Songfacts®:

• In this early hip-hop classic, Rakim raps about the satisfaction of earning money by doing what he loves, which is making music. In contrast to many later rap songs where MCs flaunt their excessive wealth, Rakim is very humble in this song, with money allowing him the freedom to buy a plate of fish and get paid for honest work. Rakim's delivery also went against the grain, as most rappers shouted at the time, but he kept is smooth and laid back.
• There are several samples used in this song, notably the bassline, which comes from the song "Don't Look Any Further" by Dennis Edwards and Siedah Garrett, and the drums, which are from "Ashley's Roachclip" by The Soul Searchers. The resulting beat was used in some form in many pop songs from 1988-1992, including "Sadeness (Part One)," "Back To Life (However Do You Want Me)" and "Close To You."
• Long before he met Eric B, Rakim would rap over the breakbeat to "Don't Look Any Further," often in parks where DJs would create the loop for him. When he wrote the "Paid In Full" lyric, he synched up the bass line to the "Thinkin' of a master plan" line in consideration of the "Don't Look Any Further" lyric. "A brother lookin' for a job don't look no further," he told Hip-Hop Connection.
• The production duo Coldcut did a popular remix of this song soon after it was released. Their version used several vocal samples, most prominently "Im Nin'Alu" by the Israeli singer Ofra Haza.
  
  The master tapes were not available for the remix, so they had to add their own scratches and samples to the raps and original bassline. The "Im Nin'Alu" sample was pitched down to match the bassline.
• Snoop Dogg performed this in the 2003 movie Old School, changing his favorite dish from fish to chicken wings.
• The Coldcut remix was featured on the soundtrack to the 2000 movie American Psycho, as was another remix by The Racket.
• In 2002, a movie called Paid In Full that features this song was released. The film is set in Harlem in the '80s, with characters navigating the drug trade. Other movies to use this song include:
  
  White Boy Rick (2018)
  Brown Sugar (2002)
  CB4 (1993)
  
  "Paid In Full" was also used in the pilot episode of the 2018 TV series Pose, and in the 2012 Parenthood episode "One More Weekend with You."