Three New 45s

(Youtube version is here.)

Sleuthing For the Rhyme Inspector

Percee-P's catalog is way too goddamn small. He first appeared on vinyl in 1988, and didn't put out his first full-length album until 2004. And nine years later, that's still his only album. So we're starved. We're starved for his sparse but killer 12"s, and his at least reasonably bountiful supply of guest appearances. Because of this, we wind up buying records we'd never ordinarily give the time of day to by artists we don't really know or care about just because he drops a verse on them. Records like this one.

Here's a single by a guy named Koushik. He's one of those guys who you see album after album by on sites like ughh, but you don't look at because they're barely hip-hop (and holy crap are there a lot of those). Discogs lists Koushik's first album under: Electronic, Hip Hop, Rock, Breakbeat, Abstract, AND Psychedelic Rock. I didn't bother looking up the rest of his albums, because this is not Pitchfork. But I still bought this record... because Percee-P is on it.

This came out in 2006 on Now-Again Records. The label [pictured] is a million little circling eyes to tell people like me that this is not the kind of artists who makes music I would care to listen to. But fortunately the other side has proper writing on it, telling us the track-listing and the fact that this is "12" #2 of 2 from the 'Cold Heat: Heavy Funk Rarities 1968-1974' pretentious." Sorry, that last word should be "series."

Anyway, there are nine tracks on this 12" including an Intro, Interlude, Instrumental, Drumapella, Megamix, and three(!) Bonus Beats. Skip them all. The last remaining track is called "Cold Beats" and it's a full-out Percee-P song. That's right, not just a single verse, it's a proper Percee track. And instrumentally, it's pretty dope, too. It's got a nice chunky horn sample, interchanging loops and a dope, banging breakbeat. I guess that's what all that "1968-1974 Rarities" talk was about.  Hell, I'm not a guy who's big on instrumentals, but even some of the versions without Percee actually rhyming on them might actually be worth your time.

And perhaps best of all I'm... pretty sure these are not recycled verses from Percee. You know how you'd hear him drop a rare guest verse on one song, then he appears on another artist's song a year later, and it's the same verse? Well, I don't recognize any of the rhymes here from any other song. I'm almost certain this shit's exclusive.

So, it's really a whole new Percee-P song. The production's quality, plus it's a nice match for the rhyme inspector - albeit still a little out of left field for him. I'd actually rank this higher than a lot of the Madlib stuff. So add this to the list of records by artists you don't know and don't care to know that end up in your crates because of this guy. But Percee's Percee, so you'll be glad to have it.

Spare Time for Jokes

This is one that flew under a lot of heads' radars, I think... Of course, I can't imagine anyone reading this blog not having been well aware of Percee P's album on Stones Throw, Perseverance. And I certainly agreed with the common consensus: it was good, but not the fantastic album that heads had been waiting so long for. Why? Because instead of working with Showbiz, Premiere, Beatminerz, Pete Rock, Diamond (they had him rhyme but not produce? what?), Large Pro, Finesse, and all the other producers everybody expected and wanted him to work with (how about a couple tracks with Charlemagne? that would've been cool), the entire album was produced by Madlib. Who isn't bad, but he's A) not quite of the caliber of the producers I just listed and B) with his sensibilities, isn't such a good match-up.

So, hooray for great justice when it was announced that Stones Throw was releasing the entire album remixed, right? They were paying attention to the fans and critics, and were finally giving the people what they'd hoped for, right? No, actually Madlib did this entire album, too. This album was released on CD only (fitting, I guess), and it really just feels like someone bundled up all the versions Madlib decided not to use on Perseverance.

But, let's not be entirely negative... One of the good things is that this album doesn't use any of the 12" remixes that were released on Perseverance's singles. Those "Put It On the Line" remixes, the nice little "Hand That Leads You" 7" remix? Those are all unique to those singles. The remixes here are all new. When I finally broke down and ordered this, I was concerned I was gonna be buying half the songs over again, so I'm glad to report that's not the case.

In fact, there have been some changes to the track-listing since the original version... The sequence has been totally reshuffled, some titles have been arbitrarily changed (for example, "The Lady Behind Me" becomes "The Woman Behind Me"), and most notably, some songs have been dropped. Now, granted, "Intro" and "Outro" were no great losses (although, interestingly, the two "Interludes" have been included and remixed); but songs like "The Man To Praise" was more of a surprise to see left off. "Watch Your Step," "Master Craftsmen" and "Raw Heat" are the other MIA songs.

But, again, we're not being 100% negative here... a new song has been included! "Real Talk" is a fun, new song, with one of the best beats on the album, and a cool vocal sample being cut up for the hook. The lyrics are nice, too, although the first verse is actually lifted entirely from Percee's 1998 single, "The Weekend." As far as I can tell, the other two verses are all new, though (the CD booklet, like the original album, reprints the lyrics; but does not include this song). It's a nice little treat.

But, yeah, unfortunately, the rest is not so rewarding. Almost every version here is just an inferior version of the song on Perseverance. This is not the opportunity to correct mistakes some of us hoped for. "Put It On the Line" has the skeleton of a decent song... the bassline and all, but it's littered with with eclectic random "experimental" noises that just distract, clutter and make the whole experience an annoying listen. You might think "2 Brothers From the Gutter" might be improved upon by swapping out the video game samples for some old school sounds, but nah... it just sounds lazily throw together. The bass sounds awful on "The Hand That Leads You," "Legendary Lyricist" might've somehow managed to make the hook sound wacker than it did the first time, and "Who With Me" actually sounds like an improvement musically, except it doesn't match up with Percee's vocals, so the whole thing sounds off. Should I keep going? "The Dirt and the Filth" sounds weak and tinny, and the same with "Ghetto Rhyme Story" (changed from "Stories") and "Last of the Greats." "Throwback Rap Attack" basically drops his vocals over some non-hip-hop kettle drums and the result just sounds mad sloppy and certainly nothing you'll ever want to revisit.

But, still, there's another silver lining. "The Woman Behind Me" is at least as good as the album, and may even be a slight improvement. Percee's vocals are perhaps a little too overwhelmed by the vocal sample which is mixed very strongly over the track, but sounds dope. I don't know, I'll call it a tie. And "No Time for Jokes," his duet with Charli 2na, is the one remix that actually sounds markedly better than the album version. A headnodding beat and a chopped up flute sample that pulls you in immediately. Funky horns on the hook... a rhythm that matches Percee and 2na's flows perfectly... Hell, this beats the pants off the album version! This is the jewel of the album no doubt.

Now, you'll just have to decide if this CD (again, no vinyl available - just sayin') is worth the purchase for one semi-exclusive song and one banging remix. You may've noticed, but I'm not one to normally advocate downloading, buttt... If you've already got the LP... 0:-)

Complimentary Egg Roll With Your Order

This 45 comes free with Percee-P's Perseverence album if you buy it from many online sources (accesshiphop, ughh, etc). Most places seem to offer it (with the CD or the LP), so if you're buying from someplace that doesn't carry the package deal, you may want to cancel that order. Because, yeah; you'll be wanting this.

The whole album is pretty good. Like I (and practically everybody else, to be honest) predicted in an earlier thread, Percee dependably kills it on the mic, and the production, entirely by Madlib, is decent, but not great. At its best there are some nice, dusty loops ("Ghetto Rhyme Stories" is a particular stand out), while at its worst, it sounds like the soundtrack to a Sega Genesis game. It's definitely a dope, very worth having album… but if he'd dropped a few weak guest MCs who can't keep up with Perc (like Vinnie Paz and Guilty Simpson… I mean, whose dumb idea was it to make THAT song the new single, anyway?) in favor of some obvious guest producer choices (Showbiz, Diamond, Buckwild, Premiere, Finesse)… this could've really been the album we'd been waiting for all these years. As it is, it's just a good, solid album - which you can easily quibble about, but you'd be missing out if you passed up on.

So, now getting to this 7": it's "The Hand That Leads You (Egg Roll Version)" b/w the instrumental. When this was still a pre-order, most sites just said, "free Stones Throw 45," so it was to discover we'd gotten a proper Percee-P non-album single, rather than just a label sampler of snippets or something.

It's called the "Egg Roll Version" because the bulk of the instrumentation is sampled from "Egg Roll" by the late Philly-based 60's funk/jazz collective, The M&S Band, a rare/obscure release later popularized (well, as far as these things go) in the late 90's on the Funk 45 reissue label. And this mix (also done by Madlib) is hot… much better than the LP version; and that was one of the stronger album cuts itself. It's just a couple of massive horn loops, with some nice scratching on the hook, provided by J-Rocc of The Beat Junkies… these are hotterthan most of Madlib's scratches - which I'm guessing by the sound of 'em are done on Serato (Madlib provides the scratching on the LP version and most of the album tracks; though J-Rocc did two; including the aforementioned stand out, "Ghetto Rhyme Stories"). On this mix, the emphasis is more on the actual scratching and less on the amount of vocal samples that can be squeezed into sixty seconds. Stand out beats like this are definitely up to headnodding par with anything Showbiz would've provided, anyway.

So, yeah. Get the album; and make sure you get this 7" with it. And let's hope the success of this project will encourage Percee to keep putting out records on the regular.

Tags: Percee-P, Madlib, J-Rocc

More Rare Percee Material

Here's another rare Percee-P joint for your want lists... in fact, it's the one I mentioned in my recent Weekend post. Now you've probably heard this on mp3, or have it on the 2001 compilation album, Now and Then; but here's the real thing.

"Skills Mastered" came out in 1999; and the only label given is G-Smooth's own name. Like the title implies, it's a pure skills-flexing cut with G-Smooth, Infinite, who you may remember from Tragedy's "'98 Thug Paradise," and of course Percee (here credited as "Percy P") each taking turns kicking a freestyle verse. The production is handled by D-Moet. Yeah, as in King Sun & _______. In fact, this was Percee's crew for a short time... he says as much on an old DJ Avee tape. The track is a bit corny, what with the gong and church bell sounds and what-not, but ultimately effective Lyrically, of course, Percee kills it; while the other MCs at least manage to keep up.

The B-side is a G-Smooth solo cut, again produced by D-Moet, entitled "These Waters." The production here kinda cleverly uses familiar sample elements from other rap songs and creates something pretty new. It showcases Smooth's deep voice, while he essentially just kicks some more, nice freestyle rhymes. Yeah, it's not as tight as a Percee verse, but it's a pretty solid track.

Right after, Percee was supposed to come out with his own 12", "Bang In the Clubs" b/w that posse cut with T-La Rock, who was announcing a comeback of his own at the time, and an up-and-coming MC at the time, Rhyma the Massacarist, who makes it sound like he's saying he's a masochist. Both tracks were pretty nice, but I guess he had a falling out with the producers who were putting out the record... I think they called themselves The Vinyl Dogs. Really a shame, though there seem to be a fair amount of mp3s of the b-side floating around. Is it possible there were test-pressings or anything of this, maybe given to mix-tape DJs? I'd love to hear from anyone who might know. 8)

Tags: Percee-P, G-Smooth, Infinite, D-Moet

Because Weekends Are Made For Fun

Back when I first was making my Percee-P discography page, I showed him my rough draft and asked him if there was anything missing. One was a joint that was just coming out, which he gave me a copy of (fans probably already have heard this, but if you didn't know, Percee's a really nice, cool dude); and the other was a record I'd never heard of: "The Weekend" by Champagne. Eventually, I tracked myself down a copy.

Now, there's no credited record label or year printed on this 12", but the info I got from Percee was that this came out in 1998 from Luckee Champagne Music. It's a posse cut by a bunch of people I've never heard of: Champagne, Eclipse (well... it's possible I might've heard of Eclipse. A quick search of discogs brings up 30 listings, so yeah... who knows? But here's a tip to any up & coming MCs named Eclipse: change it. Or spell it funny or something), Brother-Mello, a girl named Ebony singing the hook, and of course Percee P wrapping it up on the last verse.

You've got three versions of the song on this 12": the "Champagne Mix," the "Mr. Luckee Mix" and the "Scorch Prod. Mix." I prefer the Champagne mix, if only because it feels the most like the track the artists originally recorded their vocals to. It also has a slightly more upbeat touch, which matches the theme of the record. But all three versions are reasonably comparable, and everybody will probably have their own fave.

Whichever your preference, though, this is a cool record. On the one hand, with it's topic and the fact that it's got a sung chorus, you'd think this was a bid for commercial radio (and it probably was), and therefore not worth your time, a la "Summa Day" as opposed to "Some Ol' Sah-B Shit" or "On Earth As It Is..." compared to "Anything Goes." But really, the beats are all understated and "underground" sounding; and the flows are definitely all of the dope, emphasis-on-skills variety that we all ate up on indie 12" after indie 12" in the late 90's. This belongs on a mix-tape right between, like, The Dutchmin and Natural Elements. Check it out. Here's a sample of Percee's verse... now, if you can imagine these lines ripped to the tune of his verse on "You're Late" or "Pray To da East," then you get how nice this sounds:

"Job's stressed ya mind?
Here, go buy a new dress to dine in,
The best, divine.
Since I'm pressed for time:
Screw ya plans.
Let's walk through the sands,
And cruise the land.
If you can dance and like to eat,
It's my treat - to Houlihan's.
No help from ya ex;
When he's around, he comes for sex.
Leave ya heated like a pot cookin',
Lookin' dumb and vexed.
Everyday he's ripped;
Checks docked,
Like a navy ship.
...
Daily, you passed on fakes
With no cash to make.
That's the breaks;
But now you don't have to wait
Or mastur -
At my show, smile.
I know how the ladies go wild
And wanna get laid like a flo' tile;
That's not my profile.
When the dough pile, boo,
It's you I'm seekin';
It's why I'm speakin'
From deep in my heart.
I'm reachin' out to you."

Nine years later, Percee-P has a myspace page and a new album just out on Stones Throw Records called Perseverance. I haven't got it yet, but (even though I'm a little underwhelmed by the choice of producers) it's a given that I will. ;)

Tags: Percee-P, Champagne