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A Few Things to Ponder: Dilated Peoples Is Back Again in a Major Way By Davey D

One of my favorite Hip Hop groups is Dilated Peoples. I like them not because they consistently produce dope beats and flip nice rhymes. It’s not because they consistently kick flows that have substance. That should be expected for a group of their caliber. What stands out most about Dilated is the passion they have for Hip Hop and the respect and love the group members Raaka, Evidence and DJ Babu have for each other.

In a day and time where so many are simply out for self and making money at all costs is the order of the day, Dilated is a breath of fresh air, because they come to the table with along term vision and commitment that looks beyond the immediate trimmings that the fickle music industry offers up.

We sat down with this LA based group in their studio who have been around putting out records since the early 90s to find out what makes them tick and why they are ‘Back Again’.We kicked our first question to Evidence who started out being the group’s main producer but has proven over the years to be one of Hip Hop’s better emcees, and asked him about the origin of their name-‘Dilated Peoples’. Although I’ve known the guys since their early days and have interviewed them at least a dozen times, I’ve never asked them about the name.

Laughing, Evidence noted that he answered this question a million times, and my query was gonna make it a million and one. He explained that in the beginning him and Raaka were looking for names and debated using the name that Raaka had for his publishing company ‘Expanding Pupils’. The pair thought that it might be a bit heady for fans and went back to the drawing board. Longtime friend and fellow producer The Alchemist suggested with the name Dilated Peoples citing that it was a clever twist on the ‘heady’ name they were considering. The rest they say is history.

We then turned our attention to DJ Babu who is also a member of the World Famous Beat Junkies. Raaka and Evidence refused to do our interview unless Babu was present. Their policy is all three members must be there. It ‘s this sort of commitment that was appreciated by Babu who talked about the evolving role of the Hip Hop DJ, who more often then not has been relegated to playing the background. He said that one of the reason’s he hooked up with Dilated is because they are down for the culture and all its facets, not just the rapping aspect. He says that all of them are B-Boys at the end of the day.

He went on to add that as a DJ he has stepped it up and gone on to develop his craft and skill set so it goes beyond just doing tracks and participating in battles. He has become a master of all aspects of deejaying…

Babu also talked about the recent move among a lot of deejays to embrace computer programs like Serrato and abandon vinyl. He says while he too uses Serrato it’s basically something that should be embraced after one masters the basics and graduates to that level. He will always be a vinyl junkie.

We spoke with Raaka who talked about the origins of his name Raaka Iriscience. He explained that his government name is Raaka and that the tag Iriscience was a hold over from his graffiti days. He also talked about his approach to emceeing and says that while it’s important to say meaningful stuff it’s just as important to make sure whatever they are producing is funky. Making music you can bob your head to is critical in order to connect with the people.

He went on to add that their new album is like an alarm clock where they are attempting to bring clarity. Raaka and Evidence spoke passionately about how the go about working together as emcees. Raaka talked about the fact that while Evidence has made his mark as a stellar producer, it was important that the pair respect each other and be on par as emcees. He talked about the fact that over the years Evidence has kicked some of the groups dopest lines, including the verse in their new song ‘Back Again’ that playfully takes a stab at P-Diddy’s rhyme claim where he bragged that he ‘doesn’t write rhymes he write checks’. Evidence flips it and says he doesn’t write checks he writes rhymes, thus reminding people the group’s commitment to the artistic aspect Hip Hop culture.

We spoke with Raaka and Ev about their love for martial arts. Raaka has been along time student of the Gracie Family and their school of Jujitsu. Evidence has also hooked up and has been training for a while. Raaka noted the long time connection Hip Hop has had with martial arts and that the discipline that training brings has translated in a positive way to the way they go about doing music. It keeps them focus and allows them grace under fire.

We talked with group about the dance they’ve done over the years between flirting with the mainstream while maintaining their underground following. Raaka talked about the various ways the group is perceived. He noted that in some circles people think they are a brand new group because of the song (‘This Way’) and tour they did with Kanye West. He noted their hooking up with Kanye opened up a whole new fan base.

In other circles, the group is considered ‘old school’ because they been recording since ’93. Still others know the group from touring and collaborating with Linkin Park, hence they are seen as a skater/rock oriented group. Because of their connection with Bay Area acts like Heiro and the fact that they toured with Blackalicious, many thought Dilated was a Bay Area act.

Raaka explained that these diverse perceptions has worked to their advantage in terms of garnering fans. However, the truth of the matter is that Dilated People’s has never changed up on their approach to doing music. They’ve remained consistent throughout the years.

As we concluded our interview we spoke with the group about battling and how they would go about winning in a set of fantasy match ups. We asked Raaka how they would go up against a group like Mobb Deep. His answer caught the Alchemist’s attention who asleep in the studio when we did the interview.

Evidence had an interesting strategy in terms of how one would have to approach Jay-Z and his Roc-A-Fella click if they had to battle. He talked about how he would go about playing Michael Jordan in basketball and said a similar stratgey would have to be used against Jay-Z

DJ Babu broke down the ways he would have to approach battling his fellow Beat Junkies. Babu broke down the science and also spoke about how he actually did take out one of crew memebers in an atual competition. he offered up keen advice as to how one would have to go about taking out the Funky president J-Rock

You will have to peep the interview to hear the full details to their insightful answers…