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EPMD Strictly Business Release Date: 1988 Label: Profile Rating:

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

Tracks:

	Title	Composer	Time
1	Strictly Business	EPMD	4:47
2	I'm Housin'	EPMD	4:01
3	Let the Funk Flow	Sermon, Smith	4:16
4	You Gots to Chill	Sermon, Smith, Troutman	4:26
5	It's My Thang	Moon	5:45
6	You're a Customer	EPMD	5:28
7	Steve Martin		4:44
8	Get off the Bandwagon	Sermon, Smith	4:25
9	D.J. K la Boss		4:31
10	Jane	Sermon, Smith	2:59

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