While it may have not been evident to some at the time, in the early era of Fondle Em Records, Bobbito was really on his shit. He was taking risks by signing no-name artists, with little history or crew affiliation to tie them to, and creating some classic records. Among Siah & Yeshua Da Poed, The Cenobytes, MF Doom, and Lord Sear, was the MHz (MegaHertz) crew, who made their world premier via Bobbito’s 12inch series. MhZ was a little rusty back then, and it seems only Bobbito knew the crew would eventually produce underground sensations of today and future-stars of tomorrow, RJD2 and Copywrite.

Copywrite makes his official debut with The High Exhaulted, courtesy of DJ Mighty Mi’s Eastern Conference imprint. First getting solo shine through a Rawkus distributed 12″ “Holier Than Thou” b/w “Tower Of Babble”, the young Pete Nelson showed off vicious battle skills and crazy potential, and soon opened up a little bit deeper on RJD2′s already classic Def Jux debut 12″, “June”.

With The High Exhaulted, we get one dimension of Copywrite – the emcee. Other than “June”, he doesn’t really open up and let you peek at the person behind the rap moniker, using his debut to show-off his amazing skill. Like many battle-hungry rappers before him – such as Canibus, Chino XL, and Eminem, at this stage in his career, his main ambition is to not only to rip the mic, but to chew it up into pieces and spit it back out at you.

“I don’t spit positivity, I spit on positivity.” “I don’t wanna be mainstream, I wanna piss in it.” These lines pretty much sum up his style – along with the super-emcee cape, comes the super-ego, the super-skill, and super-middle finger – it’s not a plane, it’s a bird. With line-after-line-after-line, he’s mad entertaining to listen to, and thankfully, he’s got a dope stable of producers behind him to animate his rhymes. RJD2 once again solidifies his sole position as potential producer of the year, delivering five tracks, some old, some new. Whether Copy & RJ are kicking the door down with “Fuck Soundcheck “, strolling down 12-inch memory lane with “Holier Than Thou”, evoking emotion on “June”, or attacking the listener with an onslaught of punch-rhymes and sample-layers on “Seven Light Years”, the outcome is always incredible.

Surprisingly enough, the talent within Mhz doesn’t end with Copywrite and RJD2, as the other members of the crew get their chance to show off their skill as well. Camu Tao steps up as the next producer to blow on each “Fire It Up”, “Hear Me Though”, and “Ready Aim” (check the Copy’s ridiculous bounce style), while Jakki Tha MotaMouth fights with Copy over the mic on “Nobody”, and almost steals the show. As a matter of fact, this album officially solidifies MhZ & Weathermen as the crews to watch for in the next few year.

As entertaining as it all is, Copy sidesteps and loses some of his shine from time to time. Both “Let Me In” and “Dick” are over-the-top dick-bragging, an aspect of his persona that gets old when it spans the entire song. Not to mention the whole “I’ll fuck anyone with a cunt” steez fails to shock, but nevertheless he still manages a chuckle or two: “suck this like the antidote’s in it”.

Since this is his first album, Copywrite can get away clean with focusing on strictly battle rhymes, as it seems pretty evident that he wants to convince you that he’s nice (and he is). Closing out with “June”, we get to actually see the Pete Nelson behind Copywrite, and it seems only natural that he would explore this side of himself for his second album. In the meantime, The High Exhaulted is an excellent, hardcore debut album, where the lyrics and beats are equally dope.