Evidence

Evidence, born Michael Perretta, is an American rapper and producer from Venice, California, best known as one-third of the underground hip-hop group Dilated Peoples alongside Rakaa Iriscience and DJ Babu. Rooted in the West Coast underground and battle-rap scenes of the 1990s, he built a reputation both on the mic and behind the boards, developing a dusty, sample-based production style indebted to golden-era boom-bap.

Beyond Dilated Peoples, Evidence has released a string of acclaimed solo albums that lean into introspective, often melancholic songwriting over his own soulful, sample-heavy beats, working across his career with producers and artists including The Alchemist, with whom he also formed the duo Step Brothers. His production credits extend into the mainstream, notably contributing to Kanye West's The College Dropout, and he has collaborated with a wide range of artists spanning underground hip-hop, rock, and pop, including Linkin Park and Aloe Blacc. His work sits at the intersection of technical rapping and meticulous crate-digging production, and he is widely respected within hip-hop for a body of work that favors substance and craftsmanship over trends.