2016 XXL Freshman Class 10-Year Anniversary – Documentary, New Interviews, Throwback Videos and More The 10 Best Hip-Hop Moments at the 2026 BET Awards Featuring Cardi B’s Big Win, Ms. Lauryn Hill’s ...

50 Cent hasn’t dropped a new album since 2014, but the rapper admitted he’s found recent inspiration from Eminem’s verse on Nas’ track “EPMD 2.” ...

EPMD helped usher in a new era in New York hip-hop when they arrived with their funk drenched samples and bass-heavy beats. The sound created by Erick Sermon and Parrish Smith was different and fresh, ...

At the time of the rise of the Hit Squad, Erick Sermon preferred to defer to Parrish Smith in matters of business in order to focus on the music. This arrangement worked for the unit as EPMD but when ...

On August 30th, 1988 the LP dropped shortly after the title track was released as a single. The responses to both were immediate and overwhelming. The sample layering between Kool & The Gang’s “Jungle ...

On this day in Hip Hop history, Strong Island rap duo EPMD released their third studio album, Business as Usual on the Def Jam imprint. Although it wasn’t as commercially popular as its two ...

Welcome to Who Killed It?, our column where we rank the verses on classic posse cuts from worst to first. For our last go-round, we took a look at the DJ Clue hosted posse cut “Fantastic 4″ featuring ...

XXL celebrates 50 years of hip-hop with this moment: Jan. 11, 1991: After back-to-back successful albums with 1988's Strictly Business and 1989's Unfinished Business, Erick Sermon and Parrish Smith, ...

On this day in Hip Hop history, Erick Sermon and Parrish Smith, better known as EPMD, released their groundbreaking debut album, Strictly Business, through Sleeping Bag Records in 1988. The album ...