the following program is rated tv mal it contains strong language
and is intended only for mature audiences
epmd erick sermon and parish smith the duo is known to the world as erick and parish making
dollars who are long-time friends that came into the music industry and gained massive success
before i had my turntables he had the s 1200s downstairs playing the break beats and stuff like
that but uh that was the last of the serious cats of that generation and then we came along
and it's time to roll I'm the p double e m e and one thing i hate is the lightness and then once we
came along you know we had a different perspective always always always always always always always
loved epmd so i took that style that erick and parish had you know cause they never was two two
two two they was like hit em from their debut single it's my thing it was apparent that they
have what it took to be famous in the ever-growing genre of hip-hop the two will go on to become
household names gaining fans around the world with countless hit singles several gold certified
albums and recognition by many print publications and industry vets oh my favorite group of all time
yeah you know my bucket hat's a little big so what the importance of a yeah yeah we're back to work i
took time off while the rappers got dripped but um like again man they were they were so young
i don't think they really knew you know what they were doing neither they were freestyling
as they were going parish smith was he was he was a business cat you know parish was
just serious people know they know ain't nothing you can sell with people you know
what i'm saying ain't nothing you can buy ain't no image that you can put on the video
forming the first squad of all squads which was the hit squad with the hit squad which
consists of death effects redman and k solo all of whom are managed and produced by epmd members
erick sermon and parrish smith nah it's like you know me and pass you know we make funky music
you know we EQ it to the base so you can't go no more for the systems and stuff like that well
i think the blueprint was laid you know by us but we see a juice crew come to
before us epmd hail from long island known as strong island in the rap community and they
have been a growing force in rap as artists and now businessmen business never personal business
these guys always keeping up with the business right here now rappers who took it personal the
word is mine got it you know you can't take this person a lot of rappers is losing it out there and
they cause their music because they're personal stuff so you keep the business not personal then
you'll be in effect you know paris was educated you know paris came from a good family you know
and um he had positive role models his father all you know was in his life so you know paris
was built right you'll find singles from three of the groups in the camp topping the billboard rap
chart making success for the hit squad a family affair compiling the successful groups that epmd
discovered got signed to major labels and manage which was the brainchild for landing the hit
squad tour the success of the tour record sales and new signed acts blessed parish smith with a
10 million dollar partnership with rca in the 90s to land his own imprint to distribute pmd records
prior to releasing the album strictly business on june 7 1988 ericK and parish were young teenagers
making their way through the streets of brentwood long island we all was the same age
as you know 19 20 years old so but he was just so serious for that age you know it was real mature
and i was just like now my name is James Kraze billings the executive producer and co-creator
along with parish pmd smith of this docu-series life before epmd the parish smith story
uh you got the strings now
my story starts life before epmd the story is paris smith the journey the footsteps
the hustles the struggles that ultimately led to hit records and becoming a legend
and to go through it step by step to pay homage respect to all the people who
actually supported me before i touched the microphone and then up into the microphone
and then to the presence studio bright lights when you find the p
one of the best to ever do it check my accolades all the blowing down in the tracks i laid just up
music was always around in the household i got six brothers and sisters both my family's from
brooklyn my politics is from marcy my mom's from bethesda green avenue lewis avenue
my older brother james formed a group called smitty d in the rock squad okay in the early
days when i was 13 my brother james and nynez used to actually sneak out the house to go to the bronx
river entity connection that's when hip-hop was popping in the early days and back there
when you went uh to the zulu functions at the end of the night you can buy a cassette of the actual
show so i used to wait up to two or three o'clock in the morning so they got home they go and then
go to sleep i'll take the cassette go outside sit in the car listen to the show that night and from
that my brother pursued a career and the music industry on tommy boy records with a record called
facts of life and back there you know brothers really really had to put in that work to get on