Strictly Business
EPMD 1988 pioneering
hip-hop Golden Age Hip-Hop East Coast Hip-Hop Boom Bap
The business plan — EPMD's debut built an entire aesthetic from extended funk loops and unhurried delivery. While peers screamed, Erick and Parrish grooved. The most effortlessly cool album of the golden age.
Acoustic Profile
Production
Method: sample-based
Fidelity: lo-fi-aesthetic
Extended funk loops — entire song sections from single samplesEric B. and Rakim influenced but funkier and more relaxedMinimal processing letting source material breatheBass-heavy mixing emphasizing groove over aggressionRick James, Kool & The Gang, and Bob Marley samples
Vocal
Approach: spoken
Lyrical Abstraction: 2/10
Mood & Theme
euphoria defiance
Territory: Hip-Hop as Business, Lyrical Supremacy, Funk Celebration
Emotional Arc: Laid-Back Confidence
Era & Context
1988: While Public Enemy brought noise and Rakim brought poetry, EPMD brought funk — long, uncut samples of Rick James and Kool & The Gang providing a laid-back counterpoint to the era's maximalism. 'Strictly Business' was a manifesto title: hip-hop as professional enterprise, not street corner freestyle.
Spiritual Links (5)
Paid in Full Rakim (1987)
7/10 rhythmic-innovationstudio-as-instrument
Criminal Minded KRS-One (1987)
6/10 rhythmic-innovationstudio-as-instrument
People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm A Tribe Called Quest (1990)
5/10 rhythmic-innovationimprovisational-freedom
Mecca and the Soul Brother Pete Rock (1992)
5/10 studio-as-instrumentrhythmic-innovation
3 Feet High and Rising De La Soul (1989)
5/10 nostalgia-as-mediumsonic-experimentation
Influences
Similar Albums (Cross-Artist)
1
Ghetto Music: The Blueprint of Hip Hop KRS-One (1989)
95% 2 Lethal Injection Ice Cube (1993)
89% 3 KRS-One KRS-One (1995)
89% 4 By All Means Necessary KRS-One (1988)
80% 5 Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous Big L (1995)
80% 6 Paid in Full Rakim (1987)
79% 7 Return of the Boom Bap KRS-One (1993)
78% 8 Follow the Leader Rakim (1988)
76% 9 3 Feet High and Rising De La Soul (1989)
75% 10 De La Soul Is Dead De La Soul (1991)
75%