Classics Discussion: EPMD
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BmoreGorilla
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Inspect Her Deck
Skins of all colours come together as brothers
From Wikipedia:
Retrospect[edit]
Years after its release, Strictly Business has continued to attract critical success. In 1994, Pop selected it a complement to Eric B. & Rakim's Paid in Full on its list of The World's 100 Best Albums + 300 Complements. In 1998, The Source placed Strictly Business on its 100 Best Rap Albums list and included two of its singles on its 100 Best Rap Singles list.[20] In 1999, it was judged to be the 4th-best hip hop album of 1988 by ego trip.[21] In 2001, Dance de Lux ranked Strictly Business as the 11th-best hip hop record of all time.[22] In 2003, the album was placed on Blender's 500 CDs You Must Own Before You Die list and ranked number 459 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.[22] Additionally, the Rolling Stone Album Guide, which initially rated the album as three and a half stars out of five, awarded the album with a five-star rating in 2004.[22] Retrospective reviews by Spin (1995), the Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music (2002), Martin C. Strong (2004), and Sputnikmusic (2006) have respectively allotted the album a nine-out-of-10 rating, a four-star rating, a five-star rating and a seven-out-of-10 rating.[22][23] Strictly Business is now widely considered to be a classic release[24] and a seminal hip hop album.
Retrospect[edit]
Years after its release, Strictly Business has continued to attract critical success. In 1994, Pop selected it a complement to Eric B. & Rakim's Paid in Full on its list of The World's 100 Best Albums + 300 Complements. In 1998, The Source placed Strictly Business on its 100 Best Rap Albums list and included two of its singles on its 100 Best Rap Singles list.[20] In 1999, it was judged to be the 4th-best hip hop album of 1988 by ego trip.[21] In 2001, Dance de Lux ranked Strictly Business as the 11th-best hip hop record of all time.[22] In 2003, the album was placed on Blender's 500 CDs You Must Own Before You Die list and ranked number 459 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.[22] Additionally, the Rolling Stone Album Guide, which initially rated the album as three and a half stars out of five, awarded the album with a five-star rating in 2004.[22] Retrospective reviews by Spin (1995), the Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music (2002), Martin C. Strong (2004), and Sputnikmusic (2006) have respectively allotted the album a nine-out-of-10 rating, a four-star rating, a five-star rating and a seven-out-of-10 rating.[22][23] Strictly Business is now widely considered to be a classic release[24] and a seminal hip hop album.
I agree...I also think that threads like these can't work on here cause most these cats are too young and dumb to understand how an album like Strictly Business or The adventures of Slick Rick had an impact on the COMMUNITY...I mean when album like those came out EVERYBODY was banging them. The cats on here will come back with well the music is dated when all they listen too is Future, Young Money or cats who ALL sound the same with the same damn beat
they have no clue what diversity is. Pretty much why Hip Hop is dead 
)
blah blah blah. You posters need to shut the fukk up and get some thoughts of your own.
All this time you're rambling and you can't tell me why in your opinion, Strictly Business holds up in 2016 and should be a consensus classic. Instead you wanna write paragraphs about SirBiatch and not the thread topic
I don't even know why I bother with you follow-ass pretend fans
All this time you're rambling and you can't tell me why in your opinion, Strictly Business holds up in 2016 and should be a consensus classic. Instead you wanna write paragraphs about SirBiatch and not the thread topic
I don't even know why I bother with you follow-ass pretend fans
Inspect Her Deck
Skins of all colours come together as brothers
Erick Sermon is a top 10 producer for me @str8up
The stuff he did not only for EPMD but for Redman's classic solo works is nothing short of incredible.
He's mastered the p-funk
Well it is a consensus classic, it's not about whether it SHOULD be, it already is.
It holds up because it is still getting celebrated like the other monumental albums of the 1980s.
Moreover, it actually holds up sonically and sounds way fresher than a lot of the albums from that era. But what d'you mean by hold up just to check I'm not confusing what you're asking. How has Criminal Minded held up?
The stuff he did not only for EPMD but for Redman's classic solo works is nothing short of incredible.
He's mastered the p-funk
blah blah blah. You posters need to shut the fukk up and get some thoughts of your own.
All this time you're rambling and you can't tell me why in your opinion, Strictly Business holds up in 2016 and should be a consensus classic. Instead you wanna write paragraphs about SirBiatch and not the thread topic
I don't even know why I bother with you follow-ass pretend fans
Well it is a consensus classic, it's not about whether it SHOULD be, it already is.
It holds up because it is still getting celebrated like the other monumental albums of the 1980s.
Moreover, it actually holds up sonically and sounds way fresher than a lot of the albums from that era. But what d'you mean by hold up just to check I'm not confusing what you're asking. How has Criminal Minded held up?
BmoreGorilla
Veteran
Their albums have held up way better than your favorite rapper's and his debut dropped only five years agoblah blah blah. You posters need to shut the fukk up and get some thoughts of your own.
All this time you're rambling and you can't tell me why in your opinion, Strictly Business holds up in 2016 and should be a consensus classic. Instead you wanna write paragraphs about SirBiatch and not the thread topic
I don't even know why I bother with you follow-ass pretend fans
Listen bruh. In my experience, you can't compare Criminal Minded to Strictly Business. Criminal Minded is a blueprint that NWA took and ran with. KRS lines off that album have been quoted or sampled a gazillion times by rappers gangster or not. Didn't Nicki Minaj reference Criminal Minded over the last couple years? The album has arguably the greatest and most potent diss record in all of hip hop history. The Bridge is Over is one of my all-time favorite joints and it holds up like a muhfukka.
Tell me how in the world Strictly Business is even remotely on that level.
I'm still waiting for explanations for these sheep who wanna deflect to everything but the thread topic. They can't even articulate why EPMD have any classics other than "someone told me so."
You guys have to understand something: I'm not a follow-ass nikka. It has nothing to do with going against the grain, contrary to what idiots on here think. If the grain makes sense, I go with it. If it doesn't, I clearly don't rock with it. I know OGs in the business that don't bytch nearly as much as Coli posters when it comes to 'consensus classics'. Because what rocked in 88 isn't going to hold up in 2016. But sometimes it does. And unlike you pretend listeners, they're actually fans of this culture and love to know what actually holds up. not what they wish holds up.
You pretend-fans aint bumping EPMD's first 2 albums in its entirety on the regular regular. Keep it fukkin 100.
Now let's try this again: explain why you love any of these albums, and why you think they're classics. I specifically want to hear your explanations for the first 2 EPMD albums.
I've got my coffee
Normally I wouldn't even feed a troll such as yourself but as someone who actually lived the impact of Strictly Business I will debate it. When You got to chill dropped it changed the sonic landscape. It started what I would say was the subwoofer war in Detroit as well as across the country I'm sure. Once the album dropped the way Erick Sermon was sampling changed the game and every body started following suit. And they were lyrical at the same time. Not back and forth duos like say a Kid N Play. They were RAW with it. The second album was pretty much an extension of the first sorta how By Any Means Necessary continued Criminal Minded. Them dudes had a rawness as a hardcore duo that no one else was bringing yet. I'll wait on your counterListen bruh. In my experience, you can't compare Criminal Minded to Strictly Business. Criminal Minded is a blueprint that NWA took and ran with. KRS lines off that album have been quoted or sampled a gazillion times by rappers gangster or not. Didn't Nicki Minaj reference Criminal Minded over the last couple years? The album has arguably the greatest and most potent diss record in all of hip hop history. The Bridge is Over is one of my all-time favorite joints and it holds up like a muhfukka.
Tell me how in the world Strictly Business is even remotely on that level.
I'm still waiting for explanations for these sheep who wanna deflect to everything but the thread topic. They can't even articulate why EPMD have any classics other than "someone told me so."
You guys have to understand something: I'm not a follow-ass nikka. It has nothing to do with going against the grain, contrary to what idiots on here think. If the grain makes sense, I go with it. If it doesn't, I clearly don't rock with it. I know OGs in the business that don't bytch nearly as much as Coli posters when it comes to 'consensus classics'. Because what rocked in 88 isn't going to hold up in 2016. But sometimes it does. And unlike you pretend listeners, they're actually fans of this culture and love to know what actually holds up. not what they wish holds up.
Now let's try this again: explain why you love any of these albums, and why you think they're classics. I specifically want to hear your explanations for the first 2 EPMD albums.
I've got my coffee
Inspect Her Deck
Skins of all colours come together as brothers
Listen bruh. In my experience, you can't compare Criminal Minded to Strictly Business. Criminal Minded is a blueprint that NWA took and ran with. KRS lines off that album have been quoted or sampled a gazillion times by rappers gangster or not. Didn't Nicki Minaj reference Criminal Minded over the last couple years? The album has arguably the greatest and most potent diss record in all of hip hop history. The Bridge is Over is one of my all-time favorite joints and it holds up like a muhfukka.
Tell me how in the world Strictly Business is even remotely on that level.
I'm still waiting for explanations for these sheep who wanna deflect to everything but the thread topic. They can't even articulate why EPMD have any classics other than "someone told me so."
You guys have to understand something: I'm not a follow-ass nikka. It has nothing to do with going against the grain, contrary to what idiots on here think. If the grain makes sense, I go with it. If it doesn't, I clearly don't rock with it. I know OGs in the business that don't bytch nearly as much as Coli posters when it comes to 'consensus classics'. Because what rocked in 88 isn't going to hold up in 2016. But sometimes it does. And unlike you pretend listeners, they're actually fans of this culture and love to know what actually holds up. not what they wish holds up.
You pretend-fans aint bumping EPMD's first 2 albums in its entirety on the regular regular. Keep it fukkin 100.
Now let's try this again: explain why you love any of these albums, and why you think they're classics. I specifically want to hear your explanations for the first 2 EPMD albums.
I've got my coffee
EPMD hasn't been sampled before? Forget the quotables, which obviously KRS-One has a ton of, EPMD samples were used by so many artists that followed, esp. Nas and Jay-Z to name a couple.
They literally brought p-funk sampling to rap.
Now it obviously has the influence and critical acclaim and all the subsidiary factors it needs to become a classic. For me personally, and I think you as well, quality is the main factor. Now if you somehow think the quality isn't there, then you might be onto something. That said, the quality barometer I usually use for questionable classics e.g. Hell on Earth, Dare iz a Darkside etc. basically the contentious ones rather than those set in stone. As I've said before, I don't like Criminal Minded that much, but it would be ridiculous for me to be too subjective and then preference would prevent me from rating it a classic. Just wouldn't make sense. Strictly Business is in that boat, because it is undeniable.
Those same people that you praise, the 'real fans'....at least 90% of those people if not more would call SB a classic.
As for it holding up and whether ppl will listen in 2016...maybe or maybe not. But I don't think Criminal Minded is getting insane burn in 2016 either. And I know this almost certainly that if I were to show any random person who isn't into hip-hop per se both the albums being compared, this person in 2016 would probably prefer SB, because it sounds 10000 times fresher.
The only trolls on here are the sheep.
but as someone who actually lived the impact of Strictly Business I will debate it. When You got to chill dropped it changed the sonic landscape. It started what I would say was the subwoofer war in Detroit as well as across the country I'm sure. Once the album dropped the way Erick Sermon was sampling changed the game and every body started following suit. And they were lyrical at the same time. Not back and forth duos like say a Kid N Play. They were RAW with it. The second album was pretty much an extension of the first sorta how By Any Means Necessary continued Criminal Minded. Them dudes had a rawness as a hardcore duo that no one else was bringing yet. I'll wait on your counter
All your examples have nothing to do with 2016.
I think you nikkas really get confused on what a classic actually is. A classic is something you can put on now and it sounds
Illmatic sounds in 2016. It's superb fukking music. shyt's so good it doesn't even need an explanation. When I heard Illmatic, Cuban Linx, Infamous for the first time, I wasn't listening to them shyts with Cliff Notes. I just heard them and went 
Great beat. Great rhyme. Or you have an album that is so damn pivotal, even if it wasn't 90% perfect and was superseded, that you have to give it the classic stamp. e.g. Paid In Full, Criminal Minded. These are the Cliff Notes albums.
Does Strictly Business fall into either category? I'd argue not, but maybe I'm wrong. Perhaps it falls into the Cliff Notes category. As I said, EPMD have some of the greatest rap songs in history. I still play the shyt out of "So What You Sayin". I visit my cousin in East Orange and what do I hear blasting outta of a Hummer on the street corner? So What You Sayin.
But that's one song on that album.
Instead of relaying history and being on some "this is what we all did follow-shyt", tell me why Strictly Business means so much to you in 2016. Are you loving the fukk out of all those songs? Playing them often? What beats do you think are still crazy? What rhymes really speak to you artistically in 2016?
Still got my coffee