review: Dilated Peoples 20/20

New Dilated Peoples LP, 20/20, drops this week. Babu keeps inching the crew’s sound toward more commercial, less “underground,” though not so much as to alienate their core audience. Evidence and Rokka are on the usual suspects, Bush, weed, globe trotting, how nice he is on the mic. There’s no stand out track, no obvious guest producer (like Kanye’s joint on the last record, that for some reason didn’t get as much play as the very similar “The Corner,” then again Common’s much more the matinee idol (). That isn’t to say that the CD isn’t worth copping, there are no weak cuts, just nothing scintillating. There are a couple of bangers, like “You Can’t Hide, You Can’t Run,” “20/20,” “Alarm Clock Music,” punctuated my Babu’s horn and vocal samples. Their music hasn’t had the same impact on me since the first record, I suppose that’s because there’s so much like them out there now. Anyway, I suppose in terms of chart success their exposure to Kanye was valuable, this is probably their most accessible release so far.