Business As Usual

About

The third album from EPMD, 1990’s <i>Business As Usual</i>, was another dependable dose of hardcore funk-bombs and deliberate, slow-mo rap swagger from Erick Sermon and Parrish “PMD” Smith. Released after the Long Island duo signed to hip-hop monolith Def Jam Record, the album would be EPMD’s third consecutive effort to sell more than 500,000 copies—as well as its third to top Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, a first for any rap artist. The album’s lead single, “Gold Digger,” was an instant smash, thanks to its rubbery groove and cynical lyric. Its follow-up, “Rampage,” was a hip-hop showcase co-starring new labelmate LL Cool J, who at the time was attempting to reboot himself as a more harder-edged figure (Sermon says Parrish and LL were secretly battling each other on the track). Though no “Rampage” winner was crowned, Smith’s verse made it into <i>The Source</i>’s esteemed Hip-Hop Quotable section. Sermon’s verse was eventually repurposed as Redman’s “Watch Yo Nugget,” and the song gave longtime EPMD collaborator DJ Scratch one of the most bonkers turntable solos of the era. The rest of <i>Business As Usual</i>—including tracks like “I’m Mad,” “Manslaughter,” and “Underground”—mostly finds Sermon and Smith doing what they do best: slaughtering MCs and reporting on it in great detail. “Give the People” is an attack on the media’s hip-hop biase, while “Mr. Bozack” is a safe-sex wake-up call, one that finds Smith getting into an argument with his private. And the tracks “Hardcore” and “Brothers on My Jock” mark the recording debut of the group’s newest charge, the wildly gifted New Jersey showboater Redman. .

via Apple Music

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