Rating:
Genre:
Rap
Release Date: 07/01/1991
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 (and revealed tastes that, like
Prince Paul's, tended toward AOR as much as classic
soul and
funk). A pair from Long Island,
EPMD weren't real-life hardcore rappers -- it's hard to believe the same voice who talks of spraying a crowd on one track could be name-checking
the Hardy Boys later on -- but their no-nonsense, monotoned delivery brooked no arguments. With their album debut,
Strictly Business,
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. Their debut single,
"You Gots to Chill," was a perfect example of the
EPMD revolution; two obvious samples,
Zapp's
"More Bounce to the Ounce" and
Kool & the Gang's
"Jungle Boogie," doing battle over a high-rolling beat, with the fluid, collaborative
raps of
Sermon and
Smith tying everything together with a mastery that made it all seem deceptively simple. 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.
~John Bush, All Music Guide
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