EPMD - Out of Business

Call EPMD old, but call them consistent. EPMD's Out of Business is rather like their previous effort, Back in Business--agreeable, accessible, but deathly unexciting. EPMD can always be depended upon to put out albums with a string of cool club hits and mild filler--they invented that formula on both Back and Out. But at this point in their career, EPMD's LPs feel weighted down by their molasses pacing and rhyme-by-numbers lyrics (basically, the same styled verbals EPMD's been kicking for over a decade now). They find brief moments of fire on tracks like "You Got Shot" (blazing with its hook taken from Ol' Dirty Bastard) and "Jane 6," which thumps with surprising force thanks to its reworked "Tramp" sample. Nevertheless, even "Symphony 2000," with cameos from MOP, Redman, and Method Man feels flat, indicative of Out of Business as a whole. They might still be old-school masters, clocking millennium ducats, but long-time fans may not feel paid in full. --Oliver Wang Amazon.com