Dilated Peoples were born at a time when major labels were flush with money and were courting nearly every type of hip-hop. But unlike some of their contemporaries, Dilated Peoples survived the initial boom and bust of the rap gold rush to release four albums on Capitol before going on an eight-year hiatus. Now they’re back, and indie powerhouse Rhymesayers is releasing their fifth album, Directors of Photography.

The return of Dilated Peoples puts them in an interesting place. In their initial run, they straddled both the new school and old school worlds, with their two turntables and a microphone approach bolstered by the presence of a fierce turntablist, DJ Babu. However, the eight years away has earmarked them as a retro act. But trending is something that’s never concerned the Dilated Peoples. They seemed defiantly underground even with their major label backing. And now that they’re back on an indie (the group’s early singles were released on indies), it stand to reason that nothing has changed. As such, on Directors of Photography, the Peoples have embraced an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” philosophy. Everything you loved about Dilated is in full evidence (all puns intended), and the time apart has had no effect on the group’s chemistry. The album is a perfect blend of humor, lyrical workouts, socially aware songs, and ice-crisp production.

Instead of being a randomly sequenced collection of songs, the group uses the album’s title as a framing device. There are a variety of samples and song tags that refer back to the broad idea of the group as the directors of photography. But more importantly, Directors of Photography is just an album that knocks. There’s not a dud moment—from the in-house production by DJ Babu and Evidence to the outside help from DJ Premier, Diamond D, Jake-One and others. It’s a testament to the strength of the group that after all this time, they remain on top of their game.