Eminem honors EPMD’s “Strictly Business” album in “Higher” Video.
Earlier today, Eminem released his new music video for his song called “Higher” which featured clips from the fans, UFC Fights as well a cameo from Dana White. In the video, the Detroit Rapper shows respect for one of his idols, LL Cool J as the visual is heavily inspired by LL’s 1990 video for “Mama Said Knock You Out“.
Not only LL Cool J, but Eminem also pays homage to the legendary Long Island duo EPMD as he shouts out their classic debut album ‘Strictly Business‘. EPMD’s debut album is titled Strictly Business. Fresh/Sleeping Bag Records worldwide and BCM Records in Germany published it on June 7, 1988. It reached at No. 80 on the Billboard 200 shortly after its debut, but it received RIAA gold album certification four months later. Furthermore, it has gained a lot of good critical attention since its debut. The album was placed 453 in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time in 2012.
“Strictly Business” has received critical acclaim for many years after its first release. Pop chose it as a complement to Eric B. & Rakim’s Paid in Full in its list of The World’s 100 Best Albums + 300 Complements in 1994. Strictly Business was listed on The Source’s list of the 100 Best Rap Albums in 1998, and two of its tracks were included on the list of the 100 Best Rap Singles.
In the mid-2020, Eminem made an appearance on Shade 45 where he shared his “Music To Be Quarantined By” playlist which features EPMD’s ‘You Gots To Chill‘, a song from their debut project. Check out the reference below.
People talked about the LL Cool J reference in the Higher music video but none talked about the EPMD reference yet 🤨
“Strictly Business” is the CLASSIC debut album by the legendary duo EPMD.
It’s great see Eminem recogzing idols when a few of rappers do…
Go spin da album 👇🏿 pic.twitter.com/3wcbNWXLOg
— NASIR (@Nasir_Mathers) January 24, 2021
