901 EPMD - Strictly Business (1988)

Studio Album - Hip Hop

About the Act:

EPMD are and were a Hip-Hop duo from New York. They are Erick Sermon and Parrish Smith, and they perform under the names Double E and PMD. The act name is a combination of their initials.  They existed as an act from 1987-1992, 1997-1999 and 2006-present. Their personal relationship has not always been a bed of roses.  They are considered to be an influential act, and one of the most important underground hip hop acts of the late 80s.

About the Album:

This was their first album. It didn't chart highly but it sold solidly.

My History with this Album:

None

Review:

So once again I'm having to look up the history of rap to contextualise this album. I had some experience of rap that emerged in the mid 80s, what I understand is called "old school" (or it could be "old skool"). This is (apparently) "golden age", which came next. The rhythms and rapping style are sufficiently like the old school stuff that I have a nostalgic warmth for it. Apparently, the thing that makes this album different and innovative, is that it samples heavily from funk and rock, rather than disco. This is a good thing, I like funk and rock, and I recognise some of the samples.

So that leads me to talk about the music here, which has drum beats created by a drum machine, and musical samples of a bar or more, and often multiple such samples. This tends to have a somewhat funky feel. And then there is the scratching. This is old enough that scratching was still seen to be cool, and the perpetrator on this album is a certain D J K La Boss. Now, I am not well versed in scratching, but it seems to me that this is some of the best scratching I have ever heard. If this has been done using decks, and I assume it is, then it is bogglingly skillful to my mind. Maybe I'm easily impressed.  In fact, one of the tracks, aptly called D J K La Boss, seems to be all his work, with no rapping, and possibly my favourite track on the album.

So, the rapping. There are two of them, so they have slightly different styles, but it's quite slow, and very laid back. At times it is the rapping equivalent of a big lazy easy chair. I quite like that. It's also still slow enough I can catch at least 50% of what is said, although of course there are cultural references which go well over my head.  It's not bad, and I enjoyed the feel and the flow of it.

Finally, the subject matter. Well, the predominant theme is one of "I'm the best rapper ever, and everybody else is a no-talent hack". That's roughly most of most of the tracks. There are some references to guns and drugs, but not much, comparatively. The exceptions that I remember are "Jane", which is about a romantic liaison which went wrong, and "Steve Martin", which is about a dance, with instructions, and the standard "this will be the best dance craze ever" claims. And of course, the D J K La Boss track which is kind of an instrumental.

All in all, I actually enjoyed it. 

7/10 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/2HOl8gDiGGpt7wsIDi9jy5

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLq92tSktCLGQXx_3gb3lnYhr9X3h2EmHJ

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strictly_Business_(EPMD_album)