Parrish Smith a.k.a PMD-Strictly Underground Funk...

Yo Erick Sermon had his turn now it's time of the other half of the legends EPMD...Ladies and Gents...




PMD, the purple heart admiral, the other half of the rhyme and production rap vets EPMD, the one who had the deep vocal infliction and paved the way for so many MC's.

Parrish Smith first started out as a DJ (EZ-P) in the short lived Rock Squad with his brother Smitty D releasing the "Facts of Life" 12" in 1985 and in 1987 he teamed up with a young lispy kid that went by the name of Erick Sermon and the legend of EPMD was born, after the 30 days later the LP went gold, Strictly Business LP, PMD produced a track for MC Lyte in 1989 and worked most (all?)of the beats on...

1989's Unfinished Business,
1990's Business As Usual
and K-Solo's debut Tell The World My Name.


Fast forward to 1992 and after great success with their 4th album, the incredible Business Never Personal LP and...

Das EFX's Dead Serious
Redman's-Whut Thee Album
and K-Solo's-Times Up,

The Hit Squad were set to rule the 90's but something happened to Parrish in late 1991 that changed the course of the Hit Squad drastically.




Parrish had his home broken into by three gunmen that were looking for him, luckily he wasn't home at the time, but he arrived at the time his alarm was set off, Parrish suspected something so he stayed close to the area and ended up getting the number plate details of the gunman's car when they drove off.

Parrish kept the incident quiet as kept and continued working on the Business Never Personal album with Erick and in August of 1992, PMD was called down to the precinct and was asked if his group was breaking up?, Parrish was stunned and asked what he meant and was then told that the Police had caught the three guys who confessed that Erick Sermon had paid them $5,000 to break into P's home.

PMD, DJ Scratch and Das EFX were the last ones to know, Redman, K-Solo and The Knucklehedz all knew and had kept quiet about it, Parrish told the Police that he was was going to go through with the tour and then follow ithe incident up after the tour.

Erick knew this so he re-located to Atlanta and EPMD broke up and PMD took Redman and Das EFX, while Erick got Redman and Keith Murray (and later formed Def Squad) to go into all of the details would require a lot of reading but in short, after the Hit Squad blew up Erick and Redman felt that they weren''t getting the money they should have been but it wasn't the case as PMD was the business minded one and stated in interviews that EPMD was a 50/50 split for budget and all other expenses but for that 50/50 budget to work, there had to be two signatures on the checks, not just the one signature.

PMD released his first solo album, Shade Business in 1994 on RCA records, which was met a lot of disdain, but there are some very ill tracks on it, the problem was that most people felt PMD's flow was too choppy and after Erick's solo No Pressure in 1993, fans knew that there was no E without the P and P without the E.


What fans need to understand though is that Parrish's mind was not in the best state on that record, his Mother wasn't in the best of health and he was pissed off at Erick and a few others, if you listen to the lyrics he takes many shots at Erick and others, for years there were disses from Erick aimed at PMD,Keith Murray aimed at Das EFX, ("Ill rip the dreads out of your scalp") and PMD at Redman, check "It's The Pee (remix) where he calls Red the punk doctor, that he sounds too much like Meth and does to much cocaine.

During 1994 PMD had formed his own new Hit Squad with Das EFX, Top Quality,DJ Scratch,Zone 7 (RIP), and Jesse West the same year he introduced the Top Quality debut the Magnum Opus LP.


PMD dropped another solo album, 1996's Businesss Is Business (Relativity) which was received very well by the underground and sold reasonably well, PMD had Das EFX, MOP, Nocturnal, 8 Off (Agallah), and production from Solid Scheme, DJ Scratch and Charlie Marotta, the lead single “Rugged N Raw” was well received as well.



In 1997 PMD got Prodigy on the remix for “It's The Pee” which blazed on underground radio shows and mixtapes, the b-side “Many often Wonder” was dope as well and later in 1997 EPMD finally reformed and released Back in Business, the duos fifth album leading up to their final album for Def Jam, Out of Business in 1999.

Japan's DJ Honda enjoyed working with PMD on a few tracks and asked him to do a full album with him, 2002's Underground Connect P recorded another solo album, The Awakening in 2003 and it featured the my favourite solo PMD cut, the ill as hell Kutmasta Kurt produced "Straight from da Heart" and the Pete Rock produced the head nodding "Buckwild.


After that came the Hit Squad-Zero Tolerance which was an odd album really,old and new verses with some great beats and some not so great beats, with some mediocre MC's and some good MC's, it wasn't a wack album but it wasn't of the of the quality fans had come to expect...between 2001 and 2007 PMD appeared on records with Big Noyd, GM Grimm,Chris Lowe,Agallah and underground kids Cashino and R & R (who have i never heard to be honest).


The dope joint EPMD did with Keith Murray and DJ Knowhow at the beginning of 2007 ("Main Event") and the ferocious freestyles they both did on BET this year shows that these rap veterans are not done yet and after 20 years and some change in the game it's still Strictly Business and Hoodies and Fisherman Hats and Timberland Boots duke.

PMD-The Mic Doc Files Volume 1...

1. pmd - straight from the heart (prod kutmasta kurt)-2002
2. epmd ft redman - hardcore (prod pmd) 1990
3. pmd ft prodigy - its the pee (remix) (prod havoc) -1997
4. pmd - buckwild (prod pete rock)-2003
5. pmd - many often wonder (prod pmd_-1997
6. k-solo - real solo please stand up (prod pmd)-1990
7. mc lyte-slave 2 the rhythm (prod pmd)-1989
8. pmd-in the zone (prod pmd)-1994
9. chubb rock ft pmd & das efx-beef (prod frank"nitty"pimental)-1997
10. k-solo-the formula (prod pmd)-1992
11. dj honda and pmd -constant elevation-2002
12. pmd-the truth (prod pmd)-2004
13. pmd ft mobb deep & fat joe-back to work (remix)(prod havoc)-2004
14. pmd-swing your own thing (izum remix) (prod pmd)-1994
15. epmd- check 1, 2 (prod pmd & 8-off)-1999
16. das efx (feat. pmd) - bad news (prod dj scratch)-1995
17. pmd- feat. das efx nocturnal and l da pro-knick knack part ii (prod pmd)-1997
18. pmd, nocturnal and skoob-comin with the ruff shit-(prod dj scratch)-2004
19. pmd-rugged-n-raw (solid scheme remix)-1996
20. das efx (ft. redman)- rap scholar [original version](prod pmd)-1998

e-mail me for the links if you would like this comp


Swayze


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