Dilated Peoples – Interview with Rakaa

dilatedpeoples

What have you been up to?

Just chillin’ and enjoying the day.

You have plans for a tour?

Yeah, we are heading out in May to do a US tour.

I’d love to check it out, especially to see Babu [Dilated Peoples’ DJ] cut it up.

He’s definitely ill. I don’t know what’s wrong with that dude. I think he might have got dropped on his head or something.

You don’t hear many albums anymore with groups that take their hooks from cuts.

Uh-huh. That is very important to us.

It reminds me a lot of how Run-DMC used to devise their cuts.

Exactly.

Were they a big influence on you growing up?

Definitely. That was the catalyst for my involvement, like Run-DMC, graffiti, deejaying and more graffiti and then emceeing. Run-DMC did it for me. I mean, I heard rap before that, but it wasn’t until I heard Run-DMC did I understand how big the whole thing was.

It seems like being a real DJ is a lost art today.

I think the industry just worked itself out like that. It’s really nobody’s fault but our own. As MCs, we let it happen, so I’m doing my part to bring it back. We need to get the balance back.

Do you think it’s because people just want to take the easy way out and just turn on a drum machine and let it do the work?

It definitely doesn’t take DJ skills to work a drum machine; but then again it doesn’t take any drum machine skills to learn turntables either. I think the problem is in the balance of everything. The MC let the DJ get turned into a stage prop, and I think it’s really unfortunate.

Yeah. The DJ gets pushed to the back, unlike the days with Jam Master Jay and Terminator X.

Right. They were really involved. I just knew when it was my turn to do my thing I wanted my DJ to be involved. Even if there is a live band or whatever else, you still have to get that element involved. The DJ is the one who holds it down. But there are rare cases where you can get on with out a particular DJ involved, like the Roots can do that, but at the same time the elements are still there. Like you have Scratch on the beat box bringing that in, even if there is no turntable and a beat box, it’s all still represented. If anyone has been misrepresented, it’s the beat box. [laughs] I just think if you don’t have that DJ element involved, you are really missing an element and you need them to make sure you get those proper nutrients. [laughs] You know what I mean? You’ve got to supplement your diet.

The beat box is something you just forget all about. I remember Doug E. Fresh and the Fat Boys.

Yeah, you’ve got the Fat Boys and [Buff] the Human Beat Box.

You hear people always going ‘Wow, that group can really sing,’ because they do something a cappella, but when you had the Fat Boys or Doug E. Fresh rapping, that was a cappella too.

Yeah, that’s true.

For those who don’t know, how did Dilated Peoples get together? And how were you able to take three entities and make them one?

It was a real natural thing, like if you are in the schoolyard where people just gravitate towards each other and click up. Maybe they are completely opposite, but something about them just works together. That is how it worked for us. Ed and myself met in a graffiti yard and from there we saw each other later. We ended up free styling and kicking some rhymes at this spot called the Hip Hop Shop, a place where I used to work at in LA. That turned into a song and that turned into another song and then into a group. That was ’92. Then in ’97, Babu, who I knew before from around town, came into the picture and just completed the flavor. He was that missing element that brought everything together. He came in and balanced us out.

I know you had some record label problems in the past. Were you working The Platform under Capitol or were you on your own?

We were on our own for a couple of years. We did it independently for a while. We would sell tapes and twelve-inchers at shows and do whatever we needed to do. We pretty much funded it ourselves. Once we hooked up with Capitol, we had the resources to go back and touch up some stuff that we needed. Basically we did the album by ourselves.

How do you cut a track when you finally do get in the studio?

There is no particular way. It’s like when you get hungry you go look and see what is in the kitchen. We just come together and know how to work the spices. It is still the same, it’s just that now we have more resources. It depends. Somebody might come up with an idea, like I might just wake up and have a whole song in my head and then try to express it. Babu might have a cut and we work around it, or Ed might have a beat. Whatever it is, it just kind of works out. When it starts, everything just falls into place.

Did you go into the studio with a goal in mind or were you just making tracks?

We only knew that the album would be called The Platform, and that means where we stand physically, whether on stage or soapbox, we just deliver our message on where we stand philosophically and creatively. From that, it is completely wide open. We just take what we think fits this, and if it doesn’t it might show up somewhere else. There are no egos and we put it together democratically within the group. For us it was never a big problem as far as how we were going to work or how we were going to write it. It was more of, ‘Let’s just relax and go in there. Get it popping,’ because we were able to do what we wanted to do, so we did.

How was it working with B-Real and the Alkaholiks?

It was like having a barbecue on one level, but on another level we were really appreciative because we knew how hectic their schedules are and we know what they have to deal with on a day to day. It was great to have them mix their spices in and bring more flavor. We’ve known all of them for a long time and didn’t have to have our guys talk to their guys. It was really positive because of that.

What do you think about where music is at today, especially hip-hop?

I think it’s great. I think hip-hop culture is touching more people than ever. I think there is a problem with mainstream media, record labels, and things that surround the hip-hop culture, but the hip-hop culture and rap music is great. I just don’t like the elements that feed off it without giving back to it.

+ charlie craine


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