Lyricism and on-stage delivery have always been the biggest part of Hip Hop’s music. Only instead of complaining about how it’s missing from the game lately, it may be better to talk about the artist who has always been known for just that. Pharoahe Monch’s rhyme technique routine. Expressing the very ideas and concepts on the mind of any creative person he does in a way that makes you get lost in his lyrical prowess yet remaining extremely acute. Finely tuned lines intercepted only by Monch’s empathy toward performing, create a complex and heightened web of story-telling. His artistic outbursts are not occasionally found on his tracks, they are constantly in his music.
When you meet Pharoahe he may seem more on a quite side, consistently focused and exchanging smiles with random people at will. He is that true artist, concerned more with ‘feel good’ moments than the ‘right moments’. There is a mixture of Hip Hop with the laid back East Village setting radiating from this man. Combine it with his ability to express himself uniquely in his music and over a dozen of years of experience and you got yourself another addition to the creative Hip Hop characters.
With Mos Def spending more time in Hollywood than Bedstuy nowadays, Kanye getting challenged by 50 to see who’ll sell more albums and Common making radio hits, the artsy underground Hip Hop scene has been lacking to say the least. Talib can only pull so much weight and Lupe Fiasco is on a strict 3 album schedule. Talking about that bunch, they are notorious for helping and supporting each other. Pharoahe and Common talk each other up all the time. Kanye’s produced Common’s last album and took him out of the commercial slump, Mos Def reminisced on his Black Star days and is finishing up a US tour with Talib, so on, so forth.
Back to Pharoahe Monch and that whole ‘over a dozen of years of experience’ thing. For all of you Hip Hop academics it is easy to recall Organized Konfusion. Everyone else, here is the frame of reference: Monch made records back in the late 80’s as a part of this group. Some artist disagreements and label troubles (who didn’t have those?) caused for Monch to remain in the shadows until ’99, when he finally dropped his first solo album, Internal Affairs, with a hit Simon Says. Label troubles continued and finally we get the brand new Pharoahe Monch with the same abilities, far more advanced skills and a ’06 mixtape and his second album that came out this summer, titled Desire. Say that again!
Soft sounds get mingled like ala socialite with sharp lyrical expressions and the dressed up retro feel adds a minty flavor to the entire album.
Pharoahe says: “Thank fans. Just for waiting.”
Thank Pharoahe for the wait is over.
Dmitriy Goldin
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