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Producer Series: Eric Sermon

Half of EPMD, leader of the Def Squad, and the producer who put Marvin Gaye on a rap record and made it a hit. Twenty-two tracks of Erick Sermon.

The Green-Eyed Bandit

Erick Sermon, from Brentwood, Long Island, formed EPMD with Parrish Smith in 1987, and the group's first four albums — all with "Business" in the title — are foundational documents of East Coast rap. Their sound was built on heavy funk samples, particularly Zapp and Roger Troutman, played at a deliberately unhurried tempo, and it stood apart from the faster, denser New York records around it.

As a producer, Sermon developed one of the most identifiable styles in rap: thick, slightly murky, bass-forward, with samples looped rather than chopped. He led the Def Squad with Redman and Keith Murray, and worked extensively as a remixer — a role that in the 1990s often meant building an entirely new record around an existing vocal.

What to listen for

"Music" is the landmark. Sermon built the record around a previously unreleased Marvin Gaye vocal from the vaults, and the result was his biggest solo hit — a genuinely moving piece of work that treats the source material as a collaborator rather than a sample.

The EPMD tracks are the foundation. "You Gots To Chill" is built on Zapp's "More Bounce to the Ounce" and is one of the most beloved rap records of the late 1980s. "It's My Thing" and "Crossover" — the latter a complaint about rappers chasing pop success, which itself became a hit — complete the picture.

The remixes are where his production instincts are clearest. "4,3,2,1" in the E Dub Remix assembles LL Cool J, Method Man, Redman, DMX, Canibus and Master P — a posse cut with genuine historical weight, given the Canibus and LL feud it helped start.

Beyoncé's "Naughty Girl" remix with Redman and the Jodeci Def Squad remix of "Get on Up" show his range across R&B.

"Why Not" with Slick Rick is the deep cut worth chasing.

Go deeper

EPMD's Strictly Business (1988) and Unfinished Business (1989) are the essential albums.

Redman's Muddy Waters and Keith Murray's The Most Beautifullest Thing in This World are the Def Squad records that matter most.

And for the sample source that underpins all of it: Zapp and Roger Troutman. Roger's talkbox is one of the most influential sounds in American music, and his catalogue has been mined by essentially everyone in West Coast and East Coast rap alike.

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