One of hip hop’s most gifted rappers, half of the iconic Organized Konfusion and the man behind the immortal Internal Affairs, New York rapper Pharoahe Monch triumphantly returns. After wrangling with record companies and an expensive lawsuit over the use of a Godzilla sample, the eight-year wait is finally over. Packing an arsenal of high-powered lyrical skill that’s bolstered by some stylish new tactics he’s picked up along the way, Monch is on fire and simply burning with desire. It is no coincidence then that this is the title of his latest album.
With such a prolonged interval between releases, Monch had plenty to say on Desire. “I wanted to create an inspirational feeling because I was going though a lot of turmoil with labels and different politics, and personally, there are different things you go through: love lost, love gained, death and everything in between,” Monch reveals. “I wanted to build on the things that helped me get through those times, which was the desire to persevere.” Achieving all he set out to, Monch declares, “And Desire is definitely my baby and I’m so proud of it. I love the record immensely.”
With a musical career spanning well over fifteen years, Monch has now reached a comfortable level of clarity. “I’m a lot more assertive in terms of what I want to convey before I even put the pen to the paper. I challenge myself. I go back and forth on myself to see exactly what it is that I want to convey and how that’s best determined. I’m pretty assertive now and have a lot more creative clarity. I’ve never been so free with my creativity before,” Monch continues. “I’m excited about this new album because everything feels so fresh, almost as if I am a new artist. I’m taking [my art] to whole new places: hip hop, rock and gospel. It’s all there and it’s all sides of me.”
With a distinctly different sound from his debut solo, Monch never felt obliged to make another Internal Affairs and hopes to surprise long-time fans with his latest offering. “If I had been chronicling albums along the way, I don’t think the sound of Desire would’ve been so impacting. I think that was a gift and a curse but the reason that it had such a big impact is because people didn’t know what to expect.” Monch is the first to admit that Desire is a far jump from Internal Affairs. “For a lot of people it might be a huge surprise. But some people, if you really pay attention, you can gauge where I wanted to go with the vocals and everything like that.”
“The problem with me having something of a hiatus,” states Monch, “is that people haven’t really been hearing my growth as an artist. So it might sound like I’m going in a completely new direction, but that’s something I’ve been working towards for sometime. From Organized Konfusion to The Life with Styles P to now, it’s all been a natural progression.”
“The approach I took to making some of the songs is still underground,” Monch maintains of the creative process behind Desire. “But in terms of the arrangements and the song-writing, I wouldn’t say it’s commercial, but it’s a bigger approach than I’ve taken in the past.” This ‘bigger approach’ can he heard most clearly on the self-produced Push. With soul outfit Tower Of Power featured on horns, Monch rhymes and sings his way through the gospel-tinged track in a move that may indeed surprise long-standing fans. But it was all part of his master plan to take his music to the next level. “I wanted to implement [singing] because I felt those vocals would help push even the hardcore and eerie songs like When The Gun Draws. So on seventy per cent of the record there is some type of vocal leverage. Operatic or gospel or soul – it’s just something on there to help push the emotion along.”
“I just think it shows a sheer disrespect towards hip hop culture not to use the art form to its full capability,” responds Monch when asked about his decision to craft an album that runs the gamut of human emotions. “If you suppress an idea because you think the ‘hood or the chicks aren’t gonna feel it that’s just sad because creatively there’s an unlimited number of ways to approach song writing. But hip hop is just so boxed-in right now.”
Displaying his own growth as an artist, Monch has certainly elevated his art, yet believes this is the true nature of art. “We’ve moved away from real art in today’s world and what an artist really is. An artist is truly passionate and never satisfied – always wanting to grow and challenge himself. So when you look at the longevity and the years past, you can’t really compare Organized to Internal to The Life to Oh No, and I try to do that purposefully to keep things fresh for me and fresh for the audience. If Desire goes on to win the Grammy, you can rest assured that the next album won’t sound like Desire, or won’t be contrived to sound like Desire at all. The next album might sound more like Internal Affairs, or the next album might sound like something you’ve never heard in your life and that’s what excites me about art.” Even if he receives the mainstream critical acclaim he deserves, you still get the impression that Monch will never rest on his laurels. “When you become totally satisfied and you think you’ve reached perfection,” he ponders, “then where do you go from there?” It’s that exact desire to keep pushing the limits of his craft that proves why Pharoahe Monch will be immortalized as one of the greatest emcees of all-time.
For Monch personally, his favourite rappers include Kool G Rap, Rakim, Big Daddy Kane and Chuck D “from the old skool” and Eminem, Black Milk, Jay Dee and Slum Village “from the new skool.” He has worked with a diverse array of artists from Mos Def, P. Diddy, Wyclef Jean and will.i.am to Justin Timberlake, Macy Gray, Linkin Park and even Beck. But career wise, his last few years were tumultuous due to ex-label Rawkus merging with major label Geffen. Monch’s career was stalled, and eventually caught in the midst of an fierce bidding war that included the prospect of a deal with Eminem’s Shady Records, Monch is now happily settled in at Steve Rifkind’s Street Records Corporation. He defends his belief that branding the Pharoahe Monch name is critical to his success. “In certain situations, it’s about the label. And if the first single doesn’t chart, it’s pretty much a wrap for your LP.” Luckily, Monch has found himself on the other side of the fence asserting, “I think this situation is going to work out [with SRC].”
On Desire’s lead single Free, Monch releases his frustration with the music industry and celebrates his newfound artistic freedom. “The feeling is a mind state as well as a physical thing. If you exercise your mind, or the collective masses exercise their minds to be free then the physical follows. I think that’s why there is so much propaganda and commercialisation: the mass media brainwashes you. It does allow people to think freely but it advertises to teach you to do what they want you to do. And that being said, on a street level, it’s just good to have creative freedom.”
Monch hits our shores come February. He describes his set as “the most incredible act and music today… MeLa Machinko and Showtyme who do most of the vocals on Desire perform with me as my background singers.” And if you overlook Monch he cheekily asserts, “you’re going to miss Pharoahe Monch slash Zack de la Rocha [the front man from Rage Against The Machine performing the most incredible and energetic rap set ever!”
I concluded our interview with the million dollar question – is there any chance of an Organized Konfusion reunion? In a rehearsed manner Monch responded, “who knows what the future holds?” which is his exact same answer every time.
Pharoahe Monch plays the Good Vibrations festival around the country, as well as selected shows with Cypress Hill around the country…
Sat 9 Feb – Good Vibrations, Melbourne
Sun 10 Feb – Good Vibrations, Gold Coast
Wed 13 Feb – Enmore Theatre, Sydney with Cypress Hill
Thur 14th Feb – HQ Complex, Adelaide with Cypress Hill
Sat 16 Feb – Good Vibrations, Sydney
Sun 17 Feb – Good Vibrations, Perth
And people were stunned by the moving video for single When The Gun Draws, a graphic account of violence told from the bullet’s point of view. Check it out for yourself…
Xpose says...
Dope article.
Gregama says...
Fuck Yes. Shit is going to be hot at Good Vibrations.