Legendary group EPMD recently blew through Chicago to give fans both old and new a taste of hip-hop’s golden era.
Playing to a sold-out audience at The Shrine, Erick and Parrish Making Dollars easily breezed through their sizable catalog of classics, including “So Whatcha Sayin’,” “You Gots to Chill” and “Strictly Business.”
Since their debut in 1987, the pair out of Brentwood, New York, have been regarded as one of the genre’s premier duos with six of their seven albums having been certified gold by the RIAA. To hear Erick Sermon tell it, their longevity has everything to do with their resolve to stick to the basics when it comes to emceeing.
“We come from an era of Public Enemy, Big Daddy Kane, LL Cool J, BDP and so on and so forth. You see us on stage with a live DJ. No rapping to tracks,” Sermon told the crowd. “Rappers nowadays forget about emceeing. They too worried about their shoes and belt, but that Louis Vuitton belt can’t rap for you!”
EPMD’s last studio release was 2008’s We Mean Business.
Check out photos from the show in the gallery below.
