Erick Sermon
Erick Sermon (born November 25, 1968) is an American rapper and producer. He is best known as one-third—alongside PMD & DJ Scratch—of 1980s/1990s hip hop group EPMD and for his production work.
Early life
Erick Sermon was born on November ...
's fifth studio album, '' React''. The song was produced by
Just Blaze
Justin Gregory Smith (born January 8, 1978), known professionally as Just Blaze, is an American record producer and DJ. Born in Paterson, New Jersey, Smith attended Rutgers University for three years before dropping out to pursue a career in mus ...
and featured Sermon's fellow
Def Squad
Def Squad is an American rap supergroup consisting of Erick Sermon, Redman, Keith Murray, Hurricane G, and Jamal
Jamaal ( ''/'') is an Arabic given name and surname meaning "beauty."Redman. The song appears on the
soundtrack
A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...
to the 2003 film, ''
Honey
Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several species of bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of pl ...
'', and in the 2003 video game, '' NBA Street Vol. 2''.
"React" became Sermon's second and last top-40 hit, reaching No. 36 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100.
Controversy
The song's hook sampled Meena Kapoor's vocals on "Chandi Ka Badan" from the soundtrack for the
Bollywood
Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...
film ''Taj Mahal''. The sample, attributed to "an Arabic chick" in the hook, translates to "If someone wants to commit suicide, what can you do?", to which Sermon responds "Whatever she said, then I'm that". The use of the sample drew criticism from the south-Asian community in New York.