This sampling of Percee P’s work shows him at his best - flowing effortlessly over early 90′s uptempo breakbeats (“Lung Collapsing Lyrics”) – and gives those who never heard of him a look into his true claim to fame. The same guy who is out in front of FatBeats NYC this afternoon selling his cassettes and CDs hand-to-hand was one of the early sidekicks of the D.I.T.C. crew (“Yes You May” w/ A.G.  & Lord Finesse, “Kicking Flavor With My Man” w/ Lord Finesse), and his cameo verses were once in high demand. But the early 90′s spark that his verses tempted us with never broke into anything more than sporadic 12″ releases and guest spots on up-and-coming underground emcees tracks.

One thing that is very obvious on first listen is that Percee P’s early beat selections were consistently dope. Those who were buying 12″s in the early 1990′s can attest to the longevity of tracks like “Now They Wanna See Me” and “Puttin Heads To Bed” that still sound fresh like they were just pulled out the plastic wrapper. Unfortunately, the newer joints are mostly taken from other artists releases, and aren’t nearly as compelling as the older selections. Although the pairing with emcees like Aesop Rock and Poison Pen sound good on paper, the results aren’t nearly what you would hope for - the collaborators sound mismatched and lack any sort of lyrical chemistry over the often bland beats.

If you don’t own any of Percee P’s recordings, this is a chance to hear one of hip-hop’s true wordsmiths at his peak. Although a good 10 years past the glory days, The Rhyme Inspector still gets props for his old material which was hard to find even when it was brand new, and never before released on CD. Be sure to have him autograph your copy next time you are walking up 6th Ave in New York.

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.

On the majority of the 17 joints that make up the vocal disc of Updated Software…, Insight sticks to the more straight-ahead boom-bap sound that other Boston artists like 7L & Esoteric, Akrobatik, and Mr. Lif are known for. Loud drums and sparse instrumentation provide the foundation for Insight’s vocals – often rhyming but sometimes just seemingly off-the-head thoughts (“Words Of Encouragement”). His delivery ranges from 4/4 standard flows to almost Ced Gee like non-rhyming rambling. Aside from the vocal stylings, Insight’s lyrics provide a well-rounded compliment to his tracks, as he showcases several styles of writing and subject matter throughout the 50-minute vocal disc. He covers a variety of themes, whether it’s giving props to contemporary producers and hip-hop as a whole (“Music Lover”), laying out a tale of robbery and murder of a music studio owner (“Back Up”), or dedicating a conscious-minded ode to overcoming hardships and conquering your demons (“Words of Encouragement”).

Throughout Updated Software…, ‘Sight digs into the engineer’s grab bag and hits you with all sorts of acoustic tricks and effects, whether he’s tweaking EQ settings, making his vocals sound like an SP1200, or telling you when he’s about to fade out and fade back in the beat. Insight’s creative sequencing and arrangements – often flying in new samples for only a few bars in the song – make otherwise average productions come to life and stick in your head.

The second disc of Updated Software… is 26 Insight-produced instrumentals deep, with a few beats from the vocal disc included. Also thrown in are the beats from Mr. Lif’s “Fulcrum” and “Triangular Warfare”. ‘Sight adds some pretty corny commentary over the tracks, but minus the narration the beats bang. It’s a testament to his diverse style of production that he offers everything from breakbeat driven loops to synth and oscillator programmed bass heavy beats.

Overall, Updated Software v. 2.5 is a pretty solid debut from an over-achieving hip-hop head. The addition of some guest emcees could have spiced up the sometimes mediocre rhyme content, but Insight gets points for keeping the beats fresh and maintaining a strong mic presence. The creative packaging of the 2-disc set is a plus too – with the video content giving you a full glimpse into the creative mind of Insight. Hopefully other hip-hop labels will pick up on this addition of multimedia content, an added value that could definitely persuade someone to come out the wallet instead of just downloading the mp3s.

“Open” was never really one of the best cuts on Da Beatminerz LP to begin with – Caron Wheeler just doesn’t have the vocal ability to make the same kind of impression as, say, Vinia Mojica or even Jonell. And Pete Rock’s cameo comes and goes without most even turning their head to notice. The remix tries to shore up the weak buttresses in the song with a revisit to “Eric B. Is President” but the problem was never the track – you need to juice up Wheeler’s paper-thin voice before you worry about the beat. Likewise, “Anti-Love Movement” could have been a winner if Total didn’t totally f*ck up the hook, taken from Betty Davis’ original “Anti-Love Song”. They’re just so out of their league, it’s a shame, especially since Talib Kweli does his part just fine. As for “Live & Direct”, I was bored of its thuggish rubbish the first time I heard it and I’m not inclined to change my mind the second time around. – O-Dub