In a retrospective review, AllMusic editor Steve Huey gave the album five out of five stars and viewed it as an improvement over "Paid in Full", commending Rakim's "agile, up-tempo lyrical showcases". In a dual review of both "Paid in Full" and "Follow the Leader"s reissues, Pitchfork Media's Jess Harvell expressed that the high points of the latter album "are as high as any rap group has gotten" and wrote that both albums' music serve as "a reminder of a brief period where people thought they could become a millionaire on skills alone, where the reality of that was so far away that no one had to think about what being a millionaire would mean to the culture that nurtured those skills". In 1998, "Follow the Leader" was selected as one of "The Source"s 100 Best Rap Albums, and in 2005, it was ranked number 12 on comedian Chris Rock's list of the "Top 25 Hip-Hop Albums". The track "Lyrics of Fury" was ranked number five on About.com's list of "Top 100 Rap Songs".