Customer Reviews

Expansion Team

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Dilated Peoples on the top of their game. For years, I've followed Dilated Peoples and their career. I'm a big fan. What's so great about them you ask? They have their very own style, so far out of the mainstream, so original, and so adventurous it's like listening to a new CD every time you hit play on your boom-box. Evidence and Rakaa come out both barrels blazing, their lyrical war-fare at a peak. There are too many tracks on the CD to list the stand-outs, more than 3/4 of the record is worth listening to, though I must confess "Night Life" and "Worst Comes To Worst" probably get the most rotation in my CD player.

There's not too much to really say about this album besides... no, it's not perfect. Upon first listening I was a little uneasy. I wasn't sure it would live up to my expectation, but shortly there-after, it warmed up to me, and went above and beyond my expectations. Sure there are a few songs that aren't very good, and one or two that could be classified as 'unlistenable', but you get that on almost EVERY CD these days. I can only think of a handful of CD's where that isn't the case, among them would be Talib Kweli's "Quality", Mos Def and Talib Kweli's "Black Star", and aside from that, Hieroglyphics is the only other group that comes close to that caliber (excluding R&B albums). Maybe Royce Da 5'9"s "Death Is Certain", but even then, there's a track or two I hardly ever sit through. Dilated Peoples has earned a spot among the best in the game TWICE OVER. I always say that if a CD has good beats, lyrics, and messages (I'm big on positive messages in music), then it's ten star CD, regardless of a few bad tracks. Dilated Peoples is right up there. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this CD for any lover of mainstream or underground hip-hop.

It's a step out of the ordinary, but a step in the right direction.

Dilated Peoples is back with Expansion Team. This time around, they hook up with DJ Premier, Tha Liks, Alchemist, Da Beatminerz, Joey Chavez, Juju, Phil Da Agony, Defari and Black Thought and the result is a chillin' album which definately surpassed my expectations. The lyrics in some songs are a little more slow-paced than what I'm used to from Dilated Peoples, but fresh nonetheless. The production is dope, but I expect nothing less from DJ Babu, Alchemist, Premier & others. The entire album is excellent, but "Live on Stage", "Worst Comes To Worst", "Clock Work", "Heavy Rotation", "Proper Propaganda", "Pay Attention", "Night Life", "Hard Hitters" are definately the illest tracks. Buy it!

-peace

What do I mean by the title of my review? Well, the last time I checked, Capitol Records wasn't underground. But that doesn't mean this isn't a good album. Basically this album showcases Iriscience and Evidence doing their thing as usual while Babu keeps heads boppin' as usual when he works the wheels of steel.

If there are any songs that are better than the rest, they would have to be "Clockwork" and "Live On Stage". And the addictive "Heavy Rotation" with Tha Liks deserves just that. Evidence couldn't have sounded better than on "Self Defense", but let's not forget how Iriscience rips it on...well, pretty much everywhere. "Worst Comes To Worst" is also a winner, although I'm not sure why Guru is credited when all he's doing is talking.

If there was anything disappointing about this album, it would be that some of the songs toward the middle of the album have too much talking and not enough rapping. Also, I'm sure about the lyrics in "Trade Money", but I'm not so sure about the production and wordplay. But Expansion Team is still a great record. I'll be looking forward to their next release.

This album sounds like something I would bump and has a wide range of different types of Beats the best however is "Worst comes to worst" there are also some other good joints on this album.The Production and the beats on this album are 1st rate and probally DJ Babus best and the Lyrics are also nice-Good Job
Lyrics 8/10 Production 10/10 X Factor 9/10 Classic 9/10 Me 8/10
Overall=44/50 This album gets enough to get 4.5 Mics

The Platform-2000 would get 4 Mics
Expansion Team-2001 there best album gets 4.5 Mics
Neighborhood Watch-2004 There 3rd and worst album gets 3.5 Mics
The Average on there albums is a 39/50

Overall Dilated Peoples is your average everyday underground group... but little do the commercial heads out there know, that all these little average underground heads rarely put out CRAP on their releases.

'Expansion Team' is full of bangers, and the entire CD contains a little bit of everything for the real hiphop heads to digest all up... For instance "Live On Stage" is Dilated rockin the stage live and its a great way to start of the CD. "Dilated Junkies" is the DJ posse cut and the turntable wizards tear it up with their turntable tactics... 'thats a dangerous man that speaks with his hands' couldn't have been any better a quote to scratch. Plus there are solo tracks for Evidence and Rakaa to showcase their skills and there's appearances by The Alkaholics (heavy rotation), Guru (worse comes to worse), BlackThought (heavy hitters), the Beat Junkie Crew (dilated junkies), and 2 solo tracks with Defari and Phil Da Agony...

Plus on production we have DJ Babu, Evidence, Juju, DJ Premier, Beatminerz, etc... one of 2001's greatest albums, so peep it!

I'm Out... Mind Power!

Overall Dilated Peoples is your average everyday underground group... but little do the commercial heads out there know, that all these little average underground heads rarely put out any GARBAGE on their releases.

'Expansion Team' is full of bangers, and the entire CD contains a little bit of everything for the real hiphop heads to digest all up... For instance "Live On Stage" is Dilated rockin the stage live and its a great way to start of the CD. "Dilated Junkies" is the DJ posse cut and the turntable wizards tear it up with their turntable tactics... 'thats a dangerous man that speaks with his hands' couldn't have been any better a quote to scratch. Plus there are solo tracks for Evidence and Rakaa to showcase their skills and there's appearances by The Alkaholics (heavy rotation), Guru (worse comes to worse), BlackThought (heavy hitters), the Beat Junkie Crew (dilated junkies), and 2 solo tracks with Defari and Phil Da Agony...

Plus on production we have DJ Babu, Evidence, Juju, DJ Premier, Beatminerz, etc... one of 2001's greatest albums, so peep it!

I'm Out... Mind Power!

Let's be honest here. Dilated is ALL about production. Babu is the backbone of this group and he definitely shows his skills on this record. By cutting on all of the tracks and even producing a few, it is evident that Babu IS Dilated. He even brought a coupla his Beat Junkie buds with him.........(!)

Alchemist lays down most of the tracks in this exceptional record with a little help from Evidence, DJ Premier, and ?uestlove. Hands down, some of the SICKEST beats of the year, but what this album is missing is some good lyricists.

Evidence and Rakaa stick to their formula on this one and deliver some poor rhymes along with their passable ones. The song "War", performed by Rakaa, has got to be one of the most terrible songs I have heard in a WHILE, with some stupid stupid lyrics. In addition, Evidence drops some "science" while talking about money, stating that he has "been to some places where the term makin green don't make no sense because money is blue." Thanks for the enlightenment Ev.

All things considered though, the beats on this record carries it from marginal to brilliant. If you can stand the "lyrics", get this record IMMEDIATELY, and if you can't, what the hell, buy it anyway!

With the release of Expansion Team, Dilated Peoples just might finally show the world what the "underground" hip-hop world has been unleashing for years. More group-hop scratch rap than the pop coming from Ja Rule and P. Diddy these days, Dilated speaks of what they know and that includes some of the groundwork of what started rap.

The first track shows the live ability of the group while orchestrated tracks like "Heavy Rotation" show the studio sound of the Peoples is where the meat and potatoes really are. More Roots and City High than anything else, the Dilated Peoples are on the fore front of scratch rap. The turntables spin, the rhymes come out, and the final product is a very entertaining album. Hip hop fans take note, Dilated Peoples are poking their heads above ground, and you WILL hear from these guys soon.

First of all, it'clearly that with "Expansion Team" the Cali trio Dilated Peoples still is straight undaground...There's no music for the clubs, or for the radio...They r not go mainstream, they stayed true to the art form of hiphop.

Well 'bout the album, I gotta tell you, after the first listen, I thought it was a bit strange...Maybe was tehe beatsm maybe the vocals...But know that I listened a couple of times, I realised it's a great album...tight beats provided by a bunch of well-know producers like DJ Premier and the guest appearances r tight (Guru , Phil da Agony, Black Thought...).

And of course Dilarted itself hold it down...Evidence is one of the bet MCs outta there but he's still underrated...the guy has drops terrific lines...and his flow is unique...his patna-in-rhyme who I really forgot the name is good too and DJ Babu lights on several cuts, doing scratches and keeping the DJps legacy alive and well.

Best track? I dont'know, it's hard to choose one, there r several great songs on it, that's why I gave a 4 'cause a couple songs I didn't like...But overall it can be one of the best hiphop albuns of the year no doubt, there's no talking 'bout (...), Jewelry and other subjects so common in hiphop today.

I really hope this guys can achieve what they deserve...'Cause they did their homework by dropping "Expansion Team'.

Dilated really did it this time. I was a fan of them when the Platform was released but I must say they really impressed me with their latest addition to West Coast hip hop fame. Expansion Team along with Superrappin' II have been the only cd's I've been playing for the past week. The cd starts off with a bang on "Live On Stage." A hard beat meets a guitar riff with conscious lyrics riding the rhythm. If there is a better way to start an album, I sure would like to hear it. Equally as impressive is Babu's production skills throughout the album and cameos from fellow Okayplayers like ?uestlove on "WAR" and Black Thought on "Hard Hitters." As a DJ, I think my favorite song so far is "Dilated Junkies" with guest appearances from the World Famous Beat Junkies. No one holds down DJ/MC collaborations like this anymore but Dilated did this successfully. Also, only one word is needed to describe Babu's scratches on the "Defari Interlude"; amazing. I say all of this to say that overall, the Expansion Team album deserves all of the credit it has received so far by real hip hop fans worldwide and more. 5 stars in my opinion.