Strictly Business
by EPMD
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EPMD bestography
Strictly Business is ranked as the best album by EPMD.
(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).
Listen to Strictly Business on YouTube
Strictly Business track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 77 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Strictly Business rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 5 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 |  cestuneblague | Top 100 Music Albums of 1988 | 21/100 | 4 |
| 2026 |  ERadio | Top 45 Music Albums of 1988 | 14/45 | 4 |
| 2026 | saltysurprise | Top 63 Music Albums of 1988 | 38/63 | 2 |
| 2026 | shanelovesyou1111 | Top 32 Music Albums of 1988 | 14/32 | 3 |
| 2026 |  junodog4 | Top 20 Music Albums of 1988 | 10/20 | 3 |
| 2026 |  covecove | Top 50 Music Albums of 1988 | 18/50 | 3 |
| 2026 | Siromynian | Top 31 Music Albums of 1988 | 24/31 | 1 |
| 2026 | junodog4 | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | 62/100 | 8 |
| 2026 |  Norman Bates | Top 100 Music Albums of 1988 | 5/100 | 5 |
| 2026 |  ObsoleteEntity | Hip-Hop Greatest 100 | 6/99 | - |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 144 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 494 | |||
Strictly Business collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 42 members
Strictly Business ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
Showing latest 3 ratings for this album. | Show all 119 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 05/11/2026 16:39 | Jakor | 5,550 | 70/100 |
| ! | 05/07/2026 22:56 | cestuneblague | 8,271 | 80/100 |
| ! | 04/02/2026 19:36 | Exist-en-ciel | 16,172 | 70/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album is rated in the top 3% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 77.5/100, a mean average of 76.9/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 78.0/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.9.
Strictly Business favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 14 members
Strictly Business forum mentions
pedro1976 05/27/2026 14:16 in What album are you listening to? (cont.)
Tha1ChiefRocka 12/09/2020 12:40 in Rank 'Em: The Beach Boys
Patman360 08/08/2018 20:10 in Hip-Hop Music: Competition and DiscussionStrictly Business comments
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Showing comments with any number of votes. Manage Profile)
Graeme2 TOP 100 COMMENTER 06/27/2014 21:36 | #115491 | TOP COMMENT
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Amazing hairs stand up music. Only ever had a few of traks off this at the time and wish I'd had the full album as only had it couple of years. 88 man. Very efficient indeed.
Norman Bates 05/12/2012 13:52 | #42071 | TOP COMMENT
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Definitely not enough love for EPMD on this site. Great boom-bap, very efficient.
Larcx13 12/07/2020 11:31 | #262189 | TOP COMMENT
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Stripped down funky beats and smooth rhyming. I actually prefer this to PE's Nation for its length and simplicity and I also prefer it to Rakim's Follow The Leader since it has way less "DJ breaks". Also better than Straight Outta Comtpon for me, maybe not as many classic tracks but I can listen to Strictly Business through and through, minus the "DJ break" of course, not Straight Outta Compton.
Since the beats are so simple, some of the tracks may seem to drag on a bit because they're mostly all the golden age length of 4 to 5 minutes.
Perfectly fine golden age hip hop album with a laid back, funky streak. May have a hard time standing out in the sea of hip hop that was 1988... let alone modern hip hop fans.
Perfectly fine golden age hip hop album that may have a hard time standing out in the sea of hip hop that was 1988... let alone modern hip hop fans
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