Dilated Peoples

If you dug the first record from L.A. underground trio Dilated Peoples, you’ll enjoy the latest, too. Like 1999’s The Platform, Expansion Team brims with MC Evidence and Akaa’s hard-hitting, stream-of-consciousness rhymes — never-ending strings of unorthodox metaphors and offbeat punch lines that are street-savvy without a lot of street slang or gangsta posturing. “I’m ill / one of the sickest holding the steel / you need a dose of echinacea and a little goldenseal,” declares Akaa to all feeble MCs, “steel” referring to his microphone rather than a nine-millimeter. Once again, the list of cameos, including Gang Starr’s Guru and DJ crew the Beat Junkies, is short and sweet. Once again, the Alchemist (Joey Chavez), Evidence and Babu handle the bulk of the production, delivering uncluttered tracks that bump and bounce without relying on trendy, sampled loops. And once again, Babu’s deft scratch-a-scratch on the turntables is the icing on the cake.

But if most of the nuts and bolts are the same, some are certainly screwed in tighter this time. Previously, Akaa and Ev were more about energy and confidence than precision, and it’s clear they’ve both honed their skills. On “Hard Hitters,” they hold their own with guest Black Thought of the Roots, one of the best MCs on the scene. The thumping “Live On Stage” and the mike-splitting “Clockwork” also show Dilated at the top of its game, folding mini-mind bombs into lyrics about hip-hop and the group’s own supremacy in the game.

In an effort to “expand,” Akaa and Ev get deep and meaningful on cuts like the plodding, reggae-doused “Trade Money,” with its tired “mo’ money, mo’ problems” theme, and “War” (in which we learn that it’s good for “absolutely nothing!”). Ultimately, these lapses are harmless — temporary, exploratory detours from what Dilated does best: adrenalizing, edutaining, party-rousing battle rhymes.

And not all of the detours fail. With its radio-ready hook and chorus, the disc’s first single, “Worst Comes to Worst,” is the group’s most commercial cut to date. But thanks to smart, well-crafted rhymes, the single doesn’t sound like a sellout.

Dilated Peoples pushed itself into the purgatory between underground and overground with The Platform. Now, without altering its overall sound and style, the band is making a concerted effort to move up to the next level. Raps Evidence on the frenetic “Panic”: “This year it’s time to reclaim the game / I used to sit in shadows and rebel against fame / Till my peeps worded me up / ‘[You] might have the Midas touch’ / The only way to find out? Blow the fuck up / I listened, put that thoughtin my brain stem / Now I think ink and bleed through paint pens.”