For me, Pharoahe Monch embodies what mainstream Hip Hop is missing. His music has been controversial, inspirational, raw, soulful, gritty and sometimes gospel. His complex rhyming scheme and delivery is renowned, he stands alone in that his style has influenced a generation but rarely has anyone been able to emulate it.
Although he has been a recipient of much critical acclaim, what bothers me is that his total (yes total) solo record sales barely touch the 400,000 mark and his chart presence is forgettable. Therein lie both the reason and the problem, Pharoahe refuses to feed the commercial machine and valiantly leads his own revolution to save Hip Hop but the results damage his commercial status hence his prominence as an underground MC.
With a career spanning over 12 years (or 22 years if you count the days of Organised Konfusion), on 22 March 2011 he gifted us with his 3rd solo project… W.A.R. (We Are Renegades).
01. The Warning (Feat. Idris Elba)
A vocal recording by British actor Idris Elba sets the tone, this has been called a concept album but I think we’re quite literally listening to a 13 track message, I’ll leave you to think about that… Idris Elba clearly states in closing “what you are hearing is a warning”
02. Calculated Amalgamation
Enter the orchestra, the synths and the hard-hitting drums grabbing your attention with a relentless sound we don’t hear much of anymore. This opener is epic by any measurement and it literally demands you turn the volume up on your speakers.
With just a single verse on the track, Pharoahe skilfully announces his rebellion against the mediocrity in Hip Hop “raise the bar so high the bar’s afraid to look down”. What he’s saying here is quite simple, he is the renegade we need to fight the good fight and he’s not about to let up anytime soon.
03. Evolve
This is my favourite track on the album, as the bells toll and the beat hits, this choir-led anthem with a slight hint of jazz is both haunting and inspiring. Exile has done a great job with the production here, simple but brilliant.
To say Pharoahe turns it up a notch is an understatement because this track is flooded with quotables. With his rebellion in full force, Pharoahe is calling out Hip Hop and its community.
He challenges the credibility of his peers when he questions “how many gorillas who actually killers really rhymin’ / artists that actually signed still killin’ / and when it comes to killin’ the mic they’re not willin’ / and I’m supposed to be shook that’s the shit that kills me”.
Criticises the content “grade school mathematics examining thugs / they discuss bloods, crips, tech, jamming and drugs / I speak world peace, war, famine and flood / watching Pan’s Labyrinth while unravelling bud”.
Then warns us to get used to the harsh truths to come “please seize the moment in the struggle against Lucifer / renegade 13 the executioner / spit with a crucifix / so that you can expect a rant from Pharoahe Monch like a mucinex / get used to it / get used to wisdom / get used to usage of a backward euphemism”
Bravo Pharoahe, bravo!
04. W.A.R. (Feat. Immortal Technique & Vernon Reid)
The beat begins with a simple piano riff, a sample and heavy drums that eventually evolve into what I can only describe as a dubious attempt to create a hard-hitting rock influenced anthem.
As the title track opens I can’t help but cringe at the sound of Immortal Technique’s trademark dogmatic growling as he unleashes the chorus but where the beat and feature could be questioned here, Pharoahe maintains his overbearing sharpness. This time he’s taking a look at the bigger picture as he gives us his outlook on the state of the “system” used to control the society he lives in.
He even takes a swipe at the media industry “I got a middle finger for mass media, mute the news / cause when the gun draws you see familiar views / which gives me the right to break the rules / say fuck radio if the people can’t pick or choose”
Vernon Reid’s contributions with some decent guitar riffs culminate in an appropriate and deserving close off to the track.
05. Clap (One Day) (Feat. Showtyme & DJ Boogie Blind)
This is officially the 2nd single off of the album accompanied by the first music video release. I haven’t heard the mix of sampling and scratching used this well in a very, very long time. Kudos to the producer M-Phazes for putting together a timeless Hip Hop sound in such a classic fashion.
With a theme covering corruption and police brutality, the tracks inspiration came from the cases of Sean Bell, Oscar Grant and Aiyana Jones who were all murdered by police officers.
There’s no need to break down the track I think the video is self explanatory, check it out here
06. Black Hand Side (Feat. Styles P & Phonte)
This is the 3rd official single. Things start to mellow out a bit, following 5 heavy tracks we’re suddenly greeted with a brilliant string arrangement followed by the perfectly complimenting sound of Phonte’s voice as he sings the chorus. There’s a certain softness to the production of this beat, the strings continue to rise and fall as the high hats set the pace and the drums almost melt into the background.
Styles P makes a welcomed feature on this track where we get our first guest verse and it doesn’t disappoint, both Styles and Pharoahe pick up where they left off in “My Life” off of Styles P 2002 release Ayatollah. The track is focusing on the trials and tribulations faced by African-Americans in the society they live in today.
Styles tells a story “Fly chick in the Cadillac a black man rides / but every different day a different black man dies / shawty momma tripping off of crack mad high / now he watching TV loving the bad guy”
Pharoahe paints a picture “These youngins kill they own blood for a necklace / leave slumped over the wheel of your lexus / smoke kush wake up and eat breakfast / what the fuck you expect? / a generation overly obsessed with mobsters / our revolutionaries won grammys and oscars / imposters, fake orators, weak shockers / making a mockery of the music to be pop stars”
07. Let My People Go
Continuing with a “lighter” feel, this track has a certain bounce to it. An organ style piano repetitively plays the core melody accompanied by a classic Hip Hop drum arrangement. Whilst Pharoahe sings the chorus himself the backing vocalists add the final ingredient to give this track a fairly obvious gospel influence.
It’s slightly odd because there isn’t a sole focus here, Pharoahe is slating the lack of substance in todays Hip Hop by cleverly putting no clear coherence or substance together on this track, either that or I’ve possibly missed the point because there isn’t one. I can’t imagine this will be a track revisited for its lyrics but probably for the vibe.
08. Shine (Feat. Mela Machinko)
This was the first officially released single. When this track begins with its simple piano and bells melody followed by some organic drums you’d think you’re in for a nice listen but it soon becomes apparent that the beat is repetitive, almost lazy and opinions may differ with this one but I think it just distracts from the vocals. That said Mela Machinko injects this track with so much soul you could almost excuse the beat, I’ve been a fan of Mela for some time and I’d recommend you give her work a listen.
This track talks about overcoming adversity in the slums as Pharoahe proclaims we got to shine! Where he paints a picture of the insanity experienced in the slums in the first verse, he then switches to his survival in the second “Cause where I come from / where I come from we all come from / sky, moon, stars, the earth and sun / multiple skin tones the blood is one / the pen! / is the ammo to my automatic gun bring to fruition what I write to get me out of the slums and I’ma shine, shine, shine, shine”
09. Haile Selassie Karate (Feat. Mr. Porter)
Wow, this track has a lot of soul and it’s sound screams old school, in terms of beats its easily the most challenging on the album and for those of you who know the art of rhyming it’s a demonstration of Pharoahe’s ability to spit on anything. If you’d like to challenge that I urge you to download the instrumental and try to put together a flow even close to Pharoahe’s.
This is a statement of Pharoahe’s efforts to rebel against the machine as he says “The reason why my stars are in alignment / the renegade, an Allahu Akbar, rock star / tossing homemade grenade CDs at NYPD cop cars / just to get the revolution to pop off”
At 2.23 the only regret is it doesn’t last longer, by the time Pharoahe starts his verse he’s already closing it off.
10. The Hitman
With a title like “the hitman” you get what you expect here, Pharoahe spits absolute dimes on this track. The beat is classic Hip Hop, classic drums with a riveting guitar melody that bounces along to harp strings.
This track takes unforgiving shots at the entertainment industry with witty bars like “these are 11 inch shoes you can’t fill those / I make headlines like corduroy pillows”, “lets release sex tapes so we can become stars / nude photographs of titties and asses / so we can impress the masses” and “its digital cocaine / the goal is to control every individual brain”
However the standout statement here is “if you are not performing felatio for radio rotation / what’s the ratio for radio play at your station? / if you’re not paying to play your record is dead / puts a whole new spin on Radiohead” wow…
11. Assassins (Feat. Jean Grae & Royce Da 5’9)
This beat is hard, simple as that but it suits the vibe on this track, it’s verbal havoc! In its own respect this is possibly the hardest ‘head bopping’ beat on the album inviting both Pharoahe and his guest features to rip it apart and that’s exactly what they do!
All three MCs are just scary but you’d expect nothing less from the likes of Pharoahe and Royce however believe it or not the star on this track is female MC Jean Grae (why?) because she goes toe to toe with two of raps biggest beasts and doesn’t slip up for a second. I could drop quotables off of this for days, so just have a listen.
12. The Grand Illusion (Circa 1973) (Feat. Citizen Cope)
Evolve is my favourite track but this is not far behind. This is everything the title track W.A.R. failed to be, this is a classic Rock anthem with a blatant Hip Hop soul, I cannot give the drummer enough props on this one and the strings just glide through the track with such prominence its ridiculous. Fyre Dept has done a great job on the production, you can literally imagine this track being played live.
Pharoahe gives us some food for thought here, breaking the myths and illusions we experience everyday and gives us a reality check promising to bring us the solution, it’s brilliant stuff.
I was literally blown away when he proclaims “17 thousand times a day the human eye blinks / making us even more subject-able to the hijinks / iphone ichat who gives a fuck what I think? / one world currency doesn’t matter what I bank / there is no pot of gold at the end of the mythical rainbow / we’re educated contestants life is the game show / your leader is the host the results are painful / the judges weave a web in which we all get tangled / their only contribution to the world is a delusion which has no physical power I offer you a solution”
13. Still Standing (Feat. Jill Scott)
A melody of violins and the piano come together to lead us into an uplifting beat with real heart. M-Phazes is on point with his production again on this one, there’s a certain sense of victory and celebration that I can’t quite explain with this beat.
I’ve heard and read a few less than favourable opinions about this closing track, personally I think it’s absolutely perfect. Pharoahe gives us an insight into the health condition that has troubled him his entire life (chronic asthma) and celebrates the fact that he’s still here, still standing! What a positive way to close off the album, oh… and Jill Scott provides the track with her exceptional talent that only lifts it higher.
Pharoahe’s flow on this track is frickin’ insane and he leaves us with a sense of how he’s feeling “I have no dead bodies to claim / never been a trigger man / crack never peddled that / opposite of jigga man / doubled my expectancy / can you believe it? / and look no bullet wounds / not paraplegic / still standing like the Pledge of Allegiance”
What Pharoahe Monch has done with his 3rd solo album is give us harsh commentary on his frustrations and observations on politics and society, together with his own struggles. The album seeks to educate, question and inspire its listeners with a rebellious tone that is apparent throughout. My only critic is that a couple of the production efforts on the album are subpar to Pharoahe Monch’s vocal/lyrical delivery and these tracks could have been re-worked given the time it took to put out the album. That said, this is easily the best Hip Hop album of 2011 and some of Pharoahe Monch’s best work to date. Pharoahe has frustratingly tried to break the market over the years with appearances on singles like “Oh No” and his own “Simon Says” yet they have only been successes as singles and have not led to a greater breakthrough as hoped. With the release of W.A.R. it seems Pharoahe has reached a level of frustration and cynicism to the point where he simply doesn’t care anymore! Rather than play to the major labels and ‘dumb it down’ (shout out to Lupe!) he has done nothing to improve his marketability on his independent venture instead choosing to run raved like Mike Tyson in his prime, knocking his opponents out cold with no remorse whatsoever. I think he knows, as I do, that there is little or no place for his brand of Hip Hop on the mainstream charts and that is a damn shame.
So let me take this opportunity to vent a particular frustration I have with the Hip Hop genre. Artists like Pharoahe Monch are forced onto independent labels to simply uphold their own integrity as artists. Independent releases aren’t marketed or budgeted in the same fashion afforded to those on major labels. This isn’t the 90’s folks, there’s a struggle to find a balance, how do you break the airwaves but hold the right to say and do what you want without your label placing a muzzle on you?
To find part of the answer we can ask ourselves a question… what can we do? Well, we can start by investing our money in artists like Pharoahe by buying the album and revealing the actual demand for music of this calibre to the labels selling it to us. Secondly, use the greatest marketing tool in the world… word of mouth! Next time you hear someone bumping… I don’t know, Gucci Mane and calling it Hip Hop pull them aside and introduce them to the legend that is Pharoahe Monch.
VERDICT
Hip Hop with soul. Music with a conscious. What you are hearing is the uncensored voice of the underground. Classic.
Score: 10
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