Sometimes somebody says freestyle and means live performance of an existing verse/song possibly over a different beat than the recorded version. See yesterday's post, "Rakim - Rap City Interview & Freestyle." But then sometimes somebody says freestyle and means otherwise undocumented maybe improvised performance, and when that performance is by Rakim, your ears damn well better perk up like they have radar antennae attached.
This is that: a little heard freestyle by Rakim. Another YouTube post dates it to 1998, which sounds about right. The 2nd beat Rakim annihilates was produced by Erick Sermon from the infamous LL Cool J posse cut "4,3,2,1," which I somehow for the first time just realized is almost exactly the same beat as Def Squad's "Full Cooperation" (also produced by Sermon). If it ain't broke, don't fix it. If you don't know what the 1stbeat is, how did you find me
This concludes the 8th (!) annual Rakim week. If you dug it, check out prior years' Rakim weeks as well as DJ Ran's YouTube, where you'll find more cypher sessions featuring other gifted MCs. Finally, happy belated birthday to the greatest rapper of all time, the God MC Rakim, and peace to anyone reading this.
If you enjoyed the Def Squad Freestyles compilation posted here in 2019, or the EPMD remixes compilation posted here in 2014, this freestyle is going to really get you going. If you're unfamiliar with those, dig in because Erick and Parish are pillars of this whole structure. Here, they perform "Get the Bozack" off Unfinished Business, but with a completely different beat that sounds like something Marley Marl or DJ Scratch could've been cooking up right there on air. Trying to find the full episode from which this was taken, I stumbled on an August 1989 recording, which also featured DMC, but I don't think that's it. At any rate, you now have three links in addition to freestyle I came here to post, so I'm going to go watch Star Trek.
Last month, Montreal-based writer/producer Son Raw tweeted, "Erick Sermon's 94-96 production run >>>," then brought attention specifically to his bass lines, which got me thinking, Erick Sermon's production run from 1988 onward is really underappreciated in general, which later got me thinking, I ought to make a compilation of EPMD/Erick Sermon instrumentals.
"And I could hear, 'sorry son, good idea, but you're a little too late.'"
Of course Erick Sermon knows how dope he is behind the boards: the man's in a class all his own! It should come as no surprise then that a compilation of 16 EPMD beats is already available on the Hit Squad Bandcamp, and another compilation of 14 Funk Lord Instrumentals is on Sermon's. Side note, while reflecting on the obvious: this site is severely lacking in EPMD, Erick Sermon and Parish Smith posts and that should change in 2021.
Rakim with Erick Sermon, Parish Smith and Slick Rick; it
seems whatever tensions might have once existed between Ra
and EPMD have long since eased, and the acts now frequently
perform on the same bills as one another.
Long Island Rap's sixth (!!!!!!) annual Rakim week starts now, with a look at a topic that we've never really touched on, but which, despite being long settled, continues to get attention even today. I'm talking, of course, about the on-wax "beef" between Rakim (then of Eric B. & Rakim) and EPMD's Erick Sermon and Parrish Smith. For those who don't already know the story, EPMD gave a pretty thorough recap during a 2017 appearance on Nore's Drink Champs podcast.
***
Erick Sermon: We’re two towns away. Rakim’s my mentor. When I heard him, I thought his name was Rock Wind. All of a sudden, the record came out so me and Parish were like, “Yo, this the illest shit we ever heard.” …Rakim had, “You could get a smack for this, I ain’t no joke.” Parish came back and said, “It’s like a Dig’em Smack, you smack me and I’ll smack you back,” not knowing—
Parrish Smith: Just a rhyme about the cereal, you know, the frog. I was just writing rhymes.
Nore: Time out, I never caught that.
Erick Sermon: But the two towns did because it’s Long Island! Then Rakim made this shit called “Follow the Leader” and said, “A brother said dig 'em I never dug 'em/ He couldn’t follow the leader enough so I drug him into the danger zone,” so he went! And we’re not fucking with him! Let’s keep it real, Parish was incredible but we’re not fucking with him though. There used to be a club in Manhattan called The Building, so him and Parrish were at the bar talking and P said, “E, let me talk with you real quick,” so P called me over and we squashed the beef right there in the bar.
***
The records Sermon's talking about here are Eric B. & Rakim's "I Ain't No Joke," EPMD's "You're A Customer," and Eric B. & Rakim's "Follow the Leader." The misunderstanding that sparked the beef was over a line referring to Dig 'Em, the cartoon frog mascot of Kellogg's Sugar Smacks cereal. Check out the commercial below, which contains the jingle Smith was referencing on "You're A Customer."
Cereal catchphrase miscommunications aside, with EPMD coming out after Eric B. & Rakim, with both groups selling well right out the gate, and with Sermon's laid back vocals drawing immediate comparison to Rakim, it's not surprising that many Long Islanders who knew both camps may have been looking for reasons to pit them against one another. In fact, the rap rivalry between Brentwood and Wyandanch can be traced back even further, and if those who were around for it are to be believed, "Follow the Leader" wasn't Rakim's introduction to it.
In a 2009 interiew, DJ Belal (an early DJ for Rakim and later of Groove B Chill) recalled "being in Brentwood at a little house party and Smitty’s group, the Rock Squad came down." Parrish Smith was actually in that group, but back then went by the name D.J. Eazzy "P." Belal continued, "From Wyandanch, it was just me and Ra and some people who weren’t MCs. And Ra tore them up by himself. He did the whole 'Seven MCs in a line' routine then. The look on they face was priceless because it was 7 of them."
Which brings us back to a larger point about battling and friendly competition. Rakim didn't write the seven MCs line for the Rock Squad — it was part of a routine he did before it was ever recorded — but when rapping on others' turf or in any competive setting (and really, what isn't), it could and certainly would be used as lyrical artillery. The same might be said for Parish Smith's "It's like a Dig 'Em Smack, you smack me and I’ll smack you back." Whether it was originally directed at Rakim, as he thought — or not, as Smith contends — it certainly could've been taken that way. Regardless of the artists' true targets or lack thereof, the competitve spirit they shared made for some of the best records in history; and their listeners' equally passionate fandom, which drove them to analyze their favorite artists' lyics and often prescribe new meanings, only fueled the artists' fire.
***
While we're considering Rakim's early brushes with EPMD and how listeners' interpretations can allow for records to be heard in new ways, here's something far doper: a blend of the vocals from Eric B. & Rakim's "I Ain't No Joke" with the instrumental for EPMD's "The Big Payback." The blend comes from an episode of the Club Krush radio program, which aired on WPRB 103.3 FM in either Augst or July of 1990. The show was hosted by DJs Eazy M and G, and it seems like the latter was behind the boards for this blend. You can read more about the program and listen to the full episode via RawDealRadio.com and the Internet Archive.
Erick Sermon has a new album out in multiple formats for the collectors among us. There's the digi below, but also a series of limiited edition vinyl in different colorways via Netherlands-based De Rap Winkel Records (splatter edition shown here), as well as limited edition cassettes via self-proclaimed esoteric art merchant Trevor Lang.
Steve Miller, who Miles Davis famously called a "sorry ass cat" and "non-playing motherfucker," is also known for giving the world "Fly Like an Eagle," which is the sample source for Puff Daddy's "Watcha Gon' Do," featuring Rick Ross, and for EPMD's "You're a Customer." Interestingly, it was EPMD's Erick Sermon who in 2000 put out one of Ross's earliest recordings, the Def Squad song "Aint Shit to Discuss," which featured Ross rapping as Teflon Da Don. Also worth noting, "You're a Customer" wasn't the only "Fly Like an Eagle"-sampling song from 1987 by a Long Island-based hip-hop artist; Patchogue native Biz Markie's "Nobody Beats the Biz" also flipped the Miller tune that year. Which song was recorded first? Which was written first? Or is time actually even linear in the first place? Tik tak toot-toot-toot-tooroom.
One of few mixtapes from EPMD's DJ Scratch, Handle Your Business was first posted by the now-defunct 13th Floor Growing Old Blog. According to the post, this tape was sold exclusively on EPMD's 2006 tour. In a 2009 interview with NodFactor.com, DJ Scratch said of his mixtape work, "I’ll do one once every two years or so. When I do one I want it to last. Like the EPMD Handle Your Business mixtape, people already have them but you flip it in your own special way. The concept mixtapes last forever." Download here and preview a standout track below.
Recorded in Dix Hills, NY and promoted as "The 1st clue from the upcoming album Enigma," "The Rhyme" is note-worthy for several reasons: 1) Eight versions of this single were released; 2) It features a remix by The Ummah production team (Q-Tip, Ali Shaheed Muhammad and the late J Dilla); and 3) It's ill! The version included in this post, JDCD-42405-1, is the 12" U.S. Promo, which is differentiated by the fact that it contains a radio version of the Erick Sermon-produced original "The Rhyme" and not the album cut "Yeah." The fact that The Ummah remix is called "The Slum Village Remix" leads me to believe that Dilla was primarily behind this beat. It definitely has his sound.
Download the 12" here.
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of their sophomore album Unfinished Business, EPMD will be performing live at The Emporium in Patchogue, two weeks from today, on Thursday, August 7.
Also on the bill are local acts Ancient Tongue, Status, DiE$eL-E, Contradiction, and Musick Medics.
Doors open at 7, show starts at 8, tickets cost $20 in advance or $25 at the door and are available via ticketfly. You must be 18 or older to attend.
Of course, if you're younger than 18 and want to attend an EPMD show, you should be allowed to do so on GP ... but don't bank on that getting you past security.
This unauthorized compilation of EPMD remixes comes to us direct from the Cold Rock Da Spot blog (so if you don't like it, blame them). A good pick-up for the budding Long Island hip-hop completist, it spans 20 years (1987-2007) in the careers of the "Brothers from Brentwood, L.I.," with tracks ranging from regular old white label remixes to UK mixes to club mixes and the like. Some tracks sound a lot like the original versions and some sound very different, but most if not all of the classic singles are accounted for, making this a great starting point for those who aren't very familiar with the group's work. Sample a few standout tracks below and if you dig, download EPMD - The Remix Files.
