DJ Babu and Rakaa Iriscience join Evidence over at the house that Slug and company built, Rhymesayers Entertainment. And with their signing comes a new album, Directors of Photography. Hip hop fans rejoice!

In another episode of our “Vinyl Check” section we chopped it up with Evidence, Rakaa and DJ Babu of Dilated Peoples backstage at splash! Festival 2012. We were going through their catalogue as a group, as well as their respected solo efforts to talk albums and singles like ”The Platform”, ”Expansion Team”, ”The L.J.’s”, ”The Weatherman LP”, “Crown Of Thorns”, “Third Degree” or “Duck Season”. We also touched on records from artists they are close with such as The Alchemist (”1st Infantry”), Kanye West (”College Dropout”) or Defari (”Bionic”). They gave us an in-depth look how these records were created back then and what they mean to them nowadays. – splash!-Mag

PREVIOUS: Evidence Talks Stepbrothers Album w/ Alchemist, Dilated Peoples (Video)

Man, I really gotta run more segments of this series. Anyways, while plunging through some old CDs RTC came across a super dope cipher between Rakaa, Evidence, Em and Aristotle. His words…

So, there are a few reasons why I’m posting this old Wake Up Show Freestlye today… Firstly, it’s just dope. Dilated Peoples and Eminem in the same cipher is Hip Hop history, especially given their small beef in the early 2000′s (SHAKE EDIT: Searching For Bobby Ficher is still one of the best disses towards Em to this day IMO). I also remember when I found this probably 12 or 13 years ago, and was just blown away by some of what Eminem was spitting. Listening to it now, and it’s still incredible. Also, Evidence has a new LP on the way, and we’re bring DJ Babu to town for Digital Freshness on 9/29. Not to be overlooked, Aristotle sshines here too. I’m not sure what happened to him, but he was bubbling on the underground for a minute. And did I mentioned Eminem goes off?

DOWNLOAD: Bring It Back: Dilated Peoples, Eminem & Aristotle – Wake Up Show Freestyle

DJ Babu is almost unmatched when it comes to the turntables.  He ushered in new styles and techniques that not only resulted in multiple DJ competition titles, but also being credited with coining the term “turntablist.”  It’s definitely an honor, but one DJ Babu is not totally comfortable with claiming.  Find out why in this new feature.

Shouts to RubyHornet for always coming through with the dope viral videos.

The Japan-based rap collective released their self-titled album today (cop here via iTunes if interested). Here’s another cut from that project that features a stateside lyricist, this time featuring Dilated Peoples’ Ev.

DOWNLOAD: Sick Team – Turn It Up f. Evidence | Mediafire
PREVIOUS: Sick Team – Lyrical Assassins (トラック) f. Roc Marciano

The West, East and Mid-West all get together on this track off of Ruby Hornet’s upcoming Closed Sessions: ATX tape, which is set to drop March 15th.

DOWNLOAD: GLC, CurT@!n$ & Rakaa (of Dilated Peoples) – The Roadhouse | Mediafire

Rakaa, Ev and MF Grimm join Copy on the latest leak off his upcoming album, The Life & Times of Peter Nelson, set to drop November 16th.

DOWNLOAD: Copywrite – Three Story Building f. Dilated Peoples & MF Grimm (prod. Twiz the Beat Pro) | Mediafire

PREVIOUS: Copywrite – Numb (Eyedea Tribute) | Crooked Cop f. Crooked I

First single off El Da Sensei & The Returner’s upcoming project, Global Takeover 2: Nu World, dropping October 12th through Coalmine Records.

DOWNLOAD: El Da Sensei & The Returners – Knowledge Be the Key f. Rakaa | MF

In a long and enthralling Channel Zero session we confront Evidence (of Dilated Peoples) with music videos, movies and TV news casts he either starred in, was influenced by or that got him interested. For the first time he is speaking on the true identity of “L.A.’s most prolific tagger” Buket, about “Marihuana in the room” with “step brother” Alchemist, about Snoop Dogg, Fashawn and about coming from Venice Beach and seeing Detroit.

Parts 2 and 3 after the jump.

While he puts the finishing touches on Cats & Dogs, Evidence comes back with a banger called “To Be Continued…” produced by Sid Roams (Mr. Slow Flow & Solitary Confinement) featuring cuts by DJ Revolution. He’s also dropping a video next Tuesday to accompany the track.

The Dilated Peoples member breaks down some tracks off his debut album, Crown o  Thorns, which is now available via Decon Records.

The Dilated Peoples member sits down with splash!-Mag to talk about his debut solo effort, Crown of Thorns. Speaking on why it took so long to record, where his inspiration originates, the cover art’s meaning and more. Part 2 after the jump.