Why is Dilated Peoples’ Expansion Team on my best 1,000 albums ever list?
Worst come to worst… actually, that’s best come to best.
Some stats & info about Dilated Peoples – Expansion Team
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Rap, Hip Hop, Underground Hip Hop, Alternative Hip Hop, Bay Area Hip Hop
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 4.5 out of 5 stars
- When was Expansion Team released? 2001
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #783 out of 1,000
Dilated Peoples’ Expansion Team on Spotify
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.
What does Dilated Peoples’ Expansion Team mean to me? What does it make me feel? Why is it exciting or compelling?
“Worst Comes to Worst” is one of my most favorite hip hop songs of this century. The hook is so incredibly addictive and flows brilliantly with the catchy chorus. It’s the kind of song that will stick in my head for weeks and I’m completely fine with it. I’ll walk around thinking lyrics like “Worst come to worst my people come first,” “These California streets ain’t paved with gold,” and, a personal favorite, “We make it hard when we go on first.”
“Live On Stage” has many of the same qualities of “Worst Comes to Worst” while just being not quite as exciting or addictive. Which still leaves it as being quite very good indeed.
“Phil Da Agony Interlude” is 42 seconds of superior underground hip hop, with fantastic acoustic strings (sounds like an acoustic standup bass, I think?) to back it up.
“Self Defense” again leverages strings effectively, though this time they’re purposely dissonant, creating an odd yet super compelling backdrop to as always exceptional hip hop flow.
Personal stuff that’s somehow related to Dilated Peoples’ Expansion Team
While my wife and I enjoy a lot of the same kinds of music (with some major exceptions that I may get into at some point), Dilated Peoples represents music that we both completely get behind. There will never be an argument when the likes of Dilated Peoples, Jurassic 5, or most kinds of quality underground, old school, or lo fi hip hop plays through the speakers of our house.