Don't Sweat the Technique

Rakim wrote the words that carried "Don't Sweat the Technique," handling both the writing and the production alongside his partner Eric B. The track came out on June 27, 1992 through MCA Records, and it arrived as the third single from the duo's fourth album, which took its name from the song itself. That album, Don't Sweat the Technique, turned out to be the last record the pair made together, closing a run that had begun with Paid in Full in 1987 and continued through Follow the Leader and Let the Rhythm Hit 'Em.

For the beat, the duo reached back to Kool & the Gang, building the song around a sample of that group's recording "Give It Up." Rakim had spent the previous years establishing himself as a rapper who sat down to compose dense, carefully worked lyrics rather than relying on the improvisational habits that dominated older hip-hop, and his approach favored internal rhymes and multisyllabic patterns. Kool Moe Dee later argued that Rakim essentially invented flow, pointing out that before him the practice went by other names such as rhyming or cadence.

The single also found a life outside radio. It appeared in the video games Watch Dogs 2, Aggressive Inline, and Fuser, introducing the track to players decades after its release.