Blackout’s exclusive interview with Evidence (Dilated Peoples)
Unlearning Safety, Unlearning Perfection
The most famous musical Weatherman, or even better, Mr. Slow Flow, recently wrapped up a mini-tour across the Old Continent — first with his home boys Dilated Peoples, and then continuing solo, bringing the current release “Unlearning Vol. 2” to European stages with support from DJ Mishaps.
For some of the cities on the route, this was their first chance to experience Evidence live, which gave the whole run an extra weight and a raw energy. We caught up with Ev at the very end of the tour, in Thessaloniki, where he came out firing on all cylinders, performing cuts drawn from nearly two decades of his solo career, before closing with “Worst Comes To Worst” — a classic you don’t often hear at his shows. Even though he was tired after the concert, Evidence remained relaxed, friendly, and willing to spare a few minutes for a couple of questions — another reminder of why so many rightfully consider him a legend of underground hip-hop.
Interview by: Savo Drakulić
Photos by: Nikos On The Run
BLACKOUT: You’re at the end of your mini tour of Europe, first with Dilated Peoples and then solo as well. What impressions are you taking home?
EVIDENCE: Yeah, a lot of fun everywhere I’ve been, so I’m pleasantly surprised. Never expect everything, so anytime people show up, it’s… you get that energy, you know. And then with Dilated is fun, because we’re doing older stuff. So there’s like a classic feel about it or something like that. And then the solo stuff is dope, because get to showcase a lot of the current work I’m doing and I get to see the audience like, who’s here for the older stuff and then who likes the newer stuff better.
BLACKOUT: What do you think about people’s reaction to the newer stuff, I mean the tracks from the “Unlearning” era?
EVIDENCE: It’s been surprising, because I do the first one five year ago. You know, the whole beginning is that. And so I’m not coming out with like, the heavy hitters, you know, and coming out with more… I mean, I feel like they are, but they’re newer. And I see the people engaging on all those songs, saying words. It’s showing me that people in the front row are current. They know the other, older stuff as well. So that’s the part that’s humbling the most to me.
BLACKOUT: What does that tell you the most?
EVIDENCE: It’s like, okay, they’re not just here because it’s bringing them back to a time in their life where they felt a certain way. They feeling they’re moving in real time with what I’m doing. And that’s over a long career. That’s just something that you should be grateful for if it’s happening.
BLACKOUT: Since we’re on that topic, what was the decisive factor that made you move on from Weatherman and start this new Unlearning phase?
EVIDENCE: The Weatherman was always my idea for the solo records. It was my character I was creating for myself. Throughout Dilated, I’d always talk about the weather a lot. And people started saying – Weatherman. And the name was just kind of given, it wasn’t a choice. And so I based all my solo records off of that, which was “Weatherman”, “Layover”, “Cats & Dogs”, “Weather or Not”. And then at some point I felt like I was… If I kept going, I might start repeating, you know, trying to do the same thing over. And so I came up with the idea of “Unlearning”, which was Covid time.
BLACKOUT: What does unlearning mean in the context of your work?
EVIDENCE: It was just the idea of forgetting about everything, you know, and just starting over with something that’s not safe. And the idea came from recording demos at home on a bad microphone. And then throughout my career, every time I want to put out an album, I go to Alchemist’s house and re-record it. But sometimes I like the first take the way it was because there was something natural about it. But it was recorded really bad because I was just doing it on a cheap mic. So “Unlearning” was the idea of maybe just keeping the demo takes and then not going to Alchemist to re-record it and unlearning the idea that everything has to be perfect.
BLACKOUT: For the end, since you mentioned Alchemist, is “No Explanation” with him and DJ Premier a sign of a bigger collaboration, or just something that came together for one release?
EVIDENCE: Well, as far as what it leads to, that’s for everybody to be determined. We’re moving in real time. So as of today – it’s a new song that’s out. You know what I mean? But what an honor to be on that, right? And so, yeah, that’s just once again, It’s truly humbling. And then I gotta step up, kill it.
Big thanks to Giannis Efstathiou and the Street Mode crew in Thessaloniki for their support and for making this interview possible.
