While on tour in Los Angeles in 2001, Hieroglyphics stopped by Dilated Peoples’ recording studio to collaborate on a track. The result was “Center of Attention,” featured on DJ Babu’s album Duck Season, Volume 1.
Check out this behind the scenes video, a glimpse into a time when computers were rare in recording studios, and the recording process was a much more hands-on, manual affair.
Pep Love, Opio, & Tajai of Hieroglyphics sit and write rhymes as the beat’s instrumental plays. In another corner of the room, Rakaa Iriscience of Dilated Peoples works on his verses. Evidence takes on dual roles as both an engineer and an MC, while Domino helps record his vocals—with the bathroom doubling as the vocal booth.
Tajai demonstrates 2001’s cutting-edge technology: a Palm Pilot with a monochromatic web browser, accessing the award-winning Hieroglyphics.com website over a mobile connection—six years before the iPhone. The future was now.
This video is part of my personal MiniDV collection, which I have been archiving. To learn more, visit this link on my personal website.
For a higher-quality version of this video, there is also a Vimeo link available.