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,
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
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
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
, or the worthlessness of sucker MCs -- but every note of
proved their claims. ~ John Bush