The Golden Age vibe of Dilated’s past albums is present, but hardly intact. A cursory listen to the first several cuts will inevitably recall Kanye’s production style, complete with female soul vocal samples sped up to Chipmunk-like levels. Perhaps it’s a misguided bid to win over some more fans. Perhaps it’s simply a reflection of Kanye’s influence. Either way, the beats, while they aren’t bad, are rather contrived. You can’t help but feel you’ve heard music production like this before, especially on the second, third, fourth, and fifth tracks on the album. (The first track is a pointless 40 second intro.)
Seriously, the moment track 2, Back Again, begins, I thought Dilated hired Kanye to do some production. But it’s actually Alchemist, not Kanye. Back Again sounds like an unused demo for Through The Wire crossed over with the beat from Common’s The Corner (also produced by Kanye). You Can’t Hide, You Can’t Run sounds a little better; it still has the Chipmunk voices but it also crosses somewhat into Jurassic 5 territory. Elsewhere, the song Olde English sounds reminiscent of 2 Words from College Dropout.
The thing with 20/20 is that none of it sounds particularly fresh. Listening to it is like playing a game of Pin The Influence; there’s nothing groundbreaking here. Most of the tracks here are solid in their workmanlike quality. This also means that it’s most of the album ends up being somewhat forgettable, and more likely to be used as background music than any other enjoyment-centered purpose. Of course, when Dilated do hit the bull’s-eye, their songs are superb. Their past works are evidence that they are capable of some real excellence. While there’s nothing on 20/20 that’s as good as, say, Worst Comes To Worst, and there’s definitely nothing that approaches Proper Propaganda, the good songs are more than memorable.
Kindness For Weakness is the first such memorable song on the album, thanks in no small part to some manic scratching over a finely used sample, as well as a drive-by courtesy of Talib Kweli. The Eyes Have It is another good song, evocative of the mood of positive Golden Age hip-hop, a mood often associated with Dilated Peoples in their past works.
Unfortunately, more often than not, the songs end up being too forgettable. Elsewhere on the album, Rapid Transit, ironically, meanders for a whole six minutes, nineteen seconds. The reggae flavor of Firepower is aimless and ultimately uninteresting. By the end of it all, you get the sense that Dilated were just experimenting with some sounds and decided to release an album that could have passed as a B-sides collection.
Has the rap game changed forever? What a preposterous and pretentious notion. However, if 20/20 is any indication of things to come from “alternative” hip-hop crews faced with Kanye’s shadow, then it seems like things might unfortunately sound the same for quite some time.
"20/20" is on sale February 21, 0006 from Capitol.
