At the countdown to a new, eagerly anticipated Eminem’s joint with Nas, it is time to pay more attention to another act on the track and hints that Eminem possibly left on his latest album.
Erick and Parrish Making Dollars or Erick and Parrish the Microphone Doctor released their debut album “Strictly Business” in 1988, pioneering a new style of hip hop, heavy with funk and rock samples. The album and four follow-ups eventually went gold, symbolising not only their influence but also a commercial success.
Allegedly, the legendary duo is planning to release their new music later this year through Roc Nation, but there is not much information on it.
Understandably, Eminem knows and respects their groundbreaking work. On his Shade45 radio show “Music To Be Quarantined By” Em was spinning EPMD’s hit “You Gots to Chill” with this introduction:
And the first time I saw this video, EPMD had done something to me that had not been done yet in hip-hop. It was the way that they mixed funk, the beats with mellow vocal tone. That shit was so crazy because I don’t think anybody had done that yet at that time. And it was just swag the fuck out. This is when you knew that hip-hop was not going away.
It is no surprise that he mentions their name on his albums. However, “Music to Be Murdered By” has three clear references to EPMD.
The least intriguing is probably the one on “Yah Yah”. Eminem closes the third verse with a shout out to classic hip hop artists who influenced Marshall both as an artist and a person:
Now here’s to LL, Big L and Del
K-Solo, Treach, and G Rap
DJ Polo, Tony D, ODB, Moe Dee, Run-DMC
Ed O.G., and EPMD, D.O.C., Ice-T, Evil Dee
King Tee, UTFO, and Schoolly D, PE, and BDP
YZ and Chi-Ali, Rakim and Eric B.,
they were like my therapy
From B.I.G. and Paris, Three Times Dope,
and some we’ll never see, and PRT
N.W.A and Eazy-E, and D-R-E was like my GPS
Without him, I don’t know where I’d be
Then on “Higher”, Em gives EPMD credits for basically teaching him how to write:
All I ever wanted was to be an emcee
Tediously I wrote obediently, believing in me
EPMD must’ve had teachin’ degrees
Learned to defeat enemies with the ink, thinkin’ of these rhymes
But the most thrilling name drop also includes a reference to Dr. Dre, and it might give some hope to the fans speculating who is going to produce upcoming collaboration:
So ’til the E-N-D, since EPMD
Been givin’ y’all the business, D-R-E and me
Nas’s “EPMD” was produced by Hit-Boy. Will he return to “EPMD2”, or should we expect somebody else to jump in?
