There are a few emcees that are famous for the debuts that they have not released, Large Professor, Cormega, Ali Vegas, Last Emperor to name a few. Yet, that list would not be complete without including New Jeruz’s Pacewon, as his “true” debut, The Pacewon Effect, (an E-Bay favorite) was pushed back numerous times and eventually scrapped when Ruffhouse folded.

Introduced alongside his Outsidaz click on the Fugees “Cowboys”, Pace quickly became the Method Man of the Outsidaz, as his charisma and metaphorically rich lyrics made him the crews shining star. While Pace’s Won will attract scant interest from the heads who hit the Net to burn Pacewon Effect (nine of those tracks are included here) it serves as not only a refresher course, but a good introduction to those who maybe unfamiliar with him. Though previous burners, “Oriental” and “Secret” are excluded here, dated, but still moving efforts are; “Nobody” feat. Young Zee, “It’s Yours” (feat. Wyclef Jean), the bass-heavy “Sunroof Top” and the classic “I Declare War”, powered by Ski’s trill flute loop, is still as fuego today as it was on its born date.

Though Pace’s new material does not include the head nod capabilities of past efforts, Ski and Pace recreate their chemistry over the morphed keyboard stabs of “Fresh”, “Rush”, and “Cowboys & Westerns” (“Ski and Kingpin we keep people stepping”) where Pace puts his abundance of braggadocios rhymes on full-display.

While Pace’s charismatic flair and Ski’s varying production helps Won carve out a very consistent niche, at 73-minutes the LP could have benefited by trimming some of the excess fat; exemplified by flat collaborations with the Flipmode Squad’s first-lady Rah Digga (“Money Hungry”) and Kurupt & Young Zee (“What You Know”).

Undeniably its been an uphill battle for Pace, but it’s good to finally see one of the underground’s slept-on talents finally get off the snide and shine on a more prominent stage then just being the source of income for bootleggers and E-Bay peddlers. Hopefully, now that Pace has finally birthed Won, he can move on to creating a “new” LP worth of material. Lets just hope that the wait for his sophomore jawn is not as prolonged.