Dilated Peoples: 20/20

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GadgetGuru72

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So, has anybody picked up the new album by Dilated Peoples?

Personally, I have loved all 3 of their albums. Many people said that Neighborhood Watch was too commercial and lacked replay value. I don't agree. I think it was a little more commercial than The Platform and Expansion Team, but it had some definite A+ songs on there.

With 20/20, Rakaa promised a return to the older style of Dilated. In my opinion, they delivered.

I have been reading a lot of reviews of 20/20, most of which claim the album is 3 out of 5 stars or lower. I don't get it. Most of these reviewers claim that it has too familiar of a sound and didn't bring anything "new." Yet, when they brought a "new" sound on Neighborhood Watch they got criticized for it. It sounds like a lose-lose situation. If you re-invent yourself and come with a new sound, you've sold out. If you stay true to your origins, you haven't grown as an artist. With some music "fans," there is no way to win.

To me, Dilated has a unique sound that incorporates many components of hip-hop, right down to the old school scratching courtesy of DJ Babu. Sure, the songs on 20/20 sound like they could have been on The Platform, but so what? The Platform was awesome, and so is 20/20.

If you're a fan of Dilated, you should definitely check out this new album.

Many stores in the U.S. (e.g., Best Buy, Circuit City & Target to name a few) have it for $9.99 this week.
 

Sypher

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I think they've been more ambitious than on Expansion Team.. and it's definitely a solid album. "You Can't Hide, You Can't Run" is sooo good. I rediscovered The Platform too.. that was my favourite album like 5 years ago, then I lost it, so it was amazing to hear my favourite songs again.
 

frisk291

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I listened to a couple previews in iTunes yesterday and they sounded promising so I'll probably pick it up the first chance I get. It's being added to my continuously growing list of CDs to buy (thanks to this forum :) ).
 

PHiX

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It is a good album which is easy to listen, but I get the criticism... There are some songs with some good lyrical content but most songs have that same old feeling. Beat wise the album is very good, but I get the idea that they are really carried by the beats. Rakaa has a good voice, but Evidence is besides his lack of substance and cleverness, ####ty to listen to.


I like the song Firepower the best out of all.
 

GadgetGuru72

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PHiX said:
It is a good album which is easy to listen, but I get the criticism... There are some songs with some good lyrical content but most songs have that same old feeling. Beat wise the album is very good, but I get the idea that they are really carried by the beats. Rakaa has a good voice, but Evidence is besides his lack of substance and cleverness, ####ty to listen to.

I like the song Firepower the best out of all.
The fact that the songs have the "same old feeling" isn't necessarily a bad thing, though. That was my original point. To say that "20/20" sounds like "The Platform" isn't a negative criticism in my mind.

Rakaa is definitely a better emcee than Evidence. I agree with you there. His energy and flow are amazing, and he makes Dilated's live show a blast. Evidence admitted in an interview that he's forced to step up his game when he's on stage with Rakaa because Rakaa brings a fiece energy. Evidence also stated that he prefers to rap a little slower, as is clear from the track he does with Defari. Nonetheless, I like Evidence's sound, even if his energy and flow isn't quite as good as Rakaa's.
 

PHiX

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True, I'm sure nobody would complain if Nas would make another record like Illmatic. I'm not a fan of Evidence at all though, he bores me, not just his flow, but his lyrics too. The weed smoking skits on the album annoy me as well.... I don't like skits in general, they're just there to make the tracklist look longer.
 

GadgetGuru72

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PHiX said:
The weed smoking skits on the album annoy me as well.... I don't like skits in general, they're just there to make the tracklist look longer.
I agree with this 100%. I give all skits a rating of 1 star on my iPod and generate playlists that ignore 1 star songs. The problem with Dilated is that most of the skits are at the end of the songs, but on the same track, so there's no easy way to skip them. So, I went into the settings and changed the "stop" time on these songs so that the track stops playing when the actual song is over.

I wish the hip hop community would get rid of skits altogether. Even when they are funny (which is rare), they are only funny once. After you've heard them one time, they just get in the way of the music.
 

enjoilax

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It seems like the first half of the album is good, but after Rapid Transit (maybe even during) it seems to drop off and gets boring.

I blame the production and CONSTANT weed references. And those skits, they are even worse than Kanye's which are pretty bad.
 

Sypher

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enjoilax said:
It seems like the first half of the album is good, but after Rapid Transit (maybe even during) it seems to drop off and gets boring.

I blame the production and CONSTANT weed references. And those skits, they are even worse than Kanye's which are pretty bad.
Naaah mate! After Rapid Transit there are some good songs - namely Satellite and Firepower which have probably become my favourites. Overall ---> not as good as The Platform or Expansion Team, but much better than the previous one.
 
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