As have Dipset, GETO Boys, and N.W.A. before them, Eric B. and Rakim have put aside their differences in order to tour together once again and…film videos for some of their old songs (?). This is a far less exciting prospect than seeing the aforementioned supergroups bury the hatchet and reunite on stage for the simple reason that it simply means that Eric B. will be standing at the back of the stage pressing play on the laptop instead of whoever has been touring with Rakim for the past 20 years.

Eric B. has also been a fascinating character, with a colourful history of strong-arm tactics and hustles which have left an imprint far beyond his musical contributions. Growing up in Queens, Eric would often DJ local ‘hooky parties’ with his older brother’s sound system, where he came to be known as ‘Hook’, on account of his lackadaisical scratching skills. To his credit, Eric seems to have been aware of the limitations of his own abilities and choose to focus on the business side of the music game, where he appears to have far more success. After recording a demo with Rakim after his original MC Freddie Foxxx missed a studio session, ‘Eric B. Is President’ and ‘My Melody’ went on to change the sound of rap forever, thanks to Marley Marl’s production, Rakim’s unique vocal delivery and…Eric’s organisational skills?

Eric also had strong ties to the streets, as evidenced by the shot on the back cover of the Paid In Full album, which featured several prominent hustlers such as the original 50 Cent and Supreme Magnetic, as well as future rap legends Kool G Rap and Freddie Foxxx. Whether this contributed to his reputation as a stand-over man, or whether he was more of a paperwork gangster with a hot shot lawyer is not for me to say. Either way, Eric B. was able to secure some excellent, uncredited beats from the likes of The 45 King and Large Professor by way of cold, hard cash. The majority of the remaining production was handled by Rakim and his brother, which left Eric B. to handle the scratching, which is best described as ‘functional’ if I’m being generous.

But the most intriguing part of the Eric B. story has to be his life outside of the spotlight, which commenced shortly after he tried his hand at rapping for his one and only solo album, which consisted of silky smooth jams such as ‘You’re My Painted Picture’, ‘Love Trap’, and the succinctly titled ‘Love’. When I checked out his Wikipedia page in 2008, it contained this gem:

“Eric is now the owner of 47 restaurants throughout the U.S. including New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, California, Texas, Washington DC, and most recently, Pennsylvania. Residing in a 57,000 sq. ft. palatial manor, Eric has become the ideological musician turned entrepreneur turned royalty and has truly taken his hit song Eric B. is President to fruition. With a car collection featuring seven Rolls Royce vehicles, including the famed Rolls Royce featured on the cover of Follow the Leader, Eric’s vehicular menagerie features a Rolls Royce Phantom, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Aston Martin, and many other sought-after cars and trucks.

Recently featured on MTV Cribs, Eric B’s home, with a staff of 14 grounds keepers, chefs, maids, and security staff, was influenced by oriental design.

In 2007 Eric was honored by the President of the United States with an invitation to the White House where he met President George W. Bush, the First Lady and other dignitaries.”

When I had the opportunity to interview William Eric Barrier for the UK’s Hip Hop Connection magazine in 2009, I attempted to follow-up on some of these claims – with limited success. Eric confirmed that he was involved in a series of ‘Mom and Pop’ restaurants, but wouldn’t be drawn on the names or locations. He also spoke of having visited the White House to visit both President Bush and Bush Jnr:

“He’s Commander-In-Chief, you’ve gotta show him respect. ‘Hey, how ya feelin’? How you doin’? Keepin’ it movin?’ Take the pictures – that was it. I think the person that I met that we sat there and talked and really had a conversation was Nelson Mandela. We had a dinner – there was probably about twenty of us – myself, Robert DeNiro, the accountant Bertha Dell, my father, Russell Simmons…no more than 30 people there. We sat there with Mandela and he talked about how much he loved boxing and stuff like that.“

Eric also mentioned that he’d organised the first Source magazine awards, managed Floyd Mayweather, ran community programs for disadvantaged youth, and claimed that hip-hop really started in Queens, not the Bronx. Due to my lack of resources/investigative journalism training, I’ve been unable to confirm any of these claims. I can report, however, that a woman claiming to be the mother of Eric’s son in Las Vegas and a girl by the name of Diamond B from Virginia both wrote detailed claims regarding Eric having abandoned them in the the comment section of my site, which is equally, if not more, a reliable account of what went down than Wikipedia could ever be. Depending on how much – if any – of this you choose to believe, Eric B. is either the finest citizen in the USA or a deadbeat dad with the turntable dexterity of your pet cat. Welcome back, Mr. B!