Happy 30th Anniversary to Erick Sermon’s debut solo album No Pressure, originally released October 19, 1993.
Thirty years ago, a rapper breaking off from a group to go solo was a relatively rare occurrence. Scarface and Willie D had released solo albums while still with the Geto Boys, and Boogie Down Productions had transformed from a crew to a solo act with the release of KRS-One’s Return of the Boom Bap (1993). But rappers rarely departed from an established crew and found more success as solo artists. In 1993, I’m pretty sure that list included only Ice Cube and Dr. Dre.
With the ugly break-up of EPMD sometime in 1992/1993, rapper-producer Erick Sermon was the next prominent artist to try his hand at striking out on his own. Three decades ago, he released his solo debut No Pressure to critical and commercial acclaim. It was a thoroughly entertaining project that established that Sermon was ready for primetime post-EPMD.
In numerous interviews at the time, Sermon said his choice to leave EPMD essentially came down to money and business practices. He said he felt that the group was solely controlled by Parrish Smith, and he was not seeing his fair share of the money that they earned as partners. Neither Sermon nor Smith have ever spoken on the rumors of attempted armed kidnappings that followed but suffice to say that in the immediate aftermath of EPMD’s dissolution, things were not all good between the two former partners.
According to an interview with Complex, Sermon moved to Atlanta soon after. He was reeling from how things went down, but also felt rejuvenated. “[I]t was like a whole body came off of me,” he said. “So much pressure [was now gone].” Eventually he holed up in Studio B at Dallas Austin’s famous DARP studios, and went to work on new music, both for himself and for other artists.
Though the general consensus had always been that Smith was the more skilled lyricist in EPMD, it was Sermon who signed the lucrative solo contract with Def Jam in the aftermath of the break-up. Though No Pressure didn’t make anyone forget that EPMD had ever existed, it’s a sturdy debut effort and one that demonstrated he could hold things down on his own. He worked with some of those down with his former clique and some industry homies. He gave shine to some up-and-coming talent at the time.
No Pressure put Sermon front and center, a place that he had never been before in his rap career. Sermon said in multiple interviews in the lead-up to No Pressure’s release that he had usually played the background when it came to doing press for EPMD, rarely speaking during interviews or other televised appearances. He had been fine with his rhyme partner doing the talking, while he concentrated on the production end, working hard to create the crew’s distinctive beats.
Sermon also had been in the midst of a nearly year-long production push by the time No Pressure dropped, working with both Hit Squad artists and others. He’d produced nearly all of Redman’s debut LP Whut? Thee Album (1992), as well as tracks for both b-baller Shaquille O’Neal’s and grimy youngster crew Illegal’s debuts. He has said his work on those albums gave him the confidence needed to craft No Pressure’s sound.
Fans got a taste of what an Erick Sermon project could soundtrack a few months prior to its release, as his initial solo offering “Hittin’ Switches” appeared on the Who’s the Man? soundtrack (1993) on Uptown Records. Sermon said that a pre-Bad Boy Puff Daddy approached him about recording the song for the film. It was one of the soundtrack’s better selections, serving as one of the album’s singles.
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Sermon viewed “Hittin’ Switches” as something that could appear on the East Coast version of The Chronic (1992). Sermon held his own over three verses, dropping his simile-heavy lines over a piece of a slowed-down horn sample and the “It’s a New Day” drum break. It was a hardcore, no-nonsense offering that would bode well for the rest of his forthcoming solo effort, as it didn’t just sound like an EPMD song sans P. The song was a hit and helped convince Def Jam that throwing their weight behind Sermon was worthwhile.
“Stay Real,” No Pressure’s first full single, was also a commercial and critical success. The song is an unofficial sequel to EPMD’s “Crossover.” “’Stay Real’ was more like, ‘Stop faking. Keep it real in whatever you're doing,’” Sermon told Complex. On the production end, Sermon mixes the horns from Sly and the Family Stone’s “Sing a Simple Song” with a beatbox sample and vocals from Roger Trautman’s “Dance Floor.”
Overall, Erick Sermon’s production is the star of No Pressure. Many forget just how damn good Sermon was behind the boards throughout the 1990s, as he established a sound that would be revered and emulated for years. No Pressure might have come out during the era of The Chronic, but its sound is probably closer to A Tribe Called Quest’s The Low End Theory (1991), as he emphasizes the bass-heavy end of the spectrum. As such, Sermon is a master here at crafting distinct and chunky basslines, as their deep tones dominate much of the album.
Tracks like “Imma Gitz Mine,” “Do It Up,” and “Erick Sermon” are thumping, dense, and complex endeavors. Sermon gives his most animated vocal performances on his self-titled song. Even though he professes to kick his “lazy style,” he’s still very engaged, rapping, “Cause look—I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor / Now I'm back in the door hardcore.”
Sermon does create some narratives on No Pressure, though they’re not his strongest suit. “The Hype” is his story of seeking out and finding sexual satisfaction at the club. The song should be remembered for its production, as Sermon creatively flips a section of Teena Marie’s “Square Biz.” However “Safe Sex” is a pretty big whiff, a radio-edited celebration of practicing, well… safe sex. The song is arguably a worse solo version of EPMD’s “You Had Too Much To Drink,” with all of the corniness but none of the humor.
Far stronger are the tracks where Sermon has at least one rhyme partner to play off of. Sermon dedicates a good portion of No Pressure to introducing his audience to up-and-coming talent. Some, like Michael “Soup” Morgan, recorded a verse on “All In the Mind,” and we’ve never heard from them again. Others, like Keith Murray, went on to become legend.
Sermon enlists his fellow Long Islander on “Hostile.” The noted hellraiser had made some noise under the monikers D.O. D.A.M.A.G.E and Keefy Keef, but the “Phillie Blunt King” is a force of nature on No Pressure’s second single. The song plays like the theme music to an armed robbery, as the grit pumps through the speakers. Murray, kicking “the flyest transparent style on the planet,” perforates the listener’s soul with razor sharp lyrics throughout his verse. “I’m high strung at the top of my lung with my tongue making hardcore n****s wanna get dumb,” he asserts. “My dialogue comes straight from the slums.”
Sermon also teams with Joe Sinistr on “Payback II,” the nominal sequel to EPMD’s “Big Payback.” Not much is known about Sinistr three decades later. Sermon has said that the young, gravelly-voiced emcee was affiliated with Jam Master Jay, and that Redman had brought him to his attention. For what it’s worth, Sinistr delivers a pair of excellent verses on “Payback II,” the second of which earned him “Rhyme of the Month” in The Source. Joe gets pretty off the wall as he raps, “I crack granite, and pack a mass transit / It’s so weird, my style is more feared than Black Planets.”
The brooding “Lil Crazy” features some of Erick Sermon’s best production on No Pressure, as he hooks up a deep and rumbling bassline, backed by rhythmic horn stabs. The performances of Shadz of Lingo, made up of Lingo and Kolorado, are the song’s centerpiece. The pair were artists on Dallas Austin’s LIMP imprint, and each took to working with Sermon. Each of the pair oozes charisma, particularly as Lingo flexes his extremely unique “crossfade flow” on the track’s final verse. A View To a Kill (1994), the group’s debut and only album, would drop a few months later.
Sermon brings in some West Coast representatives, including longtime homie Ice Cube and his then protege Kam for “The Ill Shit.” Musically, it’s a hybrid of Sermon’s deeply muddy production style that he used on Redman’s first album and hectic gangsta-styled funk (as evidenced by the sample of Ohio Players’ “Funky Worm”). Erick kicks a suitably rugged verse, professing to “flip more vowels than Pat Sajak’s white bitch.” But it’s Kam who’s the song’s lyrical MVP, rhyming with a sinister cool that he is known for. “What you expect?” he raps, “Fuck a rain, n***a, take a chin check.”
Murray returns to team with Sermon and Redman on “Swing It Over Here,” which would be the first cut by the Def Squad as a trio. You can tell that they’re still working on getting their chemistry down, since the song sounds like three disparate verses stitched together, with the three trying to recapture the energy of “Headbanger.” Redman contributes a winding, stream of consciousness verse, rapping, “Massive funk, swinging, banging, bent up while I funked ya / I’m rough enough ta fuck up another white man trucker.”
Erick Sermon took a calculated risk going solo that paid off. It was a much riskier move than Ice Cube’s or even Dr. Dre’s decision, but it’s one that paid off for decades. No Pressure was the start of a long and fruitful solo career and earned Sermon as much acclaim as his own man than as half of EPMD. Sometimes taking a gamble on yourself is unquestionably the right decision.
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