Dilated Peoples Auckland Show

LA hip-hop trio Dilated Peoples have announced their first-ever New Zealand show at Auckland’s Powerstation, Thursday 7 January. Joining them on tour is fellow Californian hip-hop trio, Ugly Duckling.

Consisting of Evidence, Rakaa and later DJ/Producer Babu (also part of the Beat Junkies crew), Dilated Peoples first emerged on the LA underground scene in 1992, developing a solid following through the release of their first two albums on ABB Records.

They went on to sign with Capitol/EMI who released their next four and best known albums, including 2000’s The Platform, 2001’s Expansion Team, 2004’s Neighbourhood Watch and 2006’s 20/20. 2007 saw the release of The Release Party DVD with bonus cd.

Their biggest successes to date have come with the single This Way from Neighbour Watch featuring and produced by Kayne West and Worst Comes To Worst from Expansion Team.

Dilated Peoples are highly regarded for their killer live performances, injecting humour, insight and social commentary into their stage shows, which are typified by brilliant wordplay through relentless tag-team rhyming battles between Rakaa and Evidence, backed up by turntable supremacy and precision scratching from Babu.

“We said to ourselves the energy levels have to be up…fans really love us for, having music that translates well onto stage” says Babu. “And when we are in the studio we try to capture the energy that happens on stage”.

Formed in 1993, Ugly Duckling are Dizzy Dustin, Young Einstein and Andy Cooper. Being heavily influenced by old school hip-hop, they conform to the original basics of rap music; turntablism and MCing. DJ, Young Einstein, forms the backbone of the group and is renowned for performing very complex scratches both on the record and live. Like Dilated Peoples, Ugly Duckling also have a reputation for fearsome live performances.

Dilated Peoples with Ugly Duckling, Powerstation, Thursday 7 January


Tickets on sale now through Ticketmaster

www.myspace.com/dilatedpeoples
www.myspace.com/uglyduckling