The Top Four Things We Learned From Erick Sermon’s ‘Questlove Supreme’ Interview

1. Erick Sermon says Rakim’s “Follow the Leader” was for EPMD (52:20)

Although Sermon shared that it was more of EPMD’s supporters in Long Island that contributed to any beef EPMD and Rakim had, that didn’t stop the Paid in Full rapper from coming at them.

Case in point — “Follow the Leader.”

After clarifying that EPMD’s single, “You’re A Customer,” coincidentally had similar words that could be perceived as a response to Eric B. and Rakim’s “I Ain’t No Joke” (“You could get a smack for this / I ain’t no joke” from the latter and “It’s like a dig’em smack / You smack me and I’ll smack you back” from the former), Sermon claimed that “Follow the Leader” was directed at EPMD.

“He came for us,” he said, referencing this line from “Follow the Leader”: “Stop buggin’, a brother said, dig ’em, I never dug ’em / He couldn’t follow the leader long enough, so I drug ’em.”

However, Sermon said that they had a conversation and squashed the beef after Rakim broke up with Eric B.

2. The “Rampage” music video featured Jennifer Lopez as a backup dancer (1:10:15)

While detailing some of the challenges EPMD had with not just getting LL COOL J on their song, “Rampage,” but having him appear in the music video for the track (in the form of his silhouette), Sermon shared that Jennifer Lopez was actually a backup dancer in the video.

“If you look at the video, she has on Parrish’s face, and the other girl has my face on the shirt,” Sermon said. “That’s JLo dancing.”

3. EPMD and Das EFX were apparently the first hip-hop group to perform on ‘The Tonight Show’ (1:33:00)

According to Quest, EPMD and Das EFX’s performance of “Cummin’ At Cha” on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in 1992 is the first hip-hop performance on The Tonight Show.

Although Quest offered his own insight into why The Tonight Show was now bringing in hip-hop talent for its musical performances (hoping to take some of Arsenio Hall’s ratings, who had long promoted hip-hop acts before other late-nite shows), Sermon said that the appearance was a no-brainer.

4. Sermon says that Ice Cube, Summer Walker, Beyoncé and others have hit him to work on records (2:35:10)

Despite not making beats as much as he raps nowadays, Sermon did reveal that not only does he intend on making more beats in the new year, but that he’s gotten requests for work from a number of artists.

“Just today, [Ice] Cube, Summer Walker, Beyoncé, The Game, everybody that’s called in for records,” he said. “And I be like, ‘Do I have it or do I not have it?’ If I don’t have it, then I gotta go make it.”