The Platform

KU is celebrating the influential group with a replica 45 repressing of the title track from The Platform. The track hit #22 on the US rap charts in 2000, and #89 in the UK. The Platform was produced by The Alchemist.

Over 20 years ago, Dilated Peoples dropped their first studio album, The Platform. The Los Angeles-based group was composed of legendary Beat Junkies member, DJ Babu, staple underground and prolific emcee, Evidence, and fellow Los Angeles-based rapper, Rakaa. The crew formed in the early 90s, exploring their craft and dynamic for many years before making their imprint known and gaining the attention of Capitol Records, who eventually put out The Platform in the year 2000.

Mainstream hip hop, and specifically the greater Los Angeles area radio during those years, was inundated with West Coast gangster rap. Dilated Peoples offered a different look for the genre, steering away from celebrating gun violence and misogyny. Stepping into the light with notes of positivity, boosting one another up, thought-out observations about social issues, and catharsis.