Neighborhood Watch

There is a strain of intellectual hip-hop that gets overshadowed by party songs and gangsta braggadocio. The Roots, Nappy Roots, Jurassic 5, Blackalicious, Dead Prez, Dan the Automator, and Paris are a few that come to mind. Dilated Peoples definitely fit in this subset. Hard and gritty, presenting the view from the street by people who are just trying to make it through the day. There's a definite anger in a lot of their lyrics, but it's not the senseless thug posturing of a lot of bad rap. It's the collective anger of battling a culture that is still largely racist, and probably on some level of battling an industry that is actively hostile to music that makes people think.

As one would expect, social conscience is at the fore.

Dilated Peoples take on War, corporate malfeasance, promote Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9-11" and more subtley the divide between the police and the community in many neighborhoods. Even if you're not normally a fan of hip hop, this is well worth checking out just to hear some killer beats that aren't laden with misogyny and profanity.

"If more than half the budget goes to military spending, less than half goes to whatever it's defending"

Hot Spots: Tryin to Breathe, Caffeine, Reach Us, Big Business, Neighborhood Watch