Los Angeles-based Dilated Peoples has managed to perform amazing feats on the thin line between Hip Hop’s underground and mainstream. Though they made much of their name performing live on the international club and festival circuits, they are also revered for classic records like “Worst Comes To Worst” (featuring the late, great Guru of Gang Starr) and “This Way” (featuring Kanye West and John Legend).

Originally a duo of Evidence and Rakaa (Iriscience), the addition of DJ Babu (of the World Famous Beat Junkies) to the fold in 1998 helped Dilated Peoples develop a signature sound and carve out their own lane. Multiple tours and a number of successful 12” singles on Oakland’s ABB Records helped lead to a deal for the band’s Expansion Team imprint with Capitol Records/EMI, and this resulted in the band’s first four albums: 2000’s The Platform, 2001’s Expansion Team, 2004’s Neighborhood Watch and 2006’s 20/20. After fulfilling the terms of their deal with the release of 20/20, each Dilated Peoples member released individual projects, often collaborating with one another. In 2013, Dilated got back in the lab together to create the critically acclaimed Directors of Photography—released in 2014 on Expansion Team/Rhymesayers Ent.

Dilated Peoples is a movement that started underground and continues to entertain and inspire people around the world.