EPMD

It’s hard to be modest

Strictly business. EPMD don't waste time on small talk. Cocky like few others, right from the title of their debut. And stylistically razor-sharp from the very first round, on par with masters Erik B. & Rakim.

It's 1988, the peak of the '80s. The annus mirabilis of the Reagan era. Of stars-and-stripes excess. Of capitalist dominion. But above all, of the first great payback conjured by the African-American ghetto through boombox-on-shoulder, scratching and every kind of invective. We're at the crest of the hip-hop wave. At its absolute peak. It's the year of landmark works like "It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back" by Public Enemy, "Critical Beatdown" by Ultramagnetic MC's, "Straight Outta Compton" by N.W.A, "By All Means Necessary" by Boogie Down Productions. And the list could go on for hours.

Call it what you like. Whether it's boom bap, and therefore east coast, or gangsta rap, mostly west coast, in many ways it only partly matters. Because at this precise moment, the hedonism of the adopted children of Joseph Saddler and Afrika Bambaataa, the grandchildren of Gil Scott-Heron and The Last Poets, is a cluster of rockets shooting off in every direction, all of them headed well beyond the solar system.

EPMD stands for "Erick and Parrish Making Dollars", a duo made up of MC Erick Sermon ("E" aka E Double) and Parrish Smith ("PMD" aka Parrish Mic Doc). Both hail from Long Island and decided to join forces in 1987 after meeting during one of Smith's DJ sets for his crew Rock Squad, active since 1985 and made up of Groovy Groove, Smitty D. and Jerry Jay, among others. The two clicked instantly, and the chemistry was as immediate as the release of the first single under the EPMD name, "It's My Thing", recorded in just three hours for Chrysalis, right before signing with the visionary Sleeping Bag label run by Arthur Russell, William Socolov and Juggy Gales, a sub-label of Socolov's more prestigious Fresh Records.

EPMD are jokers. And at the same time, sampling virtuosos. Masters of a sly, tough-as-nails flow. Of uncompromising back-and-forth. Not giving a damn in order to reign supreme. And to floor the crowd. That's the whole point. Hypnotize everyone by putting their faces on the line. No masks. No tricks. Organized chaos.

Epic finds like Clapton covering Bob Marley on "I Shot The Sheriff" or Steve Miller on "Fly Like An Eagle", "exploited" here just to lay the cards on the table without any misunderstanding: that's the recipe. The secret of a formula that seizes the moment with every single beat. That fishes from the greats of rock, soul and funk. From Otis Redding's "Nobody Knows You (When You're Down And Out)", sampled on "Let The Funk Flow", to Rick James, saluted and paid tribute to on "Jane".

Total chaos, no mass confusion

Rhymes so hypnotizin’ known to cause an illusion

Like a magician, who pulls a rabbit out a hat, son

I pull them all like a .44 Magnum

MC freeze stop look and listen, and try to imagine

It’s travellin’ the speed of light, but everything’s motion

Is frightening, plus the thought you alone

You now enter dimension, called the Twilight Zone

You’re terrified, plus you can’t bear the thought

You and I one-on-one, in the Land of the Lost

("Strictly Business")

Smith is the chemist of rhythm. Sermon the alchemist of the word. The two trade the mic constantly. On "I'm Housin'", the second track on the album and its fourth single, Erick and Parrish play around a sample of Aretha Franklin's "Rock Steady". They mock unoriginal rappers. Which is ironic, coming from two guys who pillage everything in sight. Glorious bastards, you might think at first. Damn geniuses, once you hear them tossing rhymes back and forth over the riff of the Memphis icon's signature hit.

The intoxicating groove of "Let The Funk Flow", built on a sample of "Slow and Low" by contemporaries the Beastie Boys, just like the hypnotic spell cast by the obsessive "You Gots To Chill", the album's third single, molded around Zapp's synth-funk classic "More Bounce To The Ounce", complete with vocals and horns lifted from Kool & The Gang's "Jungle Boogie", is the other miracle of this non-stop party. A rap-party in its purest form. Toward the end, Smith scratches like there's no tomorrow, while Sermon raps about personal computers and namechecks Biz Markie, dissing anyone with something to say well ahead of his time.

I be the personal computer information on rap

Like the B-I-Z Markie says, I’ll make your toes tap

I format the rhymes, step by step

Make 'em sound def to maintain my rep

Prepared to come off, in case of a diss

Not worried about a thing, ‘cause we can do this

I can turn the party out just by standin’ still

(“You Gots To Chill”)

The nod to synth-funk of Clintonian pedigree resurfaces in “You're a Customer”, this time sampling ZZ Top's “Cheap Sunglasses” with a line lifted from Muhammad Ali: “Because I float like a butterfly, sting like a bee”. The lofty quotes and pyrotechnic tricks continue with a festive tip of the hat to comedian Steve Martin (“The Steve Martin”), “Get em Steve, get em Steve, get em…”, this time set against rapper Joeski Love's “Pee-Wee's Dance”, released just two years earlier.

EPMD's lesson isn't only fundamental to hip-hop's golden age. It'll prove illuminating everywhere, practically forever after — in every basement worth its salt. Even Club Dogo would go on to plunder the New York duo's tricks in their 2010 single “Per la gente”. And Rage Against the Machine would embrace the irresistible “I'm Housin'” ten years earlier.

“Strictly Business” is the trailblazer of a possibility, and it's the record that proves that if you have technique, taste, culture, flow and a genuine story to tell, nothing is impossible.

More scripts would follow, better produced but less impactful, like “Unfinished Business”, “Business As Usual” and “Business Never Personal”. And legal squabbles between the two verging on the ridiculous. Before the two face-saving, career-saving reunions of 1997 and 2006. But nothing could ever match the magic coupling of 1988.

Ride the wave of great music

Add OndaRock to your favorite sources on Google Discover. Don't miss our reviews, milestones and latest news straight in your feed.

Follow on Google

22/05/2022