For the three members of the hip-hop group Dilated Peoples, making music and writing rhymes inspired by life in Los Angeles is something that comes all too naturally for them.
The trio's members - Babu (DJ), Rakaa and Evidence - come from very different areas of the urban sprawl and released their debut album, "The Platform," in 2000 on Capitol Records. The group later followed up with its well-received sophomore work, "Expansion Team," in 2001.
Evidence, from Venice; Babu, from Corona; and Rakaa, from South-Central Los Angeles just completed their third work, entitled "Neighborhood Watch," which was released in music stores earlier this month.
With songs like "World on Wheels" (an image conjured up after a midcity roller disco) and "1580" (a musical skit in honor of the AM radio station KDAY 1580), a portion of this latest album by Dilated Peoples is yet another clever ode to their respective hometowns in Los Angeles and their experiences in them as lifelong residents.
The Beach Reporter recently sat down with the youngest member of Dilated Peoples, 27-year-old Evidence, about collaborating with producer and rapper Kayne West, his years growing up as the next-door neighbor of Quincy Jones' son, and his role as both a producer and an MC.
The Beach Reporter: You produced several songs on the new record and, of course, you are a member of the group. In the genre of hip-hop, how do you think these roles differ?
Evidence: Rap music is one of the only kinds of music where a person who makes beats can be considered a producer. In most other forms of music, you have a band or you have certain hired musicians who are coming into the studio to play, and the producer is there to get the best out of them and to really make sure the song structure is formed properly. They say things like, "I heard you in rehearsal and you sounded better then so let's get more of that." Or, "When you play live you really bring this or that, let's try to capture it." They are really like the overseers of a project, but in rap music, all you have to do is make a beat and you're a producer. Get a drum machine, make a drum track and you're now a producer. I really don't agree with that. I think there is so much more to production than making a beat and I think that's a big misconception that I feel goes on in rap music. I feel like I was involved in the production of every single song on this record and that's really one thing all three of us have done. I really think we deserve co-production credits on every track since without it, it would be just a bunch of beats that were never orchestrated all that well.
You mention making beats on drum machines. As a producer, do you think you prefer live instrumentation to electronic effects?
No, I like the end results and whatever it takes to get there, and so if I have to sample four bars of Aretha Franklin because that's what it calls for, then I'm going to do it. Or if a sample sounds kind of stiff and bare and I need to get some guitar players in the studio to play over it with a bass player and a synthesizer with some effects, then so be it. I just want the end result to be right. I do think producers can overproduce sometimes and that's terrible when that happens as well. There's nothing worse when a really good raw idea is overshadowed by too much production. Sometimes people are too excited about simplicity and it becomes boring, so there is a fine medium. I don't really care whether it's live or it's looped or electronic. I just want the groove to hit the people right because the truth is, the people don't care where or how we recorded it, they just know if they like it or not and you can't really fool the people.
With sampling as a hip-hop artist and a producer, are you kind of like a DJ in that you're always on the search in record stores for new music both old and new?
Yes, Babu and I do a lot of that. We are really deep into digging for music. I have a lot of knowledge from looking through the crates and I've learned a lot about music that I never knew about but found on my own. It's a good educational process beyond that. Sometimes my girlfriend will get mad because she'll be enjoying some old music and I say, "Oh, I can sample that." She'll say, "Can't you just listen to it and not want to sample it?" We are inspired by the past, and things work in cycles and keep resurfacing so something that was hot in 1979, 1989 and 1999 is back again. I think you have to check the past to stay in the future.
Since you are listening to music from a producer's perspective in terms of what kind of music will sample well, do you sometimes find it difficult to listen to music strictly for the visceral experience?
Well, the positive side to that is I don't play music so I can't say something is in an A minor or a B flat. I can play some chords on the keys, so I have a little knowledge, but at the same time I do have the ability to hear it from those music dummy's ears and that's one thing where I think I have an advantage. I might want to change something and someone who is a serious musician might say that musically I can't do that, but who's to say what you can and can't do.
At what point in your life did you realize that you could be a producer and MC, and actually make a living at it?
Making a good living at it has only come recently, but I've wanted to be a producer and MC since I was 14. I ended up living next to the producer QD3 who is Quincy Jones' son. He's just incredibly talented. I can remember watching this guy pull into his garage with rappers whom I recognized sitting shotgun in his car. I wondered who the hell is this guy with all of these famous people over at his house. It really struck me as funny to know that someone I really admired was visiting next door, so I would go over there. He told me he was a rap producer and I really didn't know what that meant at the time since I thought rap music was made from DJs spinning old records back and forth on tables. I would sit back in his studio and watch some of my favorite rappers record rhymes. I was just this little kid so it was extremely overwhelming for me.
As a producer and an MC, what do you think are the most challenging parts to both of those roles?
I think as both, getting your chops up is the most important thing; being sharp. Everyone thinks they're ready but then they look back five years and realize they weren't ready, but it's an evolution and you're always going to keep progressing. Once you've become comfortable and you think, "I've made it; I'm done," that's when you really start to suffer. I would say also that being a rapper and a producer are very separate things. You can apply the science to both. A rapper is one thing and an MC is another. There are people who are good rappers and as a kid I loved many of them to death on record, but when I saw them at their shows, that's all they were, rappers. They weren't connecting with the crowd; they were just kind of aimlessly looking straightforward toward a back wall. It was more like, "Look at me, I'm up here." An MC vibes with the crowd, and they are really about party rocking and connecting with the people on a firsthand basis. Some are blessed with both talents and some are blessed with one and have to improve at the other. Being a producer, there are beat makers and there are producers. The latter are the ones who work well with people and know how to bring out the best in people.
The album's liner notes seem to be modeled after designs in the Thomas Guide and that's consistent with the "Neighborhood Watch" theme of the record. How did the group develop this concept?
Babu actually came up with it one day. Within the community program Neighborhood Watch, people report suspicious individuals and activity to the police. Our theme is more about watch out for both the criminals and the cops because it's really about protecting your home, and when it comes down to it a lot of times you really just can't trust either of them. We all come from different neighborhoods in Los Angeles and the idea of the map all tied us together.
Venice Beach seems like a fairly eclectic place to grow up in terms of music.
It's changed a lot. It's lost a lot of its funk. On the beach we used to have performers, dudes walking on glass. Now you have to have a permit to do anything. It became a little sterile if you ask me. You could still go there and think it's great, but 10 years ago it was really incredible to me.
Do you still live there?
Yes.
With this record, are you someone who likes to write all of the time or do you do a lot of writing just before going into the studio and in the studio?
Well, your first album, it's funny because you have all of these thoughts you had for 10 years and then you're able to put it all down on your first album. That's why they say that the sophomore jinx comes after because you're expressed everything you've wanted to say before you got a record deal. You got it all out on your first album and now it's time to create an album from silence and that's why the second record is usually crazy. Fortunately for us, our second record "Expansion Team" went over really well. With "Neighborhood Watch," it was more of a concept piece. People usually know me for battling or punchline rhymes and they know Rakaa for being political and having a message, but instead of getting on the mic and saying whatever, we applied those skills more consciously to songwriting this time. This record has a little more focus and because of that it was written more spontaneously with less writing done beforehand and it was mostly because we didn't always have a topic. For example, one song we called "Love and War" and once we had that topic, we could write it.
What are your five desert-island records?
Nas, "Illmatic"
Gangstar, "Moment of Truth"
A Tribe Called Quest, "Midnight Marauders"
Jeru the Damaja, "The Sun Rises in the East"
Jay-Z, "The Blueprint"
Keep in mind, these are rap albums. If I had to pick music albums in general I'd never be able to answer the question. But then again, I wouldn't want to listen to hip-hop the whole time while on a desert island so let's call it an extremely long boat trip.
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