The true strength of The Weatherman LP is in its collaborations.
It takes a strong MC to get personal without hiding behind hard posturing, even though the last seconds of the track reveal Evidence is nervous about keeping it so truly real. The Alchemist produced track is uplifting without getting corny. I Still Love You ends the album with a celebration of his mother’s life, and Chase the Clouds Away details his emergence from the depression that followed his mother’s passing. His mother’s recent death emerges as a theme throughout the album and Evidence sought refuge in music to deal with the pain. Without more mainstream appeal Evidence may never blow up, but he ain’t gonna “fake it to make it.” At its root The Weatherman LP is a deeply personal album. Slow Flow’s structure (three verses and no hook) is a defiant “middle finger” to an industry pressuring him to make more radio friendly tracks. Evidence knows he’s not the loudest MC on the planet, and Mr. Luckily the beats are kinetic enough to pick up where the vocal energy leaves off, a dynamic shown on his debut single Mr. His crisp enunciation hits every syllable, a blessing considering his carefully constructed lyrics, but over the course of an album the slow vocal cadence begins to feel monotone. No one ever confused Evidence with Twista, and on The Weatherman LP his syrup heavy flow remains as slow as ever. While Evidence has a lot of blood, sweat and tears ahead of him before he joins the ranks of Tony Starks, The Weatherman LP’s original flows, expertly tight production, and willingness to take risks is a powerful opening shot in the battle to claim his own identity.
His ultimate goal is to exist in the group and solo worlds with equal force, “When you say Ghostface Killah you don’t say Ghostface of Wu-Tang Clan anymore, even though he is Ghost of Wu-Tang Clan,” he said in a recent interview. Hip-hop is littered with MCs who couldn’t establish themselves from the crews they came from, and Evidence wants to avoid the fate of the Murphy Lees and Lloyd Banks of the world.
Evidence has been rocking mics for years as one-third of the major LA underground group Dilated Peoples, and with the release of his debut album The Weatherman LP he’s out to prove he can bring the same heat solo.