PMD references the exact lines that LL used to go at him and Erick on “
Rampage.” “
You and your squad better praise the real God / The undertaker, droppin thunder on fakers,” LL rapped about halfway through his verse. His line was a direct message to Erick, Parrish and their Hit Squad that LL bowed to no one. While LL had dominated Hip-Hop for several years before EPMD came on the scene, he was in the middle of a bit of a drought at the time and, as Erick Sermon tells it to
Complex, Russell Simmons had urged L to join EPMD, who were blazing hot, on a record. “Russell Simmons told LL Cool J to get with EPMD. He was on with the ‘Pink Cookies’ thing, but Russell felt that he needed to be with EPMD. That’s why he came with us and got his swagger back. Nobody knows that part,” said Sermon. “So he befriended us, got out and used us, and then came out with
Mama Said Knock You Out, and the album was phenomenal.”
LL Cool J’s Album Mama Said Knock You Out Turns 25. Here’s How It Re-Defined His Career
Whether Simmons’ suggestion is what caused LL to join the track with a chip on his shoulder or not, “Rampage” was an instant classic, and, as Sermon said, LL’s next album was a bona fide smash. Even with his renewed success, apparently LL was not done grinding his axe with EPMD. Earlier in the interview, Parrish details how Cool J dissed them further on his record “To Da Break Of Dawn,” and had the temerity to play the song for PMD to his face. “LL will diss you in a nice way and you won’t get it until the next day when you wake up and you’re like ‘Oh..’,” said Parrish. “He caught us on ‘To Da Break Of Dawn’ lovely, and the way he introduced me to it was lovely. We went out hanging one night. We’re out there rolling. Then we come home, and he’s like ‘Yo. I want you to hear something.’ So, I’m like ‘Yo. Alight.’ I’m listening to it. So, he’s playing it and I’m like ‘Yo. This is dope!,’ and I’m just hype, as a fan. But, then when he gives me the song and I’m riding home, I’m like ‘Uh oh. Hold up. Yo, play that back again.'”
