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To some, Dilated came out of nowhere to explode onto the scene with the monster single "Work The Angels". It kind of had the feeling of a collective of solo artists doing their joints then doing afew together and putting them on 1 album. After I heard that I was left with my jaw on the floor.I thought real hiphop just got an adrenalin shot in its arm. Although there's plenty of tracks hear only afew really grabbed my attention in the same way.
The rest of the tracks are either too similar or just average in comparision to the rest so they sound like filler material. But thats where the gripes end b'cuz other than that its amazing. Tracks like "The Platform", "No Retreat" (w/B-Real), "Guaranteed", "Right On" (w/Alkaholiks), "Service", "Ear Drums Pop", "Annihilation", "Ear Drums Pop (Remix)" and the aforementioned "Work The Angels" all hit the target with percision. With some of the best beats Ive heard in awhile from the likes of Alchemist, E-Swift, Joey Chavez and Evidence+Babu your head wont be able to stop nodding. Even some of the solo tracks "Years In The Making" and "The Shape Of Things To Come" (w/Aceyalone) are excellent. A maniacal joint of ear splitting beats, heavy guitar samples, crisp snares and pyschotic cuts+slices from DJ Revolution (before Babu joined) backed by ill flows from Iriscience and Evidence.
When they come together on a track its hiphop bliss all the way. Excellent debut from "the crew called Dilated". So when the album dropped I snapped it up hoping to hear more of the same. That was mainly b'cuz there were too many solo tracks on it by each member (just my opinion).
You may have slept on it or just couldn't vibe w/it. Yes this is a bias review, I will admit that. Peace. As a real fan of hip hop music, a found that this listen was not at all dissapointing, but instead inspiring. To me this is an outstanding CD from one of the best groups still doing it today. When I first heard this back when it came out, I was really suprised and excited that hip hop is still alive and that their are artists out there still representin the real.
Add his precise cuts and scratches and he might just come across as a genius. Rakka and Ev are both top caliber emcees and they come strong on this album, but it is defiantly Rakka who grabs your attention with his almost off beat flow and deep voice. Babu does an amazing job crafting beats that like I said hark back to the days of boom bap like few producers can. Dilated has been around for a minute and this album was their introduction to the world outside of the LA underground. This album is not terrible and definitely worth checkin for, especially considering their truly bad album that was released last year "Neighborhood Watch." This album is not bad just too much of the same. Given all of this how could I possibly rate it so harshly. Consisting of Rakka Iriscience, Evidence & DJ Babu (of the legendary Beat Junkies) this album has all the elements of a classic boom bap hip hop record: Bangin beats, elevated lyrics, & scratches that just seem to be perfect. Basically each song is great on it's own but if you try to listen to it as a whole it seems tedious, repetitive and almost boring.
I f u aint got this one cop it quickly and get every other Dilated album. Every track is hot, but the ones to check for are the title track,Annihilation,Shape of things to come, Work The Angles, No Retreat, and the Alkaholiks laced Right On. Babu brings some dope tracks and some ear slicin' scratches. Evidence brings nutthin but butter smooth lyrics and mind blowin tracks.
Super bangin underground release from a then unknown to the MTV watchin so called hiphop fans who think Nelly's the greatest MC to touch a mic. SUPER TIGHT. The best tracks are produced by The Alchemist- everything the kid touches turns to gold or platinum ( no PUN intended). This album plays so smooth, most of the tracks fade into one another.
While Rakaa(Iriscience)brings tha hottest lyrics of the year, his voice unmistakable and he brings intellectual yet street flows. so dope it should be illegal to sell. If u got the re-release it has the Erick Sermon remix of "The Platform" which is ok but not better than The Alchemist produced original or The Alchemist remix. Once again the production is FIRE with heat supplied by The Alchemist,Evidence, Joey Chavez,E-swift, and DJ Babu.
They are either listen to eminem d12 g-unit and 50 cent and think that their commerical crap, weak production and pathetic lyrics are good or they arent fans of hip hop at all. The production is top-notch here also.
But all the tracks are classic. It's hard to select a few tracks as favorites, but i would have to say The Platform, No Retreat, Right On (definitely the best song here, absolute classic), Years In The Making, and Ear Drums Pop.
This is a classic from start to finish. Not to mention how ill their flow is.
Make sure u cop this if u haven't already. Anyone who rates this less than 5 stars has no idea what hip hop is.
Anyway, the beats from The Platform have an incredible underground feel to them, and lyrically they all tear the mic up.
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