The Weatherman

Evidence, one-third of the esteemed underground rap group Dilated Peoples, makes the most of his solo debut album, The Weatherman LP. He retains the best aspect of his group efforts, the outstanding productions. But just as importantly, he ditches the most played-out aspect of Dilated Peoples, their back-to-basics conservatism in the face of changing times and trends. Consequently, The Weatherman LP is the freshest Dilated Peoples album, and certainly the most compelling from start to finish, since the good old days of Expansion Team (2001). As always, the Alchemist is a chief contributor, responsible for the beats on five of the album's 16 songs. "Letyourselfgo" is one of his strongest productions here; however, "Chase the Clouds Away" is his key contribution, the one sunny song on this otherwise stormy album. Evidence produces a few tracks himself, and Dilated Peoples colleague Babu handles a few too, most notably "A Moment in Time," which boasts some phenomenal turntable cuts. Sid Roams, Jake One, and DJ Khalil are also credited with beat-making. The productions are the highlight of The Weatherman LP, of course, as they are on all Dilated Peoples efforts, but the rapping here is thematically notable, if sometimes unimpressive from a technical standpoint. Evidence keeps his themes personal throughout, addressing his view points and feelings openly. You learn more about Michael Perretta, aka the Weatherman, on this one album than on all four Dilated Peoples albums to date combined. He raps about his upbringing ("Born in LA"), his recently passed-away mother ("I Still Love You"), the birthplace of hip-hop ("Down in New York City"), his artistic self-consciousness ("Things You Do"), happiness ("Chase the Clouds Away"), his career ambitions ("I Know"), and much more. By the end, you really feel like you know the guy intimately. His world revolves around music, no doubt about it — it's a world of hip-hop, ProTools, and marijuana, or so you imagine after listening to The Weatherman LP. The hard-hitting productions can grow wearisome by the end of the album, as can the overall downcast atmosphere, because the album is so lengthy and consistently dark in tone. But The Weatherman LP is an impressive album all the same, and if you trim away the interludes and some of the collaborations, there are at least a half-dozen really great songs here, and another half-dozen that are very good, if not all-around great.