Erick Sermon<\/a>. The legendary rapper-producer is holding court in his midtown Manhattan studio, starting our nearly two-hour discussion with thoughts on why his veteran peers have aged more gracefully than succeeding generations.<\/p>\n\n\t\u201cThey made records that was going to surpass and be able to live the test of time so they can still work forever,\u201d he says. \u201cThis era is not going to be able to do that, and the era before, because nobody\u2019s going to come watch you say \u2018pussy, fuck, suck, bitch,\u2019 whatever, when they\u2019re 40-something years old. They married, they go to church, got kids, got a life. It don\u2019t match them no more.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe man known as the \u201cGreen-Eyed Bandit\u201d tells me that he\u2019s been invigorated by seeing releases from veteran peers such as Clipse and the artists who were a part of Mass Appeal\u2019s Legend Has It\u2026 series. He lauds them for embarking on a hip-hop purifying mission that he\u2019s been diligently working towards with a slew of upcoming projects, including his Dynamic Duos, Vol. 1<\/em> album, which drops tomorrow. The project features renowned duos like his own EPMD, Mobb Deep, and M.O.P., unofficial duos like Redman and Method Man and Snoop and Nate Dogg, as well as collaborations like Conway and Game, which he says are a glimpse of Dynamic Duos Vol. 2<\/em>, which is set to drop early next year. The sequel will feature more duos that Sermon composed himself.<\/p>\n\n\tHe started the project during quarantine, seeking to reinvigorate the rap game and show younger artists a blueprint for rap success. \u201cI knew it was going to have to come to something like this to where [I\u2019m focused on], \u2018How do the next five or 10 years look?\u2019 We just trying to give you a little blueprint on what shit could be, and that hopefully y\u2019all take that and move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tAnyone who matches just half of his success will have done great for themselves. He debuted in 1988 as one-third of EPMD with DJ Scratch and his partner-in-rhyme Parrish Smith, becoming one of rap\u2019s early beloved groups with singles like \u201cYou Gots To Chill\u201d and \u201cStrictly Business\u201d on their album of the same name. He\u2019s also the co-founder and architect of the Hit Squad collective, soundscaping albums for Redman, Keith Murray, Das EFX, K-Solo, and others (doing the same for Def Squad, a spinoff group created when Sermon and Parrish first split in 1993). As a soloist, he\u2019s known for songs like \u201cStay Real,\u201d \u201cReact,\u201d and the Marvin Gaye-sampling \u201cMusic.\u201d He also produced Mos Def\u2019s \u201cOh No\u201d with Pharoahe Monch and Nate Dogg, Jay-Z\u2019s \u201cReservoir Dogs\u201d featuring The LOX, Beanie Sigel, and Sauce Money, and \u201c4,3,2,1\u201d with LL Cool J, Method Man, Redman, DMX, Canibus, and Master P.<\/p>\n\n\n
\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n
\n\tLeaning forward in his swiveling studio chair, he\u2019s a natural storyteller, regaling me and his producer-protege BooGeyManBeats with tales of his \u201calmosts\u201d: living in Atlanta and having then-young artists like Usher, Ludacris, and Goodie Mobb members coming to his rim shop, and missing out on producing on Nas and Notorious BIG\u2019s first albums. \u201cMy story is Ill, nephew. I could have had Game, I could have had 50 Cent, Rick Ross, Yung Berg, Fugees, Akon. People will be like, \u2018Goddamn. Imagine if you was a label and you had all these people.\u2019 Can you imagine that?!\u201d he says, wonderment awash on his face.<\/p>\n
\n\tHis affable nature \u2014 and cultural stature \u2014 probably helped him procure Dynamic Duo\u2019s<\/em> star-studded roster. He says he simply DMed many of the acts on the project, and aside from a Hail Mary attempt for an Outkast record, and feature requests for Dr. Dre and UGK (he was told there are no more Pimp C verses), the other attempts were successful. He produced every song on the album except Cypress Hills\u2019 \u201cHow Do You Know,\u201d which BoogeyMan laced.<\/p>\n\n\tThe EPMD record came from him getting the creative \u201citch\u201d after the duo collaborated on Nas and Eminem\u2019s \u201cEPMD 2\u201d from the Queens legend\u2019s King\u2019s Disease II<\/em> album. For \u201cKill Shot,\u201d he procured Prodigy of Mobb Deep\u2019s vocals from a mystery person he gave a \u201cfavor to\u201d in exchange for the verse. \u201cI had Havoc come to the studio to [record] his verse,\u201d Sermon recalls. \u201cOnce Havoc [did] his verse, I played him Prodigy. He left the studio, was gone for half an hour, then came back and said, \u2018Where\u2019d you get [Prodigy\u2019s vocals] from?\u2019 He was floored, because you got to imagine he haven\u2019t heard his man in a long time.\u201d And Conway and Game\u2019s \u201cGod Mode\u201d came from a trio track originally featuring Lil Wayne, which included two beat switches and a new verse from Conway when he heard the beat that made the album.<\/p>\n