Hip-Hop's Greatest Year: Fifteen Albums That Made Rap Explode

EPMD, Strictly Business
Release Date: June 7, 1988
Key Tracks: "Strictly Business," "I'm Housin"
What Caught On: Believe it or not, most rap producers hadn't truly dipped into the classic funk library before Eric Sermon got his hands on the decks. People had sampled soul records before, but nobody had really built tracks around a single loop. Sermon's work on Strictly Business set the bar for rap production that continues today. "Nobody worked harder than EPMD," explains DMC. "We went on tour with them and when we wanted to goof around, they were working on beats and rhymes. Those guys lived hip-hop."
What Didn't: Parrish Smith. EPMD have retired (and returned), but Erick Sermon managed to strike gold as a producer away from the group, most notably as Def Squad (with Redman and Keith Murray).

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