West Coast Connection Forum
DUBCC - Tha Connection => Outbound Connection => Topic started by: Twentytwofifty on July 27, 2005, 05:01:48 PM
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EPMD - Strictly Business (1988)
(http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drf500/f556/f55641gjtm0.jpg) (http://s41.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0QAY41CTDQIHM1X5NAK84ILDH4)
Erick and Parrish Making Dollars. Not a very profound name for a group, but when you shorten it to EPMD it rolls off the tongue like water on a duck's back. Simple, yet incredibly fresh. Erick Sermon and Parrish Smith only cared about one thing - making the raps to make your hands clap, fingers snap and toes tap. Two brothers from Brentwood, Long Island who were dead serious about making you bust a move. Hardcore, but not cartoonishly gangster. Clever, but not obscenely complicated. Smooth, but still rugged enough for all the b-boys while fly enough to pull the honeys. With this album Erick Sermon and Parrish Smith really turned rapping on its head; instead of simple lyrics delivered with a hyped, theatrical tone, they dropped the dopest rhymes as though they spoke them all the time.
Of course, most great artists or group don't make an significant impact without a great introduction. Strictly Business may have implied their hip-hop work ethic, but the album could have fallen on deaf ears without a great single to expose them to a jaded New York rap audience, and subsequently the world. With "It's My Thing", EPMD found their niche. The sound of the helicopters flying in at the beginning of the track says it all - EPMD's on attack and dropping in without notice. The smooth flowing funk track, the repeated sample interjecting the words "You out there? LOUDER!!" and a chorus letting the music and samples of said same phrase say the rest with only P's "it's my thing" to introduce it - the simpler it was, the more powerful it became. The track became legendary. Parrish's "freeze" followed by a long pause... then hearing him say "music please" designed to make a group of rap heads or a whole party erupt simultaneously. Erick's coy brag rap that MC's have to be "silky like a Milky Way" when he was obviously talking about himself was ill to the utmost. While "It's My Thing" was an excellent start, "You Gots To Chill" (http://s48.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3RWAKV9ZI5DUZ0LQKEQ6JPGDCV) took it to a level no one could have even imagined. Zapp & Roger Troutman's "More Bounce" became synonymous with dope rap the moment this track hit the airwaves; forever married to the cocksure raps of E and PMD. To put it bluntly, if the words "relax your mind, let your conscience be free and get down to the sound of EPMD" don't put an instant smile on your face, you obviously never heard the record. The last two verses say it all:
Catch every word I'm sayin, no there's no delayin
Don't hestitate to motivate the crowd I'm not playin
Seeing is believin, you catch my drift?
Don't try to a-dapt because I'm just too swift
(How swift?) I'm so swift and that's an actual fact
I'm like Zorro, I mark a E on your back
I don't swing on no ropes or no iron cords
The only weapon is my rappin sword -> Erick Sermon
Intimidate MC's with the tone of my vocal drone
when I'm pushin on the microphone
Cause I'm the funky rhyme maker, MC undertaker
The one who likes to max and relax..
and when it's time, issue diggum-smack
I keep their hands clappin, fingers snappin, feet tappin
When it's time to roll Uzi patrol was packin
The PMD, the mic's my only friend
And through the course of the party, I kill again and again
So if you're thinkin bout battlin you better come prepared
Come witcha shield and your armor geared
You gots to chill.. -> Parrish Smith
It's hard to truly comprehend how influential this album all these years later, especially if you grew up after the era of the first EPMD union before they broke up for a large part of the 1990's. To start with, there's not a single song on the whole album not worth listening to. Even Souls of Mischief fans will recognize the Sermon "What a way to go out, out like a sucker" from "I'm Housin'," because this album is one of the most RE-sampled in all of hip-hop. EPMD were no strangers to re-interpreting other rap contemporaries themselves, as they took the Beastie Boys line "Let it flow! Let yourself go!" and had DJ K La Boss turn it into the chorus of the killer"Let The Funk Flow" (Nas fans will recognize the beat). Even the Steve Miller Band was not safe, as "time keeps on slippin'" throughout their dismissive track "You're A Customer." Who is a customer? Anybody who has to bite EPMD's style to be as funky as they are. Strictly Business even inspired a crazy ridiculous dance aptly named "The Steve Martin" which has sadly never gotten the recognition Digital Underground's "Humpty Dance" has as a hip-hop fad.
Last but not least, on this album's final track started one of the greatest on-going sagas of hip-hop history. Few may have realized it the first time they heard "Jane" but the song about a fly female out of control would inspire three sequels on successive albums, each one more buckwild and crazy than the last. E and P trade lines like Run and D on this all too short tale of one funky escapade. Jane is a sister not to be trifled with. If this gets you open, don't forget to check the rest of the series. They aren't hard to find, because every EPMD album after this has one on there and the albums stuck to one theme - being about their "Business." Those albums would not have been possible without this debut though, and a lot of other great rappers who got down with their crews called the Hit Squad and Def Squad might not be here today either. Redman, Keith Murray, and Das EFX to name a few. EPMD's blueprint for East Coast rap wasn't startlingly different from many others in rap's golden age, but the results were simply amazing, a killer blend of good groove and laid-back flow, plus a populist sense of sampling that had heads nodding from the first listen. There was really only one theme at work here the brilliancy of EPMD, or the worthlessness of sucker MCs but every note of Strictly Business proved their claims.
50. Dr. Dre 2001 (1999) (http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=73625.0)
49. Outkast Southernplayalisticaddicmuzik (1994) (http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=73777.0)
48. Jay-Z Reasonable Doubt (1996) (http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=74040.0)
47. Kool G Rap & DJ Polo Wanted: Dead Or Alive (1990) (http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=74218.0)
46. Redman Whut? Thee Album (1992) (http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=74531.0)
45. De La Soul - De La Soul Is Dead (1991) (http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=74834.0)
44. Fugees The Score (1996) (http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=75061.0)
43. The D.O.C. No One Can Do It Better (1989) (http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=75381.0)
42. Common Sense - Resurrection (1994) (http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=75589.0)
41. Makaveli - The Don Kiluminati: The 7 Day Theory (1996) (http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=75939.0)
40. Public Enemy Fear Of A Black Planet (1990) (http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=76104.0)
39. Ice Cube Death Certificate (1992) (http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=76728.0)
38. Gza/Genius - Liquid Swords (1995) (http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=77194.0)
37. N.W.A Efil4zaggin (1991) (http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=77354.0)
36. Main Source Breaking Atoms (1991) (http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=77548.0)
35. Geto Boys Grip It! On That Other Level (1989) (http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=78193.0)
34. Brand Nubian One For All (1990) (http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=78454.0)
33. Scarface The Diary (1994) (http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=78896.0)
32. Kool G Rap & DJ Polo Road To The Riches (1989) (http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=78973.0)
31. Beastie Boys Licensed To Ill (1986) (http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=78994.0)
30. Ultramagnetic MC's Critical Beatdown (1988) (http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=79307.0)
29. LL Cool J Radio (1985) (http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=79487.0)
28. 2Pac All Eyez On Me (1996) (http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/dre700/e771/e771847607k.jpg)
27. Mobb Deep The Infamous
(1995) (http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=80115.0)
26. Eric B. & Rakim Follow The Leader (1988) (http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=80302.0)
25. Big Daddy Kane Its A Big Daddy (1989) (http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=80735.0)
24. Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth Mecca And The Soul Brother (1992) (http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=80831.0)
23. Black Moon Enta Da Stage (1993) (http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=80894.0)
22. Outkast Aquemini (1998) (http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=81163.0)
21. A Tribe Called Quest Peoples Instinctive Travels And The Paths Of Rhythm (1990) (http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=81368.0)
20. Run-D.M.C. Run-D.M.C. (1984) (http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=81525.0)
19. Boogie Down Productions By All Means Necessary (1988) (http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=81656.0)
18. Raekwon Only Built 4 Cuban Linx
(1995) (http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=81932.0)
17. De La Soul 3 Feet High And Rising (1989) (http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=82271.0)
16. Snoop Doggy Dogg Doggystyle (1993) (http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=82438.0)
15. Ice Cube AmeriKKKas Most Wanted (1990) (http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=82573.0)
14. The Notorious B.I.G. Ready To Die (1994) (http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=82790.0)
13. Run-D.M.C. Raising Hell (1986) (http://www.dubcnn.com/connect/index.php?topic=83190.0)
12. EPMD Strictly Business (1988)
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props, always dug this album
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props, always dug this album
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EPMD - Strictly Business (1988)
(http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drf500/f556/f55641gjtm0.jpg) (http://s41.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0QAY41CTDQIHM1X5NAK84ILDH4)
Erick and Parrish Making Dollars. Not a very profound name for a group, but when you shorten it to EPMD it rolls off the tongue like water on a duck's back. Simple, yet incredibly fresh. Erick Sermon and Parrish Smith only cared about one thing - making the raps to make your hands clap, fingers snap and toes tap. Two brothers from Brentwood, Long Island who were dead serious about making you bust a move. Hardcore, but not cartoonishly gangster. Clever, but not obscenely complicated. Smooth, but still rugged enough for all the b-boys while fly enough to pull the honeys.
i like that quote ALOT !! 8)
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Maybe could have been a bit higher. Great album though.
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great album but i wouldn't have put it that high, the middle drags
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Damn right... I love this album, haven't touched my copy in a while but I definately need to listen to it again. Another one that seems perfectly placed on this list. Great review, too. The blueprint of the style in hiphop that I love so much...
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great album but i wouldn't have put it that high, the middle drags
The middle of the album drags?
4. You Gots To Chill
5. It's My Thang
6. You're A Customer
7. Steve Martin
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thank you, this is one of the classics i dont have. but props on the list, this is one of the things that made me want to come back to the dubcc. thank you for some of the classic albums you posted that i never had a chance to get for whatever reason
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I would have thought you΄d make it top 10, but it΄s a good spot for the album. Too old for my personal likings, but I enjoy listening to it once in a while and its importance is undeniably great