Erick Sermon 'React' album

He's a rap icon who has been making hits since 1988. He's produced everyone from LL Cool J to Mary J. Blige to D'Angelo to Redman. Dr. Dre, Jay-Z and a host of others have made his group EPMD the most sampled rap outfit of all time.

That's right, Erick Sermon has been a part of hip-hop's creative growth since the culture exploded in the 1980s. Most impressively, however, is that the Long Island native keeps churning out songs that push hip-hop in new directions and that earn the respect of millions of fans.

Erick Sermon turns the trick again on "React," his new and most innovative album. Named after the irresistibly addictive Just Blaze-produced single, Sermon's new collection gives a nod to the days of old, when albums were named after their first release.

But there's nothing old about the song "React," which also features impressive lyrical gymnastics from Redman. In fact, Sermon wrote the humorous chorus, where he admits to not knowing what the singer producer Just Blaze (Jay-Z) sampled on the hook is saying, as a joke. What started out as a lark has turned into one of the year's hottest tracks.

"It wasn't meant to be taken seriously," Sermon explains. "Making it for real, there's no way in the real I would have come up like, 'Whatever she says then I'm that.' But it was a fun record. I went into the company and played the song last in my meeting. Everybody lost it."

People will have a similar reaction to "Love Iz," a soulful tune that features a choice Al Green sample from "Love & Happiness" and picks up where Sermon's 2001 hit, "Music" featuring Marvin Gaye, left off. By building off vocals from R&B icons, Sermon gives his songs a nostalgic feeling without sounding dated.

"Love Iz" is not just a simple song of love, however. "People were like, 'What does he mean by that?'" Sermon says. "Love can be anything, somebody big upping you because they like your style. It could be you going through your old neighborhood. Love is a fan. Love is whatever it is to you."

Since he was a kid, hip-hop has been one of Sermon's loves. With the creative "Hip-Hop Radio," Sermon illustrates the power of the music. In classic storytelling fashion, he places himself in the role of young hip-hop fans who allow the music they hear on the radio to impact their behavior.

"I broke down three stories, a boy, a girl and a 10-year-old kid," Sermon says. "It's about how they let the radio dictate what they should be doing. Not themselves, their radio tells them. It's from a song they heard."

Elsewhere, Sermon returns to his rhyming roots on "If You Don't Feel Me," a posse cut with MC Lyte and Rah Digga, while he gives his fans words of inspiration on the uplifting "Don't Give Up." Then there's "Hold Up Dubb," a thumping Rick Rock (Jay-Z, E-40) produced banger that features Sermon and fellow Def Squad member Keith Murray trading next level verses.

By using such producers as Just Blaze and Rick Rock, Sermon steps out of his self-produced mode, giving his collection well-roundedness not heard on most rap albums. For the workaholic Sermon, working with outside producers on his own album came by happenstance.

"I'm doing Keith Murray and Redman's albums," he explains. "Murray had brought over a gang of CDs that he had gotten from his A&R. While we were going through the CDs, I was like, 'Yo, these things is fat.' That's how I got into it. I would have never have gotten into getting producers if it wasn't for that stack of CDs."

Hip-hop fans know that Sermon has been making stacks of his own CDs for more than a decade. With rhyme partner Parrish Smith, Sermon made EPMD one of hip-hop's most consistent and respected groups, releasing a string of gold albums and establishing themselves as hip-hop's best tag-team rhymers.

But Sermon's output wasn't limited to his work with EPMD. He established himself as one of music's most sought-after beatmakers through his work with Redman, Keith Murray, LL Cool J, Scarface, Warren G, Jodeci, Mary J. Blige, SWV, D'Angelo and a host of others. His talent was so immense that he even "made you believe Shaq was a rapper."

Yet one of Sermon's most significant contributions to hip-hop was his heavy use of funk beats, something he started doing in the 1980s with EPMD. "We brought the Zapp clap to rap," Sermon says, referring to the group fronted by the later Roger Troutman. "We were the first ones to bring it to rap, period. The funk era was serious with us. We brought the basslines, the melodies."

Today, more than 10 years, several No. 1 albums, a host of No. 1 singles and a bevy of accolades later, Sermon has delivered what is arguably his strongest, most rounded work to date. "React" stands as much as a statement to Sermon's staying power as it does that his hitmaking prowess remains unrivaled.

"I'm putting my foot down again for the non-believers," Sermon says. "I'm showing them something."

Time to "React

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Erick Sermon - React