Coolin at a party, no, better yet, disco
Head feelin' mellow from a bottle of cisco
Move...(beat)... To crush and fry a sucker MC like Crisco — "I'm Housin'"
Head feelin' mellow from a bottle of cisco
Move...(beat)... To crush and fry a sucker MC like Crisco — "I'm Housin'"
EPMD (Erick & Parrish Making Dollars) is a hip-hop duo from Brentwood, NY, that reached the peak of their fame in the late Eighties and early Nineties. The two are known for their laid-back style of rapping — provided by Erick "E-Double" Sermon's tenor and Parrish "PMD (Microphone Doctor)" Smith's baritone — which contrasted well with the louder, more hyper-sounding rap acts of the time. There have been a couple of breakups through the years, but EPMD are still active as of lately.
Albums:
- Strictly Business (1988)
- Unfinished Business (1989)
- Business As Usual (1991)
- Business Never Personal (1992)
- Back In Business (1997)
- Out Of Business (1999)
- We Mean Business (2008)note
Tropes all up in their business:
- Beware the Nice Ones: Best personified in "You Gots To Chill":Never have to act ill, but if I have to, I kill / So believe me, boy... you gots to chill.
- Boastful Rap: Many examples.
- Catch-Phrase Spouting Duo: They do incorporate a lot of pop culture references in their rhymes.
- "Crossover": From Business Never Personal. They're against it.
- Dance Sensation: "The Steve Martin".
- "Gold Digger": Found on their Business As Usual album; a rap about the evils of women who date and marry guys just to get as much money and gifts from them as possible.
- The Golden Age of Hip Hop
- I Call Him "Mister Happy": "Mr. Bozack", depicting a conversation between a man and his STD-ridden genitalia.
- One-Woman Song: The "Jane" series.
- Recurring Character: Some girl named Jane. Every EPMD album has a track with "Jane" in the title.
- Sampling:
- Bob Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff" for "Strictly Business."
- Zapp's "More Bounce to the Ounce" for "You Gots to Chill
- Sequel Song: "You Gots To Chill '97", from Back In Business. (Followed up "You Gots To Chill" from Strictly Business.)
- Serious Business: It's in their album titles, after all.
- Song Style Shift: "Scratch Bring It Back Part 2 (Mic Doc)" - PMD stops the beat in the middle of the track, and tells the DJ to put something different on. He then proceeds to make an altogether different-sounding rap.
- STD Immunity: Averted on "Mr. Bozack".
- Unsettling Gender-Reveal: "Jane 3" is about a hard-up gangsta named Jay. Once the rappers visit Jay's place, though, they find out more about "him"...
- And then "Jane 6" goes in the opposite direction.
- Visual Pun: The entire video for "You Gots To Chill", which was shot inside an ice-cube packaging facility along with stock footage of old refrigerators.
- Word Sequel: There's "Jane", "Jane 2", "Jane 3", ...and then "Who Killed Jane".
- Followed by "Jane 5", "Jane 6"... and then, just "Jane" for We Mean Business.
