DJ Scratch has clarified his surprising comments about EPMD’s lackluster sales of their latest album, We Mean Business.
Last Firday (Dec. 19), radio personality Miss Info revealed via her blog an email from DJ Scratch with such comments as “EPMD stands for Erick and Parrish Making Diddly Squat,” making light of their record sales.
DJ Scratch, who was not involved in the album, explained later via Miss Info that he didn’t write the letter himself:
“I didn’t make or write that statement about EPMD’s record sales. A fan on myspace wrote that statement and sent it to me. I was shocked about what he wrote so I copied and pasted it and sent it to my friend Miss Info and a few other friends to show them how some people are still angry about our split. It was my fault to not explain in the email ‘yo, look what someone wrote to me’. It’s hard express emotion via text. So I apologize for the miscommunication to Miss Info, EPMD & the fans.
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But since I have the floor I will make a statement..
If I was involved with the new EPMD album the result of the record sales would’ve been the same. I listened to the album. It’s better than the last two we’ve dropped.
I would be crazy to think that people wouldn’t buy EPMD’s album because I left the group. I only produced one track per album (except Business As Usual where I produced four tracks). So that wouldn’t make any sense.
Our split was very public, I only did two interviews about our split (allhiphop.com and nodfactor.com). Anything else are not my words or opinions. We both have fans as a group and fans individually. I reached out to them when I saw the result of the sales to ask if there’s anything I can do to help. Even though we have our problems, I don’t want to see them fail, as I expressed in a earlier myspage blog.”
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DJ Scratch continued, explaining his actual thoughts on EPMD’s latest album’s sales.
“Usually when a artist drops an album after a long hiatus (Hip Hop, R&B).. The record sales will not be as huge as when you first came out.
The main reason for that is the times have changed, the era has changed. The attention span of the younger fans are shorter. So you have to consistantly put out material to stay current.
The advantage that EPMD and other Legends like LL Cool J, Wu-Tang, Rakim ect is that when you have CLASSICS.. you can tour forever!!! So the poor record sales are not a factor in making money. ‘Hit records last six months, but classics last forever.’
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Our core fans are in their late 30’s.. early 40’s. So all we ask is to support our Legends and go out and buy the new EPMD, Wu-Tang, LL, Diamond D, Q Tip, Busta, DJ Quik, Pete Rock and Large Professor albums. Because at the end of the day.. The fans make us or break us.
No matter what, you can’t take away our classic EPMD records, the groundbreaking scratches on the hooks and the ill DJ routines at our shows. So regardless I’m DJ Scratch of EPMD for day one to day done.”
