EPMD

EPMD
EPMD
Background information
Also known as	Erick & Parrish Making Dollars, Erick & Parrish Millennium Ducats
Origin	Brentwood, New York, U.S.
Genres	Hip hop
Years active	1986–1993, 1997–1999, 2006–present
Labels	Sleeping Bag Records, Def Jam
Associated acts	Redman, Das EFX, K-Solo, Knucklehedz, Hurricane G, Hit Squad, Keith Murray, Kurtis Mantronik, KRS-One, Method Man, Raekwon, Havoc
Members	Erick Sermon PMD DJ Scratch

EPMD is an American hip hop group from Brentwood, New York. The group's name is a concatenation of the members' names "E" and "PMD" or an acronym for "Erick and Parrish Making Dollars", referencing its members, emcees Erick Sermon ("E" a.k.a. E Double) and Parrish Smith ("PMD" a.k.a. Parrish Mic Doc). During an interview on college radio station WHOV in 1987, Parrish Smith stated that the name evolved from the original: "We were originally known as "EEPMD" (Easy Erick and Parrish the Microphone Doctor), but chose to go with EPMD because it was easier to say." He also stated that they dropped the two "E's" because N.W.A.'s Eric Wright was already using "Eazy-E" as his stage name. The group has been active for 31 years (minus two breakups in 1993 and 1999), and is one of the most prominent acts in east coast hip hop. Diamond J and DJ K La Boss were DJs for the group and their current DJ is DJ Scratch

The word "business" is used in every title of the group's albums. Every album also has a track with "Jane" in the title.

Hailing from Long Island, NY, EPMD's first album, Strictly Business, appeared in 1988 and featured the underground hit "Strictly Business," which sampled Eric Clapton's version of Bob Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff." Many critics cite this first album as the group's most influential. The group's brand of funk-fueled sample-heavy hip-hop proved to be a major force in the genre. Unlike old school hip hop, which was originally based on disco hits but eventually became more electronic, EPMD based its music mainly on lifting funk and rock breaks for samples and helped to popularize their usage, along with Marley Marl and Public Enemy. "You're a Customer" combined snippets of Steve Miller's "Fly Like an Eagle," Kool & the Gang's "Jungle Boogie, the bass line from ZZ Top's "Cheap Sunglasses" and drum beat (Roger Linn LM-2 machine). "Jane," about a romantic rendezvous gone bad, would be revisited on no less than five sequels; a first for hip-hop, and, perhaps, rock and roll as well. "You Gots to Chill" used 1980s funk band Zapp's "More Bounce to the Ounce," which has become one of the most enduring sample sources for hip-hop. EPMD later appeared on the single "Everybody (Get Up)" by Zapp frontman Roger Troutman on his last solo album, Bridging The Gap, in 1991. "I'm Housin'" was covered some 12 years later by Rage Against the Machine. Managed early on by Russell Simmons' RUSH Management, the group toured with such hip-hop luminaries as Run-DMC, Public Enemy, and DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince.

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