarify in the interview clip whether the $500,000 figure was for each MC, split between them, or paid out to multiple grant recipients over the course of a number of years, nor did he reveal details about the health care offered.
HipHopDX has reached out to representatives of the Paid In Full Foundation for clarification, but has not heard back as of this writing.
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In other Rakim news, the legendary MC will be a guest on Will Smith’s upcoming Class of ’88 podcast alongside Queen Latifah, Public Enemy, Salt-N-Pepa and more.
Speaking about the podcast, Smith told Billboard: “Hip Hop has been a central part of my life for over four decades. I’m hyped to share my first-hand experiences and those of some of Hip Hop’s greatest legends as we delve into the origins of one of the most influential genres of music in history.”
