23 years after the first London show Erick Sermon and Parish Smith, AKA EPMD, return to the Big Smoke still making dollars and having fun, as Phillip Mylnar investigates.

With a funk-saturated sound formulated way out in Long Island, EPMD took their place up front as part of hip-hop’s fabled golden era back in 1987. Now nearly three decades deep in hip-hop history, rap innovators Erick Sermon and Parish Smith look back on the game-changing night they played London’s Brixton Academy, how the business of hip-hop taught them to break-up to make-up, and the lasting lesson the legendary Run-DMC taught them about always embracing rap’s new generation.

It’s 1988 and the Whistle Posse are in the house at London’s Brixton Academy. Their infernal siren fills up the venue’s atmosphere with a fevered anticipation. Back stage, Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay is talking to Erick Sermon and Parish Smith two rookie rappers and producers from the suburban climes of Brentwood, Long Island who rap under the name of EPMD, an amalgam of their monikers and mission: Erick and Parish Making Dollars. Jay tells the duo, who have been invited along on the tour after Run is impressed by their debut album, Strictly Business, that they should consider using the talents of current New Musical Seminar DJ champion DJ Scratch to bolster their live show. It’s timely advice, with EPMD in need of a new vinyl-spinning back-bone after K La Boss, who’d established himself as the duo’s DJ-of-choice after Diamond J – who would eventually go on to spin for P Diddy – had briefly flirted with the position only to bail out of the tour and travel back to the US citing illness. Early commercial UK hip-hop success story Derek B had filled in for EPMD the other night, earning the respect of Erick and Parish for memorising their set. But after witnessing Scratch perform an incredible set, the offer to become EPMD’s permanent DJ is made solid.

After this, things will never be the same for EPMD, as the brothers from Brentwood take up their chance to perform nightly with not just Run-DMC, but also Public Enemy, DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, and Stetsasonic. Things will never be the same for hip-hop either: the golden era is in full effect. Outside, the Whistle Posse salutes.

After this, things will never be the same for EPMD, as the brothers from Brentwood take up their chance to perform nightly with not just Run-DMC, but also Public Enemy, DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, and Stetsasonic. Things will never be the same for hip-hop either: the golden era is in full effect.

The symbolism of that distant night is strong, and sums up a hip-hop era when the defining momentum was with the music, not the images of individual artists. Run telling Def Jam executive Lyor Cohen to track down EMPD and invite them on the road, and Jay recommending a fellow DJ to fit the group’s vibe, seems like one generation graciously embracing the spirit of the next. Run-DMC themselves had already been in that position, kick-starting a new movement by trading up the (often) disco- and dance-helmed grooves of hip-hop’s first recorded wave of old school music for harsh and sparse drum machine beats and abrasive raps. EPMD heralded their own arrival with thick, mid-tempo funk grooves inspired by cruising around the expanse of Long Island in a car with the low-end frequencies cushioning the ride, not being cooped up on a rattling city subway train. The rhymes were just as comfortable, with the MCs prioritising the effortless way they said something over any allusions to content. As Erick declared on the Zapp-sampling You Gots To Chill: “Relax your mind, let your conscience be free/And get down to the sounds of EPMD.” It could be the group’s motto.

“It was full of five huge TVs, Adidas sneakers with no strings all neatly lined up, nice meals the promoters would have waiting for them”

As Parish tells it, this willingness of stylistically-different artists to commingle was a main part of the reason the time would become enshrined as hip-hop’s golden era. So when he and Erick first walked in to Run-DMC’s tour bus, they reacted with the exhilaration of fans. “It was full of five huge TVs, Adidas sneakers with no strings all neatly lined up, nice meals the promoters would have waiting for them,” recalls Parish, who before that day had only seen Run-DMC on TV and in concert. But EPMD soon found themselves accepted as artists on an equal level of respect and camaraderie. “It was a tight clique that formed on that tour,” Parish continues. “Remember, this was Will Smith before he became a movie star, when he was hoping Parents Just Don’t Understand would take off, and then Public Enemy and Stet were there, and we’d all support each other and hang out. It was like one family.” Backing up the sentiment, he adds, “I mean, once you rolled up on those tour busses, we had basketball courts set up under the busses.” (Will Smith and his bodyguard, Charlie Mack, were kings of the court. As Parish remembers: “They’d be dunking and we were just like, ‘Yo, we was just trying to do a little shoot up!’”)

EPMD’s rise was quick, fateful, and a beneficiary of the times. Their profile was established after a first single, 1987′s It’s My Thing, was played by both DJ Red Alert and Mr. Magic on their influential – but rival – New York City rap radio shows; a debut album, the perfectly-composed ten-track Strictly Business – the first in what currently totals seven “business”-punned titles – was roundly received as a classic. (Between the two releases, the group’s name and logo were solidified, after either KRS-One or Biz Markie – the duo’s memory is hazy – told them the original spelling, EPEE MD, was too complicated, and designer Haze created for them a logo as enduringly iconic as Run-DMC’s own one.) Then came the tour with Run-DMC, the chance to help define an era with fellow Long Island natives Public Enemy (Nassau County) and Rakim (Wyandanch), and the opportunity to extend EPMD’s influence through the early-’90s by putting on their collection of Hit Squad associates: Redman, Keith Murray, K-Solo, and tongue-twisting duo Das-EFX. But as the ’90s moved on, EPMD started to notice changes in the industry around them, not least as bonds that used to be formed through little more than keen creative integration started to fray. “I think once it hit its height for us in about ’93 or ’94, then it became less about the music and the culture and the art-form and more about the financial thing,” says Parish. “When hip-hop first came out, the music industry largely looked at it as trash, said it wasn’t gonna be around. But once it looked super-lucrative to them, it was harder for the artists to stay on top of just the music – it became more about the money than the art. I remember meeting 2Pac out in the Bay Area when he was with Shock G and Digital Underground and thinking that it was a little easier for Erick and I to establish ourselves because when we came out you got respect simply on how dope your music was. But ‘Pac and those guys, they had a lot more to figure out.”

During that time of change, EPMD started to make more money – but at the expense of not being able to enjoy it. “You were constantly working,” says Parish, “and in between our own albums, we had Das-EFX and Redman and K-Solo and Keith Murray to take care of. We went from more or less just trying to define our art to taking care of business and touring the globe and not getting to see too much of what we were doing.”

After a fourth album, Business Never Personal, EPMD split up – business, sometimes, being capable of corrupting a personal relationship. It was 1997 before they released another studio album together, appropriately titled Back In Business.

Back stage at the Kentish Town Forum, with show time looming, talk turns to the group’s future plans. Erick enthuses about his production work on an upcoming album from the Wu-Tang Clan’s gravel-voiced Method Man; Parish says he’s working with the Snowgoons production troop from Germany, and putting the finishing touches to an EP with Necro-associate Sean Strange titled Boondocks – ”some real underground music,” as he calls it. There is, of course, a new EPMD album being recorded, although since they’ve reunited the musical spark between Erick and Parish has never been as natural – as telepathic, even – as it once was. But that’s common: It’s hard for any hip-hop artist to stay relevant through so many years, eras, fashions and fads. (Parish’s own history goes back to the early-’80s, when he called himself DJ Eazzy “P” and rolled with his older brother, Smitty D, the founder of the Rock Squad. “He had a good relationship with Afrika Bambaataa even before Planet Rock came out,” he says, adding that he’s “seen hip-hop since before they even called it hip-hop.”)

Instead, Erick and Parish are attempting to embrace their experience – their vintage status – without turning sour and bitter to the modern scene around them. Looking back over EPMD’s career – ups, downs, break-ups, reconciliations, and all – Parish says they have “no regrets.” Instead, he figures, “Now that we’re older, it looks like everything is a learning experience.” Then, with a similar humility to the way Run-DMC embraced EPMD’s generation back in ’88, Parish invokes the wisdom of an icon of the wave that followed them: “But I know this – if we stop writing, if we stop producing, then we don’t have a right to complain about the state hip-hop is in. So like I always say to E, ‘We need to keep on that 2Pac work ethic.’”

This article is exclusive to Bonafide and first appeared in print in Bonafide Magazine issue 05: Old-School vs New-School. Go get.

Words: Phillip Mlynar
Photography: Jimmy Mould

Really enjoyed exploring the Project Thirty-Three blog produced by Jive Time Records, a Seattle-based store specializing in used vinyl.

Project Thirty-Three is an archive of vintage album covers that share the fact that they convey their message with simple shapes (circle, rectangles, squares and triangles), bold typography and concise copy. A site that showcases a genuine love for music and a treasure trove of inspiration. Well worth a look.

PUTTING IN ‘WERK

When hip-hop’s beats became untethered from the vocals in 1996, few could have predicted the implications. It levelled the playing field for producers from all over the world to concentrate on sonic rather than geographical landscapes. Beats became dislocated from the semantics of words and formed a new language as producers from Tokyo to Leeds set about crafting beats on MPCs and SPs or using their parents’ computers. Nowadays, a neck-snapper is as likely to come from Singapore or Melbourne as it is from one of the five boroughs. Freeing the producer from beats that work for MCs has also let it incorporate more disparate influences and evolve more quickly.

Which takes us up to 2011 and Fieldwerk recordings. Hailing from Chicago, Crushcon 7’s label started out in 2009 as a way to release his own projects and has grown to tightly knit but exceptionally healthy roster since then. Much of their output is the type of moody beat-driven instrumental that makes them the latest in a lineage that stems from Endtroducing, although occasional releases feature choice Midwest MCs such as Onry Ozzborn (Grayskul), I Self Divine (Micranots) and recent signing Cloudy October.

They came to our attention through the split album Falcon by Design produced by Joe Beats and Maker, a slept-on gem showing Joe Beats’ progression from straight-up boom bap to sleazy hammond funk and blissed-out dubby soundscapes. Other highlights of their recent releases include the skittering, swishing analogue sounds of Void Pedal and Zavala’s production on the Dark Time Sunshine album featuring the clattering breakbeats and densely-layered production that seem to be mainstays of the label’s style.

Label owner David Humphries, aka Crushcon 7, puts their success down to a simple ethos: ”Respect the music, respect the art, be honest.”. Concentrating on solid and interesting releases and trusting that they’ll find an audience for them through tours, independent stores and their website, fieldwerk.com. Peep their website and check fatcity.co.uk for releases outside the U.S.

Exclusive to Bonafide, we have a free label sampler featuring releases from Joe Beats, Zavala, Maker and Cloudy October. Grab it here, tracklist as follows:

1. Zavala – The City is Mine
2. Maker – Everything Ends
3. Cloudy October – Wingman
4. Joe Beats – Korla was Black
5. Void Pedal – Night time Butterfly
6. Zavala – Dark Time Sunshine
7. Joe Beats – Blunted Lapdance
8. Void Pedal – Parachute

Kieran Hadley

It’s been a while since I visited Ben Eine’s website so it was good to see he has given it a lick of paint.

Gone are the mischievous Care Bears and eye watering psychedelic colours and, in keeping with Eine’s upward trajectory in the art world, comes something altogether more slicker. Einesigns 2.0 boasts more refined navigation, greater content and promises to be updated more regularly.

The work on show looks to have gone up a notch as well, with the imagery from his show, The Greatest, at White Walls gallery, looking particularly tasty. Featuring one-off words using his trademark typefaces and vibrant colours, this is one wall I’d happily transport to my own living room.

If anyone is in the market for some Eine, check out No Walls Gallery who have some letter canvases in or why take a gamble on Bonafide issue 02 which has an indepth interview with the king of typo-graff.

I’ve been itching to listen find out more about MED’s Classic LP ever since it surfaced on Stones Throw and I caught sight of Eric Colman’s and Jeff Jank’s Blue Note riffing cover. As MED puts it when asked about the album’s moniker:

“I called the LP Classic because thats the approach I took: create music that has the potential to be played by every generation. This album deals with current issues, personal and within the community. Good-feeling music will always last and allow hip-hop to grow.”

With contributions from Aloe Blacc, Talib Kweli, Oh No and Kurupt, Madlib on production duties and beats by Oh No, Georgia Anne Muldrow and The Alchemist, it seems like it the LP may well live up to its name.

Having spotted a poster advertising her forthcoming gig at the Nation of Shopkeepers and been seduced by the kooky, nonchalant charm of the fresh-faced girl staring back at me I decided to do a quick bit of digging…which revealed that Lianne Le Havas is actually a cog in the Warner Brothers machine that’s been grafting to get her featured in the hottness section of any credible muso publication going, and have even roped in everyone’s favourite weird uncle Jools Holland to put her on Later…with Jools Holland. Whilst I’m unsurprised that everything isn’t quiet what it seems – it rarely is – there’s no mistaking that Ms Le Havas has a voice and presence that are getting people excited.

M.C. Mell’O’
Thoughts Released (Revelation 1)
Original Dope

The recently established re-issue label Original Dope has a simple remit of preserving hip- hip and its legacy. A duty they’ve so far fulfilled to the nth degree – pumping out British rap classics and lost American standards that may have been missed by heads and heathens the first time round.

On the go since 2010 and curated by Andy Cowen, long-time editor of Hip-Hop Connection, Original Dope’s output is still in single figures but there’s not a dud among them.

These choice albums have been dredged from the record collections of music fiends who know their onions and the resulting re-issue (that ends up in your sweaty palm as a slick CD with heavy duty liner notes) has been polished up like the family silver. Not only do you get a dope album to be banged out of woofers, tweeters and whatever else you’ve got hooked up, but you get all the bells and whistles as well -  bonus tracks and digitally re-fiddled goodness.

So far the label have graced the us with five albums – Silver Bullet’s Bring Down The Walls No Limit Squad Returns, M.C. Mell’O's Thoughts Released (Revelation 1), MC Duke’s Organised Rhyme, Blade’s The Lion Goes  From Strength to Strength (No Compromise) and Ruthless Rap Assassins’ The Killer Album – 20th Anniversary Edition.

I’ve only heard two of these, MC Mell’O's and the MC Duke piece and was blown away by both. In each case I was aware of the artists but I hadn’t heard these albums and both proved not just to be greatly satisfying records but also gave me a schooling on what I’d been missing -  they were pretty mindblowing rhyme-wise and also showcased samples that I, naively, associated with American artists of the era.

And these are both early doors records in the world of British hip hop, Thoughts Released (Revelation 1) hails from 1990 and while MC Duke’s longplayer is even earlier, 1988/89.

Born in Battersea Mell’O’ began his immersion into hip-hop culture via dance troupes The 52 Flash Kru, SAS (Strawberry All-Stars) and Truly Unique, throwing down in Covent Garden, the epicenter of the nascent UK hip-hop explosion. Schooled in the fine-art of b-boying by the likes of Jeffrey Daniels and all persuasive Zulu Nation leader Afrika Bambaataa, Mell’O”s early experiments in rhyme began to grow wings when he formed a deadly duo with future London Posse ruffneck Rodney P. More life-changing still was his link up with DJ Pogo, Sparki and Monie Love, in the Jus Badd crew, cementing an enduring friendship evident in the grooves of 1988s collectible debut 12 Free Style. His steely presence secured a solo deal with Joey Negro’s Republic Records, Mell’O’ wasting little time in laying down a clear marker with 1989s Comin’ Correct EP.  But that was merely the calm before the storm of his one and only solo album Thoughts Released (Revelation 1) – a hugely accomplished set that has helped define British hip-hop to this day.

But while the set retains sizable hints of the Britcore energy then all the rage, it differed from the madding throng thanks to producer Sparki’s soulful production and Mell’O”s articulate, thought-provoking tongue-trickery.

Hailing from 1990 this album is a hugely expanded version of Thoughts Released (Revelation 1), remastered by original engineer No Sleep Nigel and includes an extensive interview with Mell’O’, charting his rise to an internationally renowned emcee of real depth and quality.  It’s given some extra oomph with six bonus tracks, including all three main features from the sought after Comin’ Correct EP.

In a break from the norm, Mell’O’ split the original vinyl album into two distinct halves. The first (Side For The Physically Stable) catered directly to the straight-up rap fiend, moving from the bare beats and rhymes of opener Our Time through the ferocious A Total Eclipse Of The Art and All Terrain MCs, the latter a confident spar-off with Sparki, cementing his status as one of the best battle-smart mic-spitters in the business. Yet Mell’O’ showed another, more enduring dimension on the flip (Side For The Mentally Stable), peddling positivity by the pound on the excellent Subtraction and laidback summer anthem Open Up Your Mind, the album’s only single cooked up alongside Brixton remix dons Blacksmith.

I would like to take credit for the this fantastic and encyclopedic detail of MC Mell’O's back story but as you may have already guessed it is courtesy of the hip-hop boffins at Original Dope and if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

After many listens if my Corsa I can attest that this album is an essential for b-boys everywhere or just peeps who love great music and relish exposure to exciting material that may have passed them by first time round and the guy’s voice kills it.

Extensive liner notes and some moody b/w shots should, to some extent, stop fingers hitting those naughty free download keys on their computer boards, for the these Original Dope pieces are there to read as well as listen.

Close the curtains, slip on you beat slippers and SP dressing gown and get the reading light on and have a good old wallow in MC Mell’O’ and his lyrical ways.

MC Duke
Organised Rhyme
Original Dope

The first thing that struck me about MC DUKE is how nattily attired he is, quite ready for a day in the country, and how similar one famous and eccentric English boxer ( monster trucks and a slight speech impediment may help you conjur an image) togged himself out.

Despite the bevvy of minders, high class ride and salubrious pad in the background MC Duke bolsters his hip hop credentials with some heavy carats on fingers and neck, a massive medallion with his name on it (possibly for if he gets lost) and an elaborate walking stick.

MC Duke has always been a top-ranker. The self-styled ‘English rasta’/’MC undertaker’ was first spotted by UK original Derek B, destroying all challengers at a London open-mic contest.

And even though the verbal whirlwind didn’t have the obligatory demo tape to his name, he was fast-tracked into the studio by Music Of Life producer Simon Harris – a prescient bit of business that quickly yielded British rap’s first essential long player and saw him crowned ‘UK artist of the decade’ in rap bible Hip-Hop Connection.

A funky time capsule of hip-hop circa 1989, Organised Rhyme alluded heavily to it author’s refined taste in rare grooves and easy alliance with his trusty beatmaker DJ Leader 1.
Yet as well as coming musically depth-charged, the former Soul II Soul record boy crafted his rhymes with rare relish. He was equally capable of swatting away a lyrical adversity (The Alternative Argument) as he was laying waste to the evils of colonialism (the title track), although it’s his Equals-sampling homage to the pure joy of rhyming, I’m Riffin’, that resonates in any decade.

A particular treat for me was found tucked neatly in the bonus tracks, The Futurist, and it is a neck snapper. RUDE.

Another great from the vaults of British hip-hop and much the same as the MC Mell’O’ release it comes with bonus tracks, nearly doubling the length of the album, and some fantastic photographs harking back to a time when rappers dressed aspirationally.

Again I have to defer to the superior write-up delivered by Original Dope, it is clear that as much as they want you to buy these re-issues, absorb  and enjoy them they also want you to understand where, when and how the music was created. A welcome and refreshing change for the music fan. Whatever you do check out their fine, fine, website.

Original Dope is a label putting out quality re-issues of genuinely scarce albums, and not just for the sake of it. The amount of research put into each release shows true passion, and perhaps a little fanaticism, for the art that is hip-hop.

Words: Barry Smyth

Following on from the Supreme news, here’s something about a skating team/label a bit closer to home. Drawing on a coterie of skaters and design talent Palace Skateboards have been an emergent presence in London for the past few years. They’ve plucked some of the finest talent about and combined it with a visual brand that gets noticed – riffing the likes of the Coco Chanel and Versace logos’ and psychology diagrams has made for some excellent tees.  This video, commissioned by VICE and ASOS, profiles key man Lev Tanju who talks about the Palace philosophy, his love of VHS and future plans.

Various
True Soul Vol 1 and 2
Now Again

Ever since the now mythical Chains and Black Exhaust compilation piqued my interest at the turn of the millennium, I have been a habitual consumer of the output of Memphix, Now Again, Mochilla and the other connected labels and acts that specialise in this genre. Chains and Black Exhaust proved an elusive prize. Every so often I’d read a tit-bit about it on a forum or in a knowing review. It’d be on my radar, whetting my appetite but then would prove impossible to find and it’d disappear down the Wanted List and I’d forget about it. I finally nailed it a year or so ago and, with all it’s Hendrix-esque, un-fettered lushness, I was engrossed.

The point of these ramblings? That there is a whole other world of good stuff out there which aforementioned labels have an un-canny habit of unearthing, dusting down and preserving for future generations. And you, dear reader, should be making the most of this.

True Soul Volume 1 is another instance of this. Issued by Now Again Records, in association with label-owner Lee Anthony, True Soul: Deep Sounds from the Left of Stax Vol. 1, is a potent mixture of rare and unreleased funk and soul music, TV footage and extensive liner notes from the fabled Arkansas indie. This kind of release is a full-on 3D celebration of music from an analogue, more handcrafted place, when the quality and love for the music took precedence over celebrity, units or clever marketing gimmicks. This is the good stuff that will get any music lover in a hot funk and coming over all John Peel.

Download MP3: Thomas East “Slipping Around” (1969)

Following the Stussy thread and riding the wave of the surf, love this piece of advertising for Japanese clothing brand Beams. As befitting a brand that doffs a cap to Americana, this piece of artwork has a proper Pacific ocean vibe – clear skies and a clear blue ocean – and appropriates (rather than bites) American artist Ed Ruscha’s style very nicely (I’m presuming he wasn’t commissioned by the label to paint it himself).