EPMD - Business Never Personal (August 7,1992)

At the end of 1991, the house of one Parish Smith of EPMD was robbed. The assailants clamied to the police that Parish's EPMD partner Erick Sermon paid them to do so. The implications of this incident would lead the entire Hit Squad movement, by then tearing emphatically through the whole hip hop industry, to a deafening halt and, more importantly, put a loathesome strain on a lifelong friendship.

To understand the magnitude of hip hop's loss, the achievements of said Hit Squad must be reflected upon: 3 gold albums, 1 platinum album and a gang of timeless hits by them and fellow Squadians K-Solo & Das EFX. A considerable heap of critical acclaim for the movement's largely-unified sound of grimy funk beats added with a colorful variety of lyrical styles was all the more reason for the Hit Squad to become the blueprint for the collective that would definitively take their place within the annals of hip hop history: The Wu-Tang Clan. Surely you know I'm right by now.

Shedding light away from the negativity for a bit, EPMD were riding high as all the chips of the Hit Squad's success continued to stack in their favor. The surpise sleeper hit Dead Serious along with Time's Up, the second critically acclaimed K-Solo album in a row, prepped Erick "Microphone Wrecka" Sermon and Parish "Microphone Doctor" Smith for launch into a world currently occupied by Sean Comby Combs & them… That of the hip hop executive. Except that EPMD feel like a much more legitimate fit for that lane, don'cha think? Anyway, our duo felt that it was high time they progressed into their fourth opus and second release under the house that the fuckwads built, Def Jam, as they added the finishing touches on what would become the debut album of the lone remaining Hit Squadian, one Reggie Noble aka DJ Kut Killa bka the mighty Redman.

By now, the minimum expectation for an EPMD album was at least five hundred thousand shipped units and a mountain of critical acclaim praising the game-changing nature of said release. Amazingly, Business Never Personal (Almighty God, does that title piss me off now) scored on all fronts, with the album achieving the gold plaque in a mere two months and thereby becoming the fastest-selling EPMD album. Many fans of these two claim this album as their very best, and you're here to fact-check the validity of that claim.

Business Never Personal, boy/girl (pick one):

BOON DOX
A prominent Earth, Wind & Fire loop laced with that James Brown guitar riff helps EPMD top the opening track of their last album, as this braggadocious display of theirs deserves all the light shed on it. This was awesome.

NOBODY'S SAFE CHUMP
Aside from the useless skit at the beginning, E& P successfully recreate the feel of their classic album cut Manslaughter, with their beat based on a melodic Bobby Womack loop.  This album cut game is hard to pull off, yet these two make it seem effortless.

CAN'T HEAR NOTHING BUT THE MUSIC
Trust this pair to turn a four-second excerpt of a soulful Barbara Mason ballad into a hardcore Jeep-rattler. One thing though, Parish: What were you on when you performed the eponymous hook?! The actual verses prevent said hook from developing into a full-blown annoyance that ruins the overall song. Instead, it’s merely a hilarious distraction that you enjoy along with the rest of the track.

CHILL
Now this beat here. EPMD, fucking legends that they are, craft a majestic horn sample woven through an ingeniously slowed-down Foreigner excerpt that makes their patented BNB sound like it was delivered by two giants towering sky high over New York. The DOC and Rakim samples sweeten the deal that much more. This shit is awesome!

HEAD BANGER (FEATURING K-SOLO & REDMAN)
Ruff Ryders' Ryde Or Die? Thank this song. Parliament is the order of this song as our duo upscale the excerpt to a gojazillion! Once again, EPMD allow fellow Hit Squadians Kevin Madison and Reggie Noble to completely outclass them on record, which they do as Solo brings the Knick Knack Patty Wack steez (without spelling shit, thank the Almighty) while Redman completely incinerates the memory of his Hardcore verse with a contribution that deservedly got him his first Source Hip Hop Quotable, so if people were checking for him before, they were rioting in anticipation of his debut, now. Bottom line, this is my joint-favorite song on Business Never Personal and straight up one of the best posse cuts in hip hop history. Hell, this is the song that inspired Protect Ya Neck!

SCRATCH BRING IT BACK, PT.2 (MIC DOC)
DJ Scratch builds a simple loop out of an Emotions bass chord, where Erick bigs up his DJ. Following which Parish spits some hot garbage on purpose. Erick then reprimands him in a funny ass interlude mid-song and orders him to black the fuck out as the beat switches to yet another classic ESG UFO loop by the pair. Parish obliges, of course, with his finest braggadocio to date. I'm not joking. Dope song.

CROSSOVER
By sampling a then-recent Roger Troutman hit then immediately following up with a grimy beat looping a badass Idris Muhammad bassline, EPMD have mastered the art of musical contrast in one go. Which worked wonders for their intended concept, as the hook was intended to be a parody of the crossover attempts rampant at the time. Bafflingly, Crossover remains EPMD's biggest song, as it sold over five hundred thousand units by its lonesome. Once again, these two prove just how adept they are at trashing the music industry following their timeless Give The People (Jeep Mix). And again, songs like this show just how unstoppable Parish can be when motivated, even though Erick barrels through the opening with quotables galore. I applaud the fuck outta EPMD for making this their lead single.

CUMMIN' AT CHA (FEATURING DAS EFX)
Featured Hit Squadians Das EFX pride themselves to be 'Straight From The Sewer'. If any song they ever participated in reflects this, it's this one. The instrumental is that grimy, suffocating gutter shit that you want from your Hit Squad joints. And even though Head Banger is the more popular posse cut, this song bangs just as accordingly. Lyrically, Das EFX rip into the beat something heavy, leaving nothing but destruction in their wake as EPMD deftly set up the alleyoop. This song was actually performed on the Tonight Show back in 1992 when that asshat Jay Leno hosted the shit. That performance deserves to be seen, so I'll include it here. My other joint-favorite song on Business Never Personal.

PLAY THE NEXT MAN
Another EPMD classic instrumental, another heavy Parliament influence! Too bad it's wasted on yet another misogynistic painting of women. These stereotypes were never that rampant, people!

IT'S GOING DOWN
Off the Juice OST, this mesh of a timeless Marvin Gaye performance with that bloodpumping sax, complete with a Billy Squier excerpt threaded therein results in one stadium destroyer of a beat, accompanied by our duo packing enough ammunition from their extensive reserves of battle rhymes. Props to Parish "destroying posses of demo tapes like Agent Orange" Being that they're musical geniuses by this point, EPMD recognize this song's live potential so well that they've never played it during one of their recent live shows. Do I sound pissed? You already know my answer.

WHO KILLED JANE?
This Rick James song has been sorely missing from Jane 3. Well, now it makes its triumphant return to the Jane saga with the best chapter yet with a deftly interwoven Curtis Mayfield snippet. The pair weave the tale implied in the title with just the right amount of social commentary sprinkled across the usual brilliant humor, as Erick & Parish portray a cop & a suspect respectively. Perfect ending to the album.


FINAL THOUGHTS
By all means, heads thought that EPMD reached their absolute zenith with Business As Usual. Oh, how utterly wrong everyone was: These two have turned this consistency issue most rappers struggle with into a goddamn artform, as Business Never Personal remains EPMD's most focused project to date. Almost every single song bangs. I wish I was kidding. Oh, except for that Play The Next Man shit, as you damn well know by now that that don't fly here at BBR.

Sadly, the events described at the beginning of this review eventually shattered all that could've been expected from the legendary Hit Squad team, as not long after this classic album dropped, EPMD splintered apart. Unfortunately, there were some careers that were shelved. Those inculded a pre-fame Craig Mack and saddest of all, the Knucklehedz, as the EPMD franchise went up in smoke within a few months. Erick Sermon and Parish Smith stayed far away from each other for four years, with each dude suddenly deciding to establish a solo career. Hell, they even traded subliminal shots at each other. Good thing they reunited in 1997 but that was when commercialism and Wu-Tang ruled hip-hop. EPMD has since remained a niche and a reminder of what could've been. They still make dope music and get pretty good tour money, though, which may be all that matters to them anymore. It ain't like they've lost their livelihood over this shit.


WORTH IT? Despite the then-somber future of the band, I recommend you acquire this album with every fiber of my being. You read the above. You know where I stand on this ageless art piece. You'll be able to add it to your EPMD shrine, similar to myself.

TRACKS TO TRACK DOWN:
BROTHERS FROM BRENTWOOD, LI
The b-side to their popular lead single. Even though Erick and Parish utilize an Emotions loop that's been exhausted by most of their fellow Hit Squadians, they still invest new ways to make it sound fresh and exciting. Also, it still feels good to hear these two have fun talking shit together on a record. Call me sentimental and see if I give a fuck. And we're done.

Interested in more of the Hit Squad catalog? Here you go. EPMD enthusiasts can head here, instead. Your call.