Sometimes I just want to kick back to some hard beats and rhymes, and I hear that particular phrase being thrown around quite a lot these days. Well I think this album right here basically embodies what that boom bap, fast-rap essence is all about. On the production you have none other than the sample suffocating Madlib, whose beats never lack any thump. While on the mic you have the rhyme inspector emcee, Percee P. He’s the type of artist where even if you think you’ve dug deep enough into underground Hip-Hop, you still might just miss him completely. His career starts from the Golden Age of Hip-Hop, yet his debut album came in 2007. The packed in energy of all those years comes out in boisterous, rambunctious, and intense forms.

You may have first heard Percee on Champion Sound, blazing through the track “The Exclusive” and leaving quite an impression. He’s the type of emcee that doesn’t try to waste breath, bars, or syllables. He’ll kick out multi’s and internal rhymes like its nobody’s business and has the type of flow you can picture on a number of different tracks. “Legendary Lyricist” has an Eric B. & Rakim type flavor to it, as Percee simply dismantles the beat with his jabs and punchlines. In fact, much like Rakim, Percee is readily armed with the ability to rhyme entire bars with each other, so it makes for quite a thrilling experience to sit through a verse always thinking about how he is going to align his words. “The Hand That Leads You” is probably the highlight in this sense, as Madlib kicks up the bass to amplify Percee’s brigade of braggadocio lines that never run on empty.

Though its not his strength, he can also deliver narratives in a conversationalist type of way that is more commonly seen in contemporary rappers. Its not exactly as vivid as a stream-of-conscious delivery, but he gets the job done on “Ghetto Rhyme Stories” as he dispenses a couple of his old memories growing up. “The Lady Behind Me” is a track that really puts it all together for me. It ties together the theme of persistence and passion to depict, in analogous terms, his extensive relationship with Hip-Hop. Not to mention the beat Madlib plays in the beginning is so aerial, I almost wish it was the one rapped on. However, the rest of the song is airy and breezy, and cool enough for Percee to distill his pent up nostalgia.

For some its the undeniable griminess of “Raw Heat (45 Version)” that sums up the atmosphere of the record. For some it’s the eerie east coast vibe on “Mastered Craftsmen”. But the collective conscious of this album to me is shaped by a veteran who knows the limits of his bravado. He didn’t try to make this a world-beater even though for a 19 year veteran this could have felt like an uncomfortable make-or-break affair. Rather it feels like his slipping through the cracks was more by design. It allowed for him to be there on Stones Throw, alongside Madlib to deliver a throwback Golden Age affair that simply knocks.

by Abid