3 out of 5

Label: Rhymesayers

Produced by: Various; Philippe Weiss (mixed by)

After a storied career in Dilated Peoples, as a producer, instrumental releases, collabs, and a trio of solo albums, Evidence’s Unlearning vol.1 release did feel like a fitting landmark: arriving around the time he spun up his Bigger Picture Recordings imprint and expanded upon his local crew, the album had Evey handing over a good portion of production to said crew and other friends, making good on a bid at “reprogramming” his approach to the industry in a way that confidently relied on rhyming and beat-making talents he was rightly in no denial of having. I admittedly didn’t take the “volume” as indicative of it actually being part of a series, and more just like… an opening chapter.

But here we are, four years later with volume 2. Bigger Picture is multiple releases deep; the cover art of Vol. 2 mimics the overlapping puzzle-piece imagery of the first, but the color palette is more chill; Evey is positioned in more relaxed poses; and the visuals, in general, feel less cluttered. The opening song is called ‘Plans Change,’ and features some absolute bars from Evey – the man slings such casually clever rhymes – but, natch, it’s really about him staying the course, and doing his thing. All of this is indicative: the vibe on the album is moreso, like, what else is there to unlearn? There’s a bit of a boast of being maximalist via minimalism – getting the absolute out of only the words and beats needed to make a track – and we get a fair share of some really twisted (in a good way) work here from Evey + others: soulful, deep melodies; weirdly demuxed stuff; some samples used-as-noise which is used-as-loops for beats; but all of that is kind of in service of repeating a similar message again and again, in a manner that comes across as a bit distracted. ‘Plans Change’ is pretty focused; the bookends of the album feature some of the tighter tracks; a lot of it, though, features not a lot of nuance on any given song, with the guest stars sometimes feeling like they barely appear, and everyone playing in kind of that same low, slow-roll range as Evey. Those clever lyrics don’t build to deeper thoughts, and sometimes can be stripped down to paired nonsequitors, like these lines are all smart, separately, but together it’s not necessarily a story. Much more succinctly: the album isn’t really about all that much.

And I kinda want to say that Evidence knows it: not a track on here runs over three minutes; he gets in, lays down a beat or rhymes on a provided one, lets a handful of friends say a word or two, and then they’re out. I love Evey’s flow, and the mix on this is perfect for headphones. It’s a satisfying listen, if sans much lasting impact.