Features

ThaFormula.com - Did you and Erick Sermon ever talk about how things could go bad or shit could happen to mess things up when you guys were starting out?

PMD - Not at all. I believed when I was 14 years old that I could put together a group and that they would sell a lot of records and that happened. So what I would do is start thinkin' and dreamin' again. I had what's called faith.

ThaFormula.com - Did you guys get together and record your first EPMD demo together or did you do it yourself?

PMD - No when we got together I already had the beats and the rhymes. My rhymes and I had already went away to college at SCSU and that's when I started putting ideas together. I was talkin' back and forth on the phone with Erick so then once I came back because I was already a DJ, I had "Seven Minutes of Funk," which to you all it's known as "It's My Thing." I went to the studio and I looped it. I told Erick that when I came back from school I would definitely scoop him cause I wanted to do this. So once we went in the studio, the copy that they wanted to sign us for was scratched so we had to get in touch with Special K and Teddy Ted to get a clean copy. We met in front of the Latin Quarters looped it up, that was EPMD. But then they wanted us to do an album. "You Got's To Chill" was my favorite song from when I was younger. My pops and his friend used to DJ at a club and when they went outside to do their little thing they left me on the turntables. So the one song I loved to cut was "More Bounce." So you know that's where "You Got's to Chill" came in.

ThaFormula.com - Who did the majority of the production on the first album?

PMD - Me. PMD. Parrish Smith. I did "It's My Thing," I did "You're a Customer" and I got inspired to do "You're a Customer" from a ZZ Top song I used to like.

ThaFormula.com - What made you make "Strictly Business" the complete opposite of "Unfinished Business" as far as "Strictly Business" sounding more West Coast and "Unfinished" sounding more East coast? PMD - Well when I produced those songs on the first and put that album out, I had no access to the world. I just did it from the world that I was in home, Brentwood Long Island. But then off of that album it got me on the "Runs House" tour and sold a million records. Was a number one album so now I seen the world.

ThaFormula.com - So you sold a million records on that album?

PMD - Yeah, but because it was independent we only got credit for like 900,000.

ThaFormula.com - And as far as money goes did you guys see a lot for money off of that first project or not really?

PMD - No, because our contracts was messed up and we was only getting' 60 cents a record but it didn't matter because we was from the hood we was on the road and we were making money. The whole thing was don't get stuck crying about a wack contract. Just keep workin' hard and good things will come to you. That was way before K-Solo, Das Efx, or Redman.

ThaFormula.com - You know a lot of people early on thought you guys were L.A. artists cause of all the West Coast type beats you used on "Strictly Business?"

PMD - Yeah, in the beginning definitely and we spent so much time in L.A. We was at the palace, outside at the amphitheater, you name it we basically lived out there in California. But the whole vibe came from touring. So once you tour you know what I'm sayin' we got so much respect from the G'z in the hood, this is the real. When we came to L.A. we got up with NWA, Ice Cube, Ice-T so it was a universal movement. It was like before Hip-Hop I didn't know what was going on in Philadelphia, L.A., or Cali.

ThaFormula.com - Without question "You Got's to Chill" was one of the first if not the first track thrown on in the early 90's at all the house parties. That was probably the ultimate gangsta track back in the day...

PMD - That represented the real.

ThaFormula.com - So a little afterwards you guys brought in K-Solo, how did that come about?

PMD - Well K-Solo he was doing some time in the joint. As soon as he got out I was in the hood so we ran into each other. He kicks some rhymes and I always before I even got on K-Solo used to be the dopest around our way when I was 13. So once I got on and I had a little juice you know I definitely wanted to put him on. So he had some dope rhymes and I had a connection with Atlantic so that's when we came out with "Spellbound" and tells "Your Mom's In My Business."

ThaFormula.com - So was the second EPMD the album the one where Erick got into production?

PMD - Erick didn't start producin' until the 4th EPMD album "Business Never Personal." He did a track like on "Unfinished Business," called "Total Kaos." He did that on that album.

ThaFormula.com - So basically the second album once again was produced by you?

PMD - Yeah, "So Whatcha Sayin'" and all of those cuts was all me.

ThaFormula.com - So how did the second album do and what was that year like for EPMD?

PMD - Yo, it was the next level cause everybody gets caught with the Sophomore jinx. So you know you start hearin' you can't do it, you're not gonna make it, the first one was a hoax. So that's why I came with "Unfinished Business" and "So Whatchu Sayin'." I answered the question of all the haters. So hatin' didn't just start in the 90's or the 2000's, it's been here. So I was talkin' back to them, "So Whatchu Sayin'" and then I also put "The Big Payback" on there and "Get the Bozack" and it wasn't me it was the fame. Understand it ain't me, I'm just following the spirit of the music.

ThaFormula.com - So did you also came up with the album title?

PMD - Yeah, the only album title I didn't come up with was "Business Never Personal" and then now when finally like a couple of years ago I got to sit down and watch New Jack City ('cause I was that busy) I understood it. So I never named my album "Business Never Personal."

ThaFormula.com - And as far as the sales went on "Unfinished Business" was it just as good?

PMD - Yeah, it did like 850,000.

ThaFormula.com - So you guys did it again, how was the feelin' after that and how was everything going after that?

PMD - Yo, everybody's face was wrecked. They knew what time it was. 30 days later the LP went Gold on that one, two so we were definitely good and we shot the video underground in the sewer with the fishermen hats on.

ThaFormula.com - That video was the shit man. So after that you dropped K-Solo's LP. How did that do?

PMD - Yo, it did good for a new artist. K-Solo sold like 350,000 records.

ThaFormula.com - From then came the third album right?

PMD - Yeah, "Business as Usual" cause now everybody understood what time it was.

ThaFormula.com - So did Erick even wanna be involved in Hip-Hop that much?

PMD - Nah, he was just rhymin'. He just had dope rhymes, but I already knew the music, the rap, and the business 'cause I grew up around it. One of my sisters used to go with Red Alert and the other one used to go with Rodney C who is in "Wild Style." I had the "Wild Style" soundtrack plates white labels when I was about 14 or 15 before the movie or the soundtrack came out.

ThaFormula.com - Now one thing I remember you guys doing was creating your own language that spread all over the planet. I remember at one point everyone was sayin' "Swayze" and "Get the Bozack" and shit...

PMD - That's something that I created and in the beginning, I didn't know it was gonna happen. I just had a dream and I followed my faith and my heart and then say The Lord can read your heart so basically, Hip-Hop is gods music and it's an opportunity for you to challenge yourself and look at yourself as opposed to askin' other people for help. So I didn't know this was gonna become a phenomenon. I just wanted to be a part of it. See I just seen Run DMC, Big Daddy Kane and Slick Rick and wanted to be down and be known. But then the further I got in the game, I seen people doing wrong. See we came in with the Hammer era when they was trying to show America that that's rap when we was like, "no EPMD, this is rap," and before us it's Slick Rick and Big Daddy Kane and Run DMC and Kool Herc and Bambatta. So I was from the era of holdin' on to make sure that the game wouldn't become a fad and that's why they call it the golden era. So I rocked in that era and I rock in this era. So I get to rock both sides old school and new school.

ThaFormula.com - So with the second album did you guys make a little more dough?

PMD - Yeah, but we still was getting' 60 cents a record and we still didn't own our publishin' so we just basically got what we got from the shows and everything was like a 50/50 split.

ThaFormula.com - So now let's get to the third album "Business As Usual," was Hip-Hop still good to you at that time?

PMD - Yeah Hip-Hop was great to me and I was in the heart of it because I got to come in on the "Run's House" tour so I was there with Run DMC, Russell Simmons, Lyor Cohen, Public Enemy, Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince before they did TV or movies. So by the time I got to my third album I was just getting stronger. I had done passed the Sophomore Jinx and it was business as usual. So that's when I had a better sense of the game and at the same time I had a better sense for the world that I lived in.

ThaFormula.com - What I give you guys props for is that unlike most groups who get softer as the albums go on you guys kept getting harder and harder through your first 4 albums before the breakup. The bigger you got the more hardcore you got...

PMD - Because the fans always wanted the real and when we started we all started as youths. We all were listeners and I call my fans my people and we grew together and we went up against the world together and we was like we don't believe in this world right here. We don't believe that you gotta go through grades 1 to 12 to college and then get married. We believe there is something different and as we seen it we told you the truth. It wasn't about being pretty. It was about being able to be yourself without sacrificing your self for other people and that's why people felt us but then once there was a problem I was in 2 deep.

ThaFormula.com - So now with the third album in came Redman with "Hardcore." How did that come about getting Redman down?

PMD - Redman is a super dope MC and what basically happened was we went to do a show in New Jersey at a club called Club Sensation and EPMD and Biz Markie was getting' down and when we walked in the place Redman was waiting in the dressing room and he kicked a rhyme. From there we got his number and we finished our tour but then when we got back we started getting in touch with him.

ThaFormula.com - Also with that album you had the collabo with LL on "Rampage". How did that go down 'cause that was very unexpected?

PMD - Well EPMD was super hot and people knew on the underground level what we was capable of doing and LL's album before that was sort of so, so. So because we was on the same label, L was like, "yo I know you droppin' an album you know we need to do a song together." Now us, we was looking at LL Cool J like "yo that's LL cool J man we a fan." So we was more then happy to do that. So we got up and we just wanted to do something that wouldn't compromise EPMD so we did "Rampage" and I did the track to that too. Actually when we did "Rampage," Erick wasn't even in the studio. He was in Cali.

ThaFormula.com - So once again on that LP how much of the production was done by you?

PMD - "Rap is Outta Control," all of that. "Manslaughter" all of that.

ThaFormula.com - "Rap Is Outta Control" was right on point and way over people's head it seemed. That track pretty much summed up what Hip-Hop would become and is now. Did you know that all this was about to happen?

PMD - Well actually I saw what was about to happen and the only thing that was stoppin' it from happenin' was that EPMD existed and that's why I could write about it. But then after the breakup I had no control of the EPMD situation. So God told me just chill and watch his work.

ThaFormula.com - What made you do that track though?

PMD - Well I already had the concept of doing a song "Rap is Outta Control" because when I started…don't forget that when I started there was a whole bunch of people here. By my third album there wasn't too many cats around me anymore. Meaning like when I came in there was at least 20 well known artists that you knew, but because of the times and the world changing so fast some of them couldn't keep up.

ThaFormula.com - When did you start seeing this change?

PMD - After the second album. The game started shifting and you had to stay focused, but the best thing I did was buy a house so no matter how crazy the game got at night I would come home be in a familiar area with Gold albums and stuff that I was familiar with so I wouldn't get lost in this shit.

ThaFormula.com - So you were one of the few that spent your money on the right things?

PMD - Yeah, I invested my money in homes. Actually my first house, I still have it. The house where everybody got signed, EPMD, Das Efx, Redman, the same house where they broke into I still own that. That's where my studio is.

ThaFormula.com - So you invested in a lot of property?

PMD - 3 homes and it was cool. But at the time I was just doing it you know basically to impress my pops and doing it because that's what you were supposed to do. Now I do it because its low income and everybody can't afford this and that. So I keep the price low and there's some really nice families that live above it and it keeps us on point of the real world around us all the time.

ThaFormula.com - Now I am always askin' this question cause it bothers so many people…In your opinion how do you go from being the shit and knowin' how to drop the real shit to just completely losin' it?

PMD - Now you are forcing me to think and I ain't even gassin' you. How do you lose it? This is what I learned. This information I didn't have and now I have it. They say you hear 3 voices. Yours, God, and the Devils. When you start of you ask for a blessin' so you talk to your inner voice and then it either happens or it doesn't happen. Now when your blessing comes to you and you begin to sell records then the money comes. They say money is the route to all evil and that you can't have that and worship the Lord at the same time. So now once you get this money then in your mind you feel everything is clickin'. What you got to understand is you had to go to the divine power to get that and that life is not a destination, its a journey so some people get there and be like "Yo I made it! Straight from the hood, gold album!" Nah son, you got a million people behind you that was watchin' you that are still movin' so this is only one step. So now this is where it gets really messed up. You think you got it going on. Every state you go to you lose a part of your self. What comes to you? Drugs come, the women come... In the bible you're supposed to be married where as in the game its like how many hoes can you get. So it's like your askin' the man for the blessin' and you get but then you come to the demonic world and you wild out and you don't fix nothin' so this is how it could happen when you meet a shorty and she's just blazin' and just lookin' how you want her to look. But it's like in the movie "Bones" that Snoop did when money wanted to get dude he turned right into the baddest freak and money was right off the turntables, and when he went in the corner he definitely caught it. Well that's the same thing with the game. You have to stay focused because the mind always struggles with keepin' up with the body. The heart always struggles with the mind and that becomes the problem. Your mind starts seeing things and shootin' fake moves so let's say for instance you run into a shorty and you think she's it, nah she's only there cause your music is bangin' and your video is on and everybody is in the hype. Now you done married her and now you got like 3 kids. But now your records not sellin' and she's like, "you know what I'm not feelin' you." So it's cool that the whole worlds not feelin' you but in your house when your wife is not feelin' you that's pretty messed up. It's even worse when you got to pay the alimony for the 3 kids. Now you done went from a world of just askin' for the blessin' by yourself sittin' down makin' music writing dope hits to takin' care of all the crap that you created and tryin' to make a hit. That's why I read books. They say your problems don't belong to you they belong to your name. Things you created. So you got a name but behind your name is you and your spirit. So if you don't know information like that and you in a million dollar deficit, forget it it's a rap for you. But if you do know that you could be like, "well hey this is what it is, I did what I did with what I knew back then but now that I know more let me create another personality to make my life better." So that's why we lose a lot of cats out here because the drugs consume them, the women consume them, and then time changes.

ThaFormula.com - Up Next, Part 2!!  SWAYZE!!

Be  sure to join the over 300,000 Industry Heads that have signed up to our exclusive mailing list!!  Click here to join and receive exclusive interviews only available to members. Leave contact info ( name & email address) at info@thaformula.com and we will contact you to confirm your membership.