Evidence

One-third of the influential L.A. hip-hop group Dilated Peoples, Evidence was born Michael Taylor Perretta in Los Angeles, relocating from Santa Monica to Venice Beach with his mother when he was six, after his parents’ divorce. Though Evidence was heavily into skating and graffiti while growing up, it wasn’t until he was 12, when he moved next door to QDIII (Quincy Jones’ son) and was able to see firsthand how beats were made and what it took to be a top-quality producer, that he became interested in seriously pursuing music. He hooked up with MC Rakaa in 1992, and the duo released a few singles as Dilated Peoples (their first beats courtesy of QDIII) before adding DJ Babu in 1998. The group issued four albums (The Platform, Expansion Team, Neighborhood Watch, 20/20) on Capitol before splitting from the label in 2006 and joining ABB. It was to that same label that Evidence turned for his solo album. Titled The Weatherman (a nickname a fan had given him early in his career), the record — something he had wanted to make since 2001 but had been unable to because of the contract with Capitol — was released in March 2007, and featured production from Evidence himself, Jake One, the Alchemist, and Babu, among others. The debut was followed months later by Red Tape Instrumentals, his second album of beats following 2004′s Yellow Tape Instrumentals. Purple Tape Instrumentals arrived the next year alongside The Layover EP and mixtape. At the end of 2011, he returned with another full-length album, Cats & Dogs, his first with Rhymesayers. The set featured guests like Aloe Blacc, Raekwon, Slug, and Prodigy, along with production from the Alchemist, DJ Premier, DJ Babu, and others. It became his first solo effort to chart on the Billboard 200, landing inside the Top 100. Another set of beats, Green Tape Instrumentals, was issued in 2013. The next year he continued his longtime partnership with Alchemist, creating the duo Step Brothers for the release of Lord Steppington (also released on Rhymesayers). Months later, Evidence returned to Dilated Peoples for another album, Directors of Photography. Evidence spent the next few years producing for other acts like Madchild, Reks, and Tha God Fahim, as well as collaborating with Cookbook on A Whole New Cook. In early 2018, he released his third solo album, Weather or Not, which featured production by Alchemist, DJ Premier, DJ Babu, and more, as well as guests like Slug, Styles P, Rapsody, Jonwayne, and Rakaa from Dilated Peoples. The following year he returned with a collection of beats and short instrumental fragments called Squirrel Tape Instrumentals, Vol. 1. ~ Marisa Brown & Neil Z. Yeung