Those familiar with Planet Asia’s work over the years should already know the name Skhool Yard as being Planet Asia’s Fresno, California based crew. This Cali combo of Planet Asia, Kubiq, Shake, Supreme, and producer Protest make their EP debut with A New Way Of Thinking.  Although they are billed as “West Coast hip-hop’s next supergroup” on their bio, this EP struggles to be good, much less super.

The Skhool Yard clique aren’t breaking much new ground, except for shattering the previous record for number of times “Fresno” was uttered on a compact disc. Lots of back and forth between the four mic handlers breaks up the vibe and shows you a taste of what they all have, but themes don’t run too deep over the course of the seven vocal cuts. The topical content ranges from how dope they are (“Rap Moguls” and “Cigar Splittas”), to reminiscing about before they had a record deal  (“Days Of Our Lives”), telling off the haters who said they would never blow (“Fashion Show”), to rollin in cars (“Rollin”).

The production is handled by the cream of the West Coast underground crop, and honestly, the tracks seem to outshine the emcees on a few tracks.  The cuts feature several different styles, ranging from Kutmasta Kurt’s signature DJ Premier-esque chop-n-stab work, to Joey Chavez’s slow plodding bass driven “Rolliin’”, to Protest’s funk laced “Yard Style”.  Being that Protest is listed as a group member, it would have been nice to hear a few more of his beats on this release.  He isn’t mentioned often, but he’s done some amazing work in the recent past (if you never peeped Azeem’s Craft Classic, pick it up for a taste of Protest’s heat).

The sequencing of the EP runs like a long 12″ – aside from the intro which explains how all the “haters” who doubted they would rap for a living – it’s seven straight songs with no breaks or mood changes.  This CD isn’t bad, it’s just not particularly great.  You have certain expectations when you have respected names like Planet Asia, KutMasta Kurt, Joey Chavez, and Kubiq on the bill, and this joint just doesn’t live up to the hype.  The Skhool Yard emcees all bring solid flows and mic control, but the topics, hooks, and pace is pretty much cookie-cutter West Coast underground cliche stuff.  Don’t let the name fool ya, A New Way Of Thinking dosen’t have anything to do with the emceeing on this release.  As a saving grace, this EP comes with ALL the songs in instrumental form, so if you wanna re-write your own song to the dope beats provided, take a stab at it.