With PAWZ ONE
PERCEE P came up in the Patterson Houses Projects of the Bronx, NY. He started hearing the precursors of hip-hop out of his windows before he was in kindergarten, around 1973. By ten, Percee had a mic in his hand. He debuted in 1988 with homeboy D-Nique on “Let The Homicides Begin” (Gotham City Records, 12” single). A few years later, his freestyles on the hugely influential Stretch & Bobbito radio show on WKCR parlayed into what should have been Percee's big major label breakthrough, 1992's “Lung Collapsing Lyrics” (Atlantic/Big Beat, 12” single), the now legendary Fast Rap masterpiece. Though the record established reputation as one of the best rappers in the field, his break never came.
For most of the rest of the 1990s Percee P laid low, working in retail and as a messenger, dropping only the occasional indie single and a few guest verses. Percee wasn't gung-ho about the rap game again until the late '90s, when he truly went for self and began his own guerilla distribution campaign, selling his CDs face-to-face to patrons outside of New York's Fat Beats Records, establishing himself as something of a local landmark.
Percee's pavement pounding around Fat Beats did more than keep him fed - it introduced him to a new generation of hip-hop collaborators, cats like Aesop Rock, Jedi Mind Tricks, C-Rayz Walz, Wildchild, Edan and Jurassic 5 among others. All of these emerging underground artists sought contributions from Percee P - not only because they considered him a bona fide legend and Fast Rap pioneer, but also because they regarded him as a peer, hustling his trade with the same hunger as them.
Percee met his future label execs out on the street as he sold them CDs. Stones Throw's Peanut Butter Wolf and Egon met with Percee during a series of NYC visits, and, impressed by his constantly evolving lyricism, brought him to Los Angeles, leading to appearances on albums by Wildchild and Jaylib in 2003. They signed him to an album deal shortly thereafter.
“No other MC has waited as long to record a debut, but what Percee's done in the meantime has made him a legend” – RESONANCE
"Percee P is one of the most important rappers to never get his due. His style has been cited as a major influence on the likes of Pharoahe Monch (that's him on the 'Lung Collapsing Lyrics' intro) and basically all of DITC (via Lord Finesse, who he battled in '89). He's cut records with everyone from Kane & Kool Keith to Aesop Rock & Jurassic 5 and outshined just about all of them. That's his voice on DJ Shadow's 'Napalm Brain, Scatter Brain'. I could go on... In short, aside from Big Daddy Kane, he's the illest quote unquote fast rapper to ever touch the mic. But because he's only recorded about 18 verses in as many years, not a lot of heads know what's up."– www.cocaineblunts.com