Out of Business

Out of Business is the sixth studio album by American hip hop duo EPMD.^[6][7] The album was originally scheduled for a December 1998 release under Def Jam Recordings, but had been delayed numerous times as a result of a merger between Seagram's PolyGram (Def Jam's parent company) and Universal Music Group's MCA Records,^[8][9] combining Def Jam and Island Records' operations together under the Island Def Jam Music Group. Ultimately, the album was released on July 20, 1999.^[10] It is the first official Def Jam album released under the newly-formed Island Def Jam Music Group and the group's last album released under the label as they left the imprint a year later before going inactive for the second time.

Out of Business
Studio album by EPMD
Released	July 20, 1999 (1999-07-20)
Recorded	1998–1999
Studio	Mirror Image Recordings East (Dix Hills, NY) Mirror Image Recorders (New York, NY) Northshore Soundworks (New York, NY) Ian London Studios (Long Island, NY)
Genre	Hip hop
Length	47:15
Label	Def Jam
Producer	EPMD DJ Scratch Agallah
EPMD chronology
Back in Business (1997) Out of Business (1999) We Mean Business (2008)
Singles from Out of Business
"Symphony 2000" Released: June 29, 1999

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[1]
Entertainment Weekly	A−^[2]
NME	3/10^[3]
RapReviews	3.5/10^[4]
The New Rolling Stone Album Guide	^[5]

Recording sessions took place at Mirror Image Studio East in Dix Hills, Mirror Image Recorders and Northshore Soundworks in New York and Ian London Studios in Long Island. Production was handled by members Erick Sermon and PMD, as well as DJ Scratch, with 8-Off Agallah serving as co-producer. It features guest appearances from 215, 8-Off Agallah, Busta Rhymes, Lady Luck, Method Man, M.O.P. and Redman. The album peaked at number 13 on the Billboard 200 and number 2 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums in the United States, with 73,000 units sold in its first week.^[11] Its only single, "Symphony 2000", reached only No. 62 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, No. 28 on the Hot Rap Songs and No. 58 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay in the US.

The duo changed its initialism for the release from 'Erick & Parrish Making Dollars' to 'Erick & Parrish Millennium Ducats'.^[12] A limited-edition issue of the album was released with a bonus greatest hits album.^[10]

Track listing

Out Of Business

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Intro"	Erick Sermon Parrish Smith George Spivey William Conti	DJ Scratch	2:18
2.	"Pioneers"	Sermon P. Smith	Erick Sermon	3:14
3.	"Right Now"	Sermon P. Smith	Erick Sermon	3:51
4.	"Check 1, 2"	Sermon P. Smith Angel Aguilar	PMD 8-Off Agallah (co.)	3:16
5.	"Symphony" (featuring M.O.P.)	Sermon P. Smith Eric Murray Jamal Grinnage	Erick Sermon	3:01
6.	"Hold Me Down"	Sermon P. Smith	Erick Sermon	3:34
7.	"Rap Is Still Outta Control" (featuring Busta Rhymes)	Sermon P. Smith Trevor Smith	PMD Erick Sermon (co.)	3:33
8.	"The Fan"	Sermon P. Smith	Erick Sermon	3:03
9.	"Draw"	Sermon P. Smith Dominic Frontiere	Erick Sermon	3:22
10.	"U Got Shot" (featuring 215 and 8-Off Agallah)	Sermon P. Smith Alec Nathaniel Aguilar Russell Jones Derek Harris Dennis Coles Robert Diggs	Erick Sermon	3:38
11.	"House Party"	Sermon P. Smith	PMD	3:52
12.	"The Funk"	Sermon P. Smith Norman Whitfield Dwight Turner	PMD	2:08
13.	"Symphony 2000" (featuring Redman, Method Man and Lady Luck)	Sermon P. Smith Reggie Noble Clifford Smith Chanelle Jones	Erick Sermon	4:03
14.	"Jane 6"	Sermon P. Smith Rick James	PMD	4:22
Total length:				47:15

Sample credits

• Track 1 contains a sample from "Fanfare For Rocky" written and performed by Bill Conti.
• Track 9 contains a sample from "Hang 'Em High" written and performed by Dominic Frontiere.
• Track 10 contains a sample from "Brooklyn Zoo" written by Russell Jones, Dennis Coles, Robert Diggs and Derrick Harris as performed by Ol' Dirty Bastard.
• Track 12 contains a sample from "Do Your Dance" written by Norman Whitfield and Dwight Turner as performed by Rose Royce.
• Track 14 contains a sample from "Mary Jane" written and performed by Rick James.

Personnel

• Erick Sermon — vocals, producer (tracks: 2, 3, 5, 6, 8-10, 13), co-producer (track 7), mixing (tracks: 2, 5-14), executive producer, sleeve notes
• Parrish "PMD" Smith — vocals, producer (tracks: 4, 7, 11, 12, 14), mixing (tracks: 2, 5-8, 10), executive producer, sleeve notes
• Eric "Billy Danze" Murray — vocals (track 5)
• Jamal "Lil' Fame" Grinnage — vocals (track 5)
• Trevor "Busta Rhymes" Smith — vocals (track 7)
• Alec "215" Nathaniel — vocals (track 10)
• Angel "8-Off Agallah" Aguilar — vocals (track 10)
• Reginald "Redman" Noble — vocals (track 13)
• Clifford "Method Man" Smith — vocals (track 13)
• Chanelle "Lady Luck" Jones — vocals (track 13)
• George "DJ Scratch" Spivey — producer (track 1)
• Marc Berto — recording (tracks: 2, 4, 6, 8, 12), mix engineer assistant (track 5), recording engineer assistant (tracks: 7, 9-11, 13, 14)
• Charlie Marotta — recording & mixing (track 3)
• John Decatur — recording (tracks: 5, 7)
• Tommy Uzzo — recording (tracks: 9-11, 13, 14), mixing (tracks: 2, 4-14)
• Richard A. LaSalvia — recording engineer assistant
• Camilio Rodriguez — recording engineer assistant
• Dave O'Donnell — recording engineer assistant
• Tony Dawsey — mastering
• Kevin Liles — executive producer
• The Drawing Board — art direction, design
• Wayne Van Acker — design
• Danny Clinch — photography
• Gerard Gaskin — photography
• Richard Iohr — photography
• Alvin Toney — sleeve notes
• Jasmine "Jazz" Young — marketing

Greatest Hits bonus disc

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[13]
The New Rolling Stone Album Guide	^[5]

Greatest Hits

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"It's My Thang"	Erick Sermon Parrish Smith August Moon	EPMD	5:37
2.	"You Gots 2 Chill"	Sermon P. Smith Roger Troutman	EPMD	3:27
3.	"Strictly Business"	Sermon P. Smith	EPMD	4:39
4.	"So What Cha Sayin'"	Sermon P. Smith Allen Williams	EPMD	4:28
5.	"Big Payback"	Sermon P. Smith	EPMD	4:04
6.	"Get the Bozack"	Sermon P. Smith	EPMD	4:33
7.	"Please Listen to My Demo"	Sermon P. Smith	EPMD	2:49
8.	"Gold Digger"	Sermon P. Smith George Clinton Ronald Miller	EPMD Mr. Bozack (co.)	5:02
9.	"Rampage"	Sermon P. Smith	EPMD Mr. Bozack (co.)	3:49
10.	"Crossover"	Sermon P. Smith Troutman David Gamson	EPMD	3:48
11.	"Headbanger"	Sermon P. Smith Clinton Ed Greene	EPMD Mr. Bozack (co.)	4:51
12.	"Never Seen Before"	Sermon P. Smith Joseph Modeliste Leo Nocentelli	Erick Sermon	2:50
13.	"Da Joint"	Sermon P. Smith Dana Stinson James Brown Michael Diamond Adam Yauch Matt Dike John King Michael Simpson	Erick Sermon Rockwilder	3:26
Total length:				1:40:38

Notes

• Track 1 is a re-recording of "It's My Thing" from 1988 Strictly Business.
• Track 2 is a re-recording of "You Gots to Chill" from 1988 Strictly Business, which previously appeared in 1997 Back in Business as "You Gots 2 Chill '97".
• Track 3 is a re-recording of the song of the same from 1988 Strictly Business.
• Track 4 is a re-recording of "So Wat Cha Sayin'" from 1989 Unfinished Business.
• Track 5 is a re-recording of "The Big Payback" from 1989 Unfinished Business.
• Tracks 6 and 7 are re-recordings of the songs of the same names from 1989 Unfinished Business.
• Tracks 8 and 9 are taken from 1990 Business as Usual.
• Tracks 10 and 11 are taken from 1992 Business Never Personal.
• Tracks 12 and 13 are taken from 1997 Back in Business.

Personnel

• Erick Sermon — vocals, producer
• Parrish "PMD" Smith — vocals, producer (tracks: 1-11)
• Mr. Bozack — co-producer (tracks: 8, 9, 11)
• Charlie Marotta — mixing (tracks: 1, 3-7)
• Tommy Uzzo — mixing (tracks: 2, 10, 12, 13)
• Ivan 'Doc' Rodriguez — mixing (tracks: 8, 9, 11, 13)
• Dave Greenberg — mixing (track 11)

Charts

Chart (1999)	Peak position
UK R&B Albums (OCC)^[14]	18
US Billboard 200^[15]	13
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)^[16]	2

References

1. Bush, John. "EPMD - Out of Business Album Reviews, Songs & More | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved October 28, 2023.
2. Diehl, Matt (July 23, 1999). "Out of Business". Entertainment Weekly. p. 68. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
3. Cigarettes, Johnny (July 29, 1999). . NME. Archived from the original on August 17, 2000. Retrieved October 28, 2023 – via Wayback Machine.
4. Juon, Steve 'Flash' (July 20, 1999). "EPMD :: Out of Business – RapReviews". www.rapreviews.com. Retrieved October 28, 2023.
5. Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian David (2004). (The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide. Simon and Schuster. pp. 281. ISBN 978-0-7432-0169-8.
6. McIntosh, Daryl (July 17, 2019). "Revisiting EPMD's 'Out Of Business' (1999) | Retrospective Tribute". Albumism. Retrieved October 28, 2023.
7. Rabin, Nathan (March 29, 2002). "EPMD: Out Of Business". The A.V. Club. Retrieved October 28, 2023.
8. "Seagrams completes PolyGram acquisition - Dec. 10, 1998". money.cnn.com. Retrieved 2023-10-30.
9. "Special Report: PolyGram-Universal Merger Bad News For Artists?". MTV. Retrieved 2023-10-30.
10. Oumano, Elena (July 24, 1999). "EPMD's Latest Gets Down To 'Business'". Billboard. Vol. 111, no. 30. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. pp. 35, 38. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved October 28, 2023 – via Google Books.
11. Skanse, Richard (July 28, 1999). "EPMD Scores Week's Highest Debut". Rolling Stone. Retrieved October 28, 2023.
12. Cowie, Del F. (September 1, 1999). "EPMD Out of Business | Exclaim!". Exclaim!. Retrieved October 28, 2023.
13. Huey, Steve. "EPMD - Greatest Hits Album Reviews, Songs & More | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved October 28, 2023.
14. "Official R&B Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 28, 2023.
15. "EPMD Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved April 18, 2022.
16. "EPMD Chart History (Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved April 18, 2022.

External links

• EPMD – Out Of Business at Discogs (list of releases)