Poll Is EPMD A Top 5 Rap Group?

[konceptjones]

Their first 5 albums went gold at a time where even selling 100K was considered "good".
They're one of hip hop's most sampled groups, if not THE most sampled.
EPMD is really hip hop's first producer-artists, having self produced every album except their last one.
They pioneered the use of funk samples, which laid the foundation for the West Coast for the next decade.
Had the first successful hip hop crew in the form of Def Squad

 

[Chi-Town B]

They're a legendary group but they don't match up with who I think is the top 5, no diss in being top 10

 

[konceptjones]

I'd argue that they had a bigger, longer lasting impact over Run DMC.

 

[5 Grand]

Fine.

Genre defining albums (Strictly Business, Unfinished Business)

Hit records (You Gots To Chill, So What Cha Saying, Gold Digger, Head Banger, Da Joint, The Symphony 2000)

Sales

Pioneering a production style that has been copied

Put On Redman, K Solo, Keith Murray and Craig Mack.

This is their resume.

I'd argue that they had a bigger, longer lasting impact over Run DMC.

I was in high school when EPMD dropped their first three albums. Their fourth album came out a year after I graduated, in the summer of 92,

They always dropped solid albums and they had several songs that a DJ could play at a school dance to pack the dance floor, but here's why they're not top 5:

They didn't break any new ground. They came out after RUN Dmc who kicked the door in for Hip Hop artists. Their debut album was 4.5 mics imo but it came out in the summer of 88 when it seemed like everybody was dropping 4.5 mic albums.

They were competing with Public Enemy, who broke new ground, 2 Live Crew who broke new ground and NWA who broke new ground. Even The Beastie Boys and De La Soul were out around the same time and they broke new ground.

Lyrically they were cool, but Rakim, Krs, Big Daddy Kane, Kool G Rap, Slick Rick and LL Cool J were better imo.

And then you have griups like Stetsasonic and the Jungle Brothers who also dropped 4.5 mic albums in the summer of 88.

EPMD were great at what they did, but they did what everybody else was doing.

I'm not even sure that they were a top 5 group in their era (87-92)

 

[Goldie]

They're a legendary group but they don't match up with who I think is the top 5, no diss in being top 10

That's all i've been saying. Niggas taking it as a diss or saying they're underrated just cuz niggas saying they're not top 5.

EVERYBODY CA... yall know the rest.


EPMD is cool but there's 5 groups that blow them outta the water in every category.

 

[genocide_cutter]

Yes

 

[Fatdre]

Top 5 definitely. They pioneered the in and out flow.

 

[Breezy_Kilroy]

Their debut album was 4.5 mics imo but it came out in the summer of 88 when it seemed like everybody was dropping 4.5 mic albums.

Serious question about "The Source"

From what I understand the magazine was created by a white dude and then branched out to his friends in Boston. But why were they considered the authority in a field, as we know, is and especially then was dominated by black voices?

Or did it not matter that it was run by white guys so there was just an appreciation that hip hop was getting attention on that level?