In June, rap duo EPMD made a splash on the "Billboard" pop albums chart (at #13) with what was initially thought to be its farewell album. After eleven years, one previous breakup, five LPs, and several tours of the world in support of their music, the two Brentwood, Long Island natives would have left behind quite a legacy.

Luckily for hip-hop, Erick Sermon and Parrish Smith just chose a deceiving title, "Out of Business," for their new album. Read on to see what Sermon and Smith had to say to John Gill of the MTV Radio Network about their decade in business. Also, EPMD's undisputed third member, DJ Scratch (now an accomplished producer himself), chimes in on his experiences as the group's turntable controller and what keeps his onstage chemistry with the duo going.

At first glance, the cover art on EPMD's new album -- an "Out Of Business" sign hanging in a store window -- would seem to suggest the end of an era; one of classic beats and rhymes from the duo of Erick Sermon and Parrish Smith. Not so, according to Smith, who says it's simply the prelude to a new beginning. "It's just the end of the millennium," Smith began, "and out with the old, in with the new." Erick and Parrish even saw fit to upgrade the meaning behind their name; what was once an acronym for "Erick & Parrish Making Dollars" now stands for "Erick & Parrish Millennium Duckets."

"Out of Business" is EPMD's sixth album in all, but only the second since the duo's 1997 reunion LP, "Back In Business." That album marked their return from a five-year hiatus to a hip-hop landscape that had changed dramatically since their previous effort, 1992's "Business Never Personal." But EPMD showed a strong return and scored their fifth gold plaque for "Back In Business" -- not much by today's multi-platinum standards, maybe, but enough to prove that the group's core audience was still out there -- and now was the time to build on that. "We just knew that after 'Back In Business,'" Sermon recalled, "we was like, 'we sold that?!' All right. 'Oh, they like that?!' People were letting us in. So then we just got comfortable. We started making records [for our new album]."

When it came time to record "Out Of Business', EPMD stuck to its tried-and-true formula. Erick and Parrish split the beatmaking and rhyme-writing duties, just as they had since their 1988 debut, "Strictly Business," rather than jump on some bandwagon and line up the hottest producers of the minute.

"EPMD was a self-contained group," Sermon explained. "[That's] very important for people to know. That means every track, every record was done by EPMD. Now, if you got five of the top-name producers on your album, if you didn't go platinum, then something's wrong. Not taking nothing from [other artists]. To go gold and platinum and two million or whatever [is good], but [if] you got the best producers in the world on your tape, you better sell some records. We did all of [our] success self-contained."

EPMD did bring in a few select guests in for "Out Of Business." The album's first single, the Marley Marl-inspired "Symphony 2000," contains verses from Redman, Method Man, and newcomer Lady Luck (whom Sermon said he wanted to break on the song in the same way Foxy Brown was showcased on L.L. Cool J's 1995 song "I Shot Ya.") All are present for the "Symphony 2000" video. Director Steve Carr meshed icons from horror flicks for the clip: Smith portrays Michael Myers ("Halloween"); Sermon is Leatherface ("The Texas Chainsaw Massacre"); Redman turns up as Jack Nicholson's character from "The Shining;" Method Man plays the evil "Dr. Giggles;" and Lady Luck does her best impression of "Carrie."

Other guests on "Out Of Business" include underground favorites M.O.P. (on an alternate version of "Symphony 2000") and Busta Rhymes steps in on an update of EPMD's 1990 "state of hip-hop" track "Rap Is Outta Control." Busta apparently wanted to remake the song for his upcoming album, but Erick and Parrish had already planned to re-record it. "We were like, 'we gonna do this over,'" Parrish recalled. "Busta was like, 'I don't care if it's on my album or your album, just make sure I'm involved when y'all do the song.'"

EPMD also liquidated its vaults of classic music for a special double CD limited edition of "Out Of Business." In addition to the 14 new tracks, dedicated fans and those who want to own a few pieces of hip-hop history can also take home 13 EPMD classics, from "It's My Thing," EPMD's first recorded track, to the 1992 radio rap-bashing "Crossover," [live in RealVideo] to "Never Seen Before" (which appeared on "Back In Business"). While the bonus CD will appeal to longtime fans, the duo's aim was to introduce EPMD to newer hip-hop fans who may not be aware of the group's influential, groundbreaking music. "It's that the greatest hits album is showing, really, more about production that we used," Sermon said, "and that EPMD was an influence and that when you measure rap music, you gotta say our name."