The song that did it for me was Hijack – Style Wars Revenge.
They were other artists that I liked at that time Kash Rex, London Posse, MC Duke and Demon Boyz (whom I respect to this day) but Hijack for me had the beats, The DJ’s scratching was some of the best ive heard to this day and Kemanchi Sly the MC was hard. The main thing I liked Hijack for was if you played their songs next to a top US song of the time there was no drop in quality or content it was just banging hip hop.

Listen to previous Throwback Thursday’s
Moorish Delta 7 – Art of Survival (Stu – Founder of Raw Roots)
Blak Twang – Red Letters (Pegz – DJ)

May/20 London @ O2 Arena
May/24 Switzerland @ Zurich Hallenstadion
May/26 Denmark @ Herning Arena
May/28 Norway @ Oslo Telenor Arena
May/29 Sweden @ Stockholm Globe Arena
June/1 France @ Paris Bercy
June/2 France @ Paris Bercy
June/3 Belgium @ Sportpaleis Antwerpen
June/5 Germany @ Frankfurt Festhalle
June/8 Ireland @ Dublin O2 Arena
June/11 Manchester, UK @ MEN Arena
June/13 Birmingham, UK @ LG Arena

Download on iTunes http://itun.es/iS28qX
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Buy at the Ninjashop http://bit.ly/sMwXIS

Dilated Peoples are currently on tour over here in Europe. They will be in London next Monday performing live at the o2 Academy and Rawroots will be there in the mix. Having been in the industry for well over a decade, they are one of the few traditional hip hop acts that are able to sell out shows. Proof that real hip hop is not dead.

We chatted with Rakaa from his Swiss hotel room about the long running success of DP and why YOU should be at the show next Monday (if it hasn’t already sold out).

First of all, how is it over there in Switzerland?
RAKAA: It’s a little bit cold. We’re in kind of a snow resort but it’s nice. Switzerland is always nice. A beautiful country.

How is the tour going?
RAKAA: Everything is good. I think we’ve done 12 shows so far. 10 of them have been sold out and the other two have been close to sold out, maybe one of them had even sold out at the end so everything’s been really good.

Are you looking forward to coming to London?
RAKAA: Definitely. It’s some place we don’t get to as much as we’d like to when you’re dealing with visas and exchange rates. London is a great place.

Is it much different touring in the US than it is touring in Europe?
RAKAA: Yeah. A lot of times the countries in Europe are the same size as one state. Here(Europe) we drive three hours and we might go from Belgium, through parts of Germany and another country. In the US, we could be driving for three hours and we haven’t left California yet. So in the same time frame in Europe you might get through three different languages, three different types of money. The crowds are incredible out here. The fans are incredible out here.

You’ve all been together for a long time. How and why do you think you’ve managed to survive being an… I don’t want to use the word ‘authentic’ but that’s the word I think that applies… How have you managed to survive being and authentic hip hop group from the west coast and still manage to sell out shows?
RAKAA: Like you said, it is authentic. There’s nothing contrived. We didn’t just jump on the ‘Keep it real’ bandwagon or anything. We make the music we make. Our whole career just evolved as we evolved. The same place, the same heart, the same resource of creativity. When people see something that’s real, they can recognise it. Especially when they are presented with so much, when something feels real they gravitate to it and for Dilated, people recognise that we have spent a lot of time crafting a sound that is cutting edge and traditional at the same time. I think that they appreciate the fact that we were based in tradition but at the same time we branch out into the future.

Are there any new artists that have emerged over the past couple of years who you’re actually diggin’ on the west coast scene?
RAKAA: Yeah. There’s a lot of people on the west coast. There’s a group called the Jealous Guys from the Bay area. Obviously Fashawn is a part of the family. He’s doing very well right now. Producers like Exile. You have Gangrene, Alchemist… they’ve been around for a minute. There are also groups like The Crooks… There’s really a lot of talent. Kendrick Lamar – I’ve been checkin’ him out recently; he’s been doing his thing. The west coast has always been a unique place. In LA, Dilated has been around a long time doin’ our thing but people still associate LA with G-funk a lot of times and can’t really believe that we’re from there and the Bay area, the same thing. You have Hieroglyphics and people like that who have been doing this for a long time and a lot of people still only think of Too Short or E-40 or people like that. It’s respect all around and it’s definitely more diverse [than that].

What is your favourite Dilated Peoples track?
RAKAA: “Worst Comes to Worst” is the one that really makes a statement. When you ask about how we managed to stay around for so long it’s because we are a family. We’re a crew as much as we’re a group. There’s no rivalry. Evidence can do whatever you want. Babu can do whatever he wants. I can do whatever I want to do. When the time is right, we form as Dilated Peoples. We keep the pressure off of ourselves and I think that worst comes to worst, when it all comes down to it we are family. I think that allows us to not have the jealousy, the pettiness and the bitterness that really becomes cancerous to a lot of other groups.

Apart from the tour, what can we all expect from Dilated Peoples over the next few months?
RAKAA: We’re working on a new album right now called “Directors Of Photography” which should be out later this year. Evidence put out “Cats & Dogs”[album] a couple of months ago. Babu is working on Duck Season Vol. 4. I host and tour various projects, events and parties over the world. I just got back from Russia hosting the Red Bull BC One B-boy battle – my third time hosting the event. His one just happened to be in Moscow this time. We’re staying busy, we’re in the studio as a group and as individuals. We tour as a group and as individuals. The next year will be more of that.

You are in London on the 27th. What can people expect from the show?
RAKAA: We’ll wil’ out and we’ll have a good time. We put out a certain amount of energy and we understand that the energy is like a circle, we link with our crowd so we push the crowd. The crowd pushes us. We push the crowd. The crowd pushes us and at some point security snatches us up out of the crowd and kicks the crowd out of the building and look back and wonder what just happened so… It’s a great time. I always tell people especially when we come to London – take your vitamins, drink lots of water because we don’t wanna hear no excuses when we get out there. *laughs*

Is there anything else you’d like to add?
RAKAA: Uh, yeah… You guys exchange rate sucks!

*laughs*

Review by Dukie Hendrix III