Listening to Evidence’s solo debut, The Weatherman, is almost like discovering this L.A. hip-hop vet for the first time. After dropping backpacker-friendly jams with the Dilated Peoples for over a decade, we have come to know much about Ev the MC and producer, but not much about Ev the man. With candor, Evidence reveals how his mom’s passing left him in a daze (“I Still Love You”) and, with Atmosphere’s Slug, vents about the danger of fame-chasing friends (“Line of Scrimmage”). But as much as we learn about the rapping producer’s life, this album isn’t entirely comprised of weighty introspection. The booming, synth-heavy single “Mr. Slow Flow,” for one, plays out like an anything-goes freestyle, ready to be bumped in the whip. With assistance from producers The Alchemist, Joey Chavez, and others, Evidence successfully steps out for a revelatory solo mission without losing sight of his roots.