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Strictly Business (1988) - EPMD: Yea, Nay, or Meh?

posted 8 years ago by Swill_Merchant
9 replies | jump to latest

#453

R.S. Summary: In the summer of '88, Erick Sermon and Parrish Smith, a.k.a. EPMD (Erick and Parrish Making Dollars), rolled out of Long Island with a new style of slow-grooving hip-hop funk. Cut in the era before artists cleared their samples, the title jam even pilfers "I Shot the Sheriff."

My Vote: Meh. Nowhere near as bad as I had feared, but for a record that's only 45 minutes in length, I feel as though it took me all day to get through. The sampling, although innovative, is short on aural pleasure and only served to remind me that I'd rather be playing the original versions (or even other songs that feature samples of those same originals). The laidback flow makes it all easier to endure at full length than, say, Run DMC. What I like most of all are their highly literate, good-humored rhyme schemes, but not to the degree that any of this is really memorable or encouraging of multiple listens.

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[–] Dayodead 8 years ago

Yea

[–] Social_Assassin 8 years ago

Yea. EPMD are pretty overlooked as far as early/Golden Age hip-hop goes. I think of them the way a lot of people think of like, Eric B. and Rakim or De la Soul, who I've never been able to get into.

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[–] NxNWRocks 8 years ago

Huge Yea

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[–] Swill_Merchant 8 years ago

Play it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0lIHyqyhDs&t=1453s

[–] DeltaHomicide 8 years ago

AWH AWH AWH...AWH YEA!

[–] bubblegum_jenocide 8 years ago

I always thought Erick Sermon was better as a solo artist and was never a huge EPMD fan, but it's a classic album and it has some raw tracks like I'm Housin' and the title track with its silky smooth flow.

If you're asking me personally yea, meh or nay, I'd say meh erring on the side of yea. If you're asking me in terms of importance on the scene and the culture overall, I'd say yea without hesitating.

[–] Hyman_Flomax 8 years ago

Nay

[–] OrsonSwelles 8 years ago

I want to give it a 'may' but I'll stick with my first instinct and nay it is.

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