Evidence 'The Layover' album

For over a decade, Grammy-winning rapper and producer Michael “Evidence” Perretta—along with his crew Dilated Peoples, consisting of DJ Babu and fellow MC Rakaa Iriscience—has transcended, excelled within and ignored labels to become one of the world’s most reliable and revered hip-hop acts. Over the course of five well-received studio albums, the group has become renown for their dynamic stage performances, engaging musical tracks and unyielding battle raps. Their music is self-described as “educated animal rap,” a characterization which acknowledges the lyrical explosive devices theyconstruct—complex yet straightforward, cocky but respecting, always outspoken.

Evidence’s second official solo offering, The Layover EP, is a follow-up to 2007’s critically acclaimed The Weatherman LP. Coming in the tradition of Pete Rock and CL Smooth’s All Souled Out, Ice Cube’s Kill at Will and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony’s Creepin on ah Come Up, The Layover EP will serve his eager fan base with enduring, concentrated, filler-free product.

The EP contains numbers like the intricately wordplayed “Don’t Hate” featuring longtime collaborator Defari of the Likwit Junkies. Over an ever-changing, Evidence-produced beat, the two friends tackle the subjects of self-worth, selfesteem and resiliency, bringing word to feeling with astuteness. On “For Whom the Bell Tolls” Evidence is joined by revered rhyme-forger Phonte (of Little Brother), widely-praised Los Angeles newcomer Blu and childhood friend will.i.am (of Black Eyed Peas) for meditations on life and death over cathedral gongs and operatic flourishes provided by North Carolina beatsmith Khrysis. “We cant stop nature taking it’s course /But I can report, so I stay with may hand on record,” Evidence raps on the track.

Encased with odes to clever lines, homages to dead friends and biographical affirmation, The Layover EP is an absorbing exhibition of Evidence’s continued “public artist development;” one self-portrait in a series of shots from an artist who has been growing and improving since his emergence on the consumer stage.

Lyrically, the MC, also known as Mr. Slow Flow, comes from a venerated line of mic controllers—the inimitable KRSOne, god MC Rakim, the neck snapping PMD, gangsta rap godfather Ice-T—who meld substance and style, pacing and timing lines so that every word is given space for impact and ingestion. Beginning with The Weatherman LP and continuing through The Layover EP and The Layover Mixtape (Evidence’s fist mixtape offering, a free download chockfull of focused rhymes, remixes, unreleased cuts and rarities), Evidence has been experimenting, liquefying and spreading his lines in new ways. “With The Layover EP, I would love for people to recognize my ability as an MC who is really stepping up,” says Evidence. “I’m changing with the audience watching. I’m constantly developing as an artist should. You’re gonna go through different phases with me.”

While Evidence’s bandmates follow their own solo pursuits—DJ Babu, who also serves on the roster of venerated turntablist troupe, the World Famous Beat Junkies, is preparing the third installment of his highly-respected Duck Season series; the towering Rakaa Iriscience is perfecting the genre-expanding Crown of Thorns— Ev, with the love and support of his crew, is focused on his career. In addition to The Layover EP and The Layover Mixtape, the prolific MC is working on his next album, Cats & Dogs, to be released in early 2009. “You could never put out enough music right now if you really have enough things to say,” Evidence observes. “If you’re wearing yourself out and you’re making music just to do it, that’s a problem. But, creatively, I’m not there right now and I have a lot to say.”

About Evidence:
Michael “Evidence” Perretta was born in Hollywood, California on December 10, 1976. Shortly thereafter, his family moved to the relatively bucolic area of Santa Monica. “My parents were party people,” he recalls. His house was constantly filled with music—the Beatles, Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, Foreigner, Peter Gabriel. “Whatever everyone was dancing to or wilding out to or doing drugs to, or whatever everyone was doing at night,” he says.

His parents’ separation led Evidence and his mother to Venice, known as the ghetto by the sea. He resided right outside of the “Oakwood Pentagon,” a notorious area of Venice’s Oakwood section. “The only thing I could compare it to is any wild neighborhood in any of the worst parts of Los Angeles,” he says. “I lived on the other side of Rose Avenue, maybe like 75 footsteps from it.” His proximity to the Pentagon informed his love for hiphop through breakdancing and graffiti art. (Evidence himself is former dancer and graf writer. Earlier this year, he was mistakenly identified as Cyrus “Bucket” Yazdani, a man described by police as “one of Los Angeles’ most prolific taggers” and found his picture on the front page of the Los Angeles Times as well as local newscasts.) He cites the movies Wild Style, Beat Street, Krush Groove and Breakin’ as major influences.

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Evidence - The Layover