A Reader's Gut Reaction: Pharoahe Monch - W.A.R. (We Are Renegades) (March 22, 2011)

(Today's Reader Review comes from Harris Shap, who skips ahead in Pharoahe Monch's solo catalog in favor of discussing his third album, W.A.R. (We Are Renegades). Leave your thoughts for him below.)

Pharoahe Monch is an emcee people should really know more about. His work as one-half of the duo Organized Konfusion is fantastic, and after they broke up, he went on to deliver two solo albums (Internal Affairs and Desire) that, in my mind, are bonafide classics. His flow is unmistakable, and the shit he does with his lyrics verges on mind-blowing. And yet, he’s both underrated and overlooked, shat upon by the music industry, and has forced his fans to suffer through long wait times between albums. So when I looked up his name in the sidebar and only found a write-up for his first album, Internal Affairs, I knew it was a situation that had to be rectified.

Monch only had a short four years to record and release his third effort (and his first for Duck Down Records), W.A.R. (We Are Renegades), as opposed to the better part of a decade it took him to unleash Desire. Let’s see how Monch performs under deadlines that other artists would go so far as to call “a reasonable timeframe.”

1. THE WARNING (FEAT. IDRIS ELBA)

Well, it looks like Monch has expanded upon his weird sci-fi interests on this album. I'm not sure how he managed to hire Idris Elba, a British actor you probably know as Stringer Bell from The Wire (you should also check him out on the excellent British TV series Luther. Seriously. The man's got chops). It’s weird that Monch managed to get an actual actor for his rap album intro and not a weed carrier who considers Scarface to be the peak of cinema. Whatever dirt he has on Elba, it must be considerable. I’m actually going to advocate listening to this intro, as Elba’s voice is badass, the sci-fi vibe is weird enough to be entertaining, and Monch's production builds really good momentum into the next track. Yes, that's right, this skit actually had good production.

2. CALCULATED AMALGAMATION

Now this is how you open an album. Triumphant horns lift you up, and an agonized, frantic wail smacks you right back down. The eerie, pulsing instrumental (from something called the Lion's Share Music Group...yeah, me neither) backs Monch’s lyrics, which would sound like boasts on any other backdrop but come across as cold statements of fact against this one. A masterful mission statement, one that only runs for two-and-a-half minutes. One verse, no hook. Similar structurally to the title track on Common’s Be, but completely different tonally.

3. EVOLVE

Another really good beat, this time from Exile. This track uses an ethereal choir to back another one of Monch’s one verse run-ons, and, like the previous track, it really works. Monch brings his A-game lyrically, deifying himself through some great imagery and absolutely tearing the song apart with his internal rhymes. There’s one line on here that’s positively masturbatory. You’ll know it when you hear it, as Exile drops the beat out specifically to tell you it’s happening. This is some good shit.

4. W.A.R. (FEAT. IMMORTAL TECHNIQUE & VERNON REID)

I can see where Monch was going with this: a big, powerful track, similar to what he did with the title track on Desire, which also came in at about the same point on that album. But where “Desire” was a powerful, soulful release after the tension of “Free” (just go listen to Desire, you two), “W.A.R.” feels blustery and unnecessary after the quiet power of the last track. Immortal Technique’s hook sounds cartoonish against a beat that really doesn’t hit as hard as he needs it to. The song also suffers for Monch’s vocals, which aren’t nearly angry enough for the track to work. Vernon Reid (of Living Colour fame) lays down some electric guitar over the track, which at least gives it a unique sound, but it isn't enough. This just feels lacking.

5. CLAP (ONE DAY) (FEAT. SHOWTYME & DJ BOOGIE BLIND)

The M-Phazes beat is really damn good, using chopped-up vocals and some skillful scratching by DJ Boogie Blind to build a soulful cacophony that really suits Monch’s inner-city subject matter. The hook by Showtyme is short and to the point, contributing some of the great soul sound he added to Monch’s previous project. Monch’s lyricism is aces, as usual. His breakdown over the handclaps at the end is pretty damn sweet.

6. BLACK HAND SIDE (FEAT. STYLES P & PHONTE)

Styles P (of The Lox) absolutely makes this track. His verse doesn’t transcend time and space or anything, but it provides some naked emotionality and a sense of vulnerability that is almost completely absent from the rest of the album, due to Monch’s constant posturing and arcane wordplay. Not that what Monch does is bad: it’s what you sign on for whenever you listen to his music. But the guest verse is like a breath of fresh air. Monch said in an interview that he wanted the song to feel like a cool drink of water after the earlier tracks, and it actually is. Phonte’s hook runs a little long, and Monch’s verse is completely forgettable after Styles P's, but the song still works, especially with the mournful strings on the beat.

7. LET MY PEOPLE GO

Monch starts to rebuild the energy that he lost with the last two downbeat tracks, using a carnival-esque instrumental and a riff on a classic gospel song as the hook. It works, although Monch comes across as more of a cranky old man than one of rap’s elder statesmen when he bitches for a few lines about how low kids wear their pants these days. Fun and upbeat, but entirely disposable.

8. SHINE (FEAT. MELA MACHINKO)

Diamond D’s stripped-down xylophone beat (never thought I’d use that particular combination of words) is strange, but it works really well with Monch’s flow, which flows much more quickly on this track than on most of the others on here. A nice change-up from the heavy soul sounds from the last four tracks, but I’m not sure it’d sound as good on its own: the beat is just too fucking weird. I’m not exactly sure why this was chosen to be the first single, since pretty much every other song on this album could be considered more accessible. I've warmed up to it, though, and Monch sounds really good on here.

9. HAILE SELASSIE KARATE (FEAT. MR. PORTER)

God, this fucking track. I’ve seen a lot of people commend this as a standout, but this sucks shit through a straw. Mr. Porter delivers an awful hook, the beat rattles around like an old broken-down car and sucks all the energy out of the track (I think there might be a reversed bass loop, which would explain it, but I can’t confirm), and Monch is on complete autopilot. Despite a silly-ass intro that claims that “you will only hear racial shit”, there’s not a lot of stuff about race (or anything) to be found on here. In Paul Edwards' book How to Rap, O.C. explained that Monch tends to write down lines and use them five years later. This sounds like a track entirely made up of those dated lines, just a bunch of scattershot phrases without anything driving them or solid punchlines to make them worth listening to. Luckily, this track is short, so you might not need to skip over it.

10. THE HITMAN

Here’s Monch’s obligatory “why the music industry sucks” track, which at first glance might seem repetitive, since complaining about the music industry is essentially all that Monch does at this point in his career. But here’s the thing: with an entire song devoted to the topic, he actually gets to talk about his favorite punching bag in depth, which makes this track much more entertaining than the endless lip-service on the topic that he fills the rest of his songs with. Here’s the other thing: the M-Phazes beat fucking knocks, sounding like something straight out of a Tarantino flick. Twangy bass always gets me.

11. ASSASSINS (FEAT. JEAN GRAE & ROYCE DA 5'9”)

This is unquestionably the best track on the album. Jean Grae completely rips the shit out of her verse, riding the M-Phazes beat like a rocket-powered racehorse. Monch raps faster than usual when he jumps on the mic, but after the breathtaking intensity of Grae’s verse, he can’t help but seem a little weak (although ending on “Fuck you, pay me!” helps remedy the situation). Then, after a short mid-song skit that builds the tension to dizzying levels, Royce da 5’9’’ steps in to close out the song with a verse that absolutely oozes confidence and power, dropping wordplay that rivals some of Monch’s best lines from his entire catalog. The instrumental knocks, and the weird sci-fi concept lets the three emcees take their braggadocio completely over the top. This should have been the lead single.

12. THE GRAND ILLUSION (CIRCA 1973) (FEAT. CITIZEN COPE)

You know, Monch’s lyrics on here are pretty damn good, and the whole classic rock vibe isn’t one he’s really tapped into, so this could have been an interesting departure from the rest of the album. That is, if it weren’t boring as fuck. It contains what must be the longest fucking hook I’ve ever heard (or at least the most tedious) . Let me put this in perspective: the hook is fifty seconds long. That’s almost a minute! One of Monch’s actual verses runs a few seconds shorter! How does this even happen? Why they put this slow, rambling mess after the high-octane “Assassins” is way beyond me.

13. STILL STANDING (FEAT. JILL SCOTT)

This was a great way to end the album. Soaring strings, a powerful hook by Scott that doesn’t drag the song down, and a slightly more down-to-earth Monch that delivers some fantastic bars about his asthma. Scott ultimately gets the final word with her sung verse, which surprises me: I expected Monch to drop in another crazy sci-fi skit. But it’s a fitting finale.

THE LAST WORD: The biggest detriment to W.A.R. (We Are Renegades) is its homogeneity. Unfortunately, the whole “We Are Renegades” concept makes the entire album about confrontation, which restricts the emotional tone that Monch feels like he can work with. Unlike Desire, where there are triumphant songs, sad songs, evil songs, and just-plain-crazy songs, W.A.R. (We Are Renegades) is mostly made up of angry songs, and I don't even mean engaging, N.W.A. levels of angry: I mean he sounds like an irritated old man. On the other hand, the songs are pretty damn good on an individual level, and when you cut out some of the chaff, the album is a pretty tight piece of art. And let’s not forget that even at his most inane (“Simon Says,” if that was even a question) Monch is an incredible lyricist, dropping tongue-twisting, intelligent shit all over beats that range from really good to, well, “Haile Selassie Karate.” Whatever complaints I have are negated by the fact that this album is just quality music, plain and simple. This may not be as enthusiastic a write-up as it would have been for Monch’s previous work (or his Organized Konfusion shit), but I still recommend a buy nonetheless. Support Monch, and maybe he’ll be able to cut down the time between his albums even more drastically.

-Harris Shap

(Questions? Comments? Concerns? Leave your thoughts below.)

Pharoahe Monch - Internal Affairs (October 19, 1999)

In 1999, independent label extraordinaire Rawkus Records decided to market their two biggest releases of the year by promoting both of them at the same time. It helps that they hit store shelves within weeks of each other: Mos Def's Black On Both Sides, which saw the Billboard charts first, went on to move over half a million units and make a solo star out of rapper-slash-actor Dante Smith. In contrast, Pharoahe Monch's solo debut, Internal Affairs, was deleted from production less than a year after its release due to the illegal use of a Godzilla sample, one which was apparently so egregious that, even though everybody and their mother knows what the damn song sounds like, it caused the label to wash its hands of the project entirely.

Kind of a sad trajectory, when you think about it.

Born Troy Jamerson, rapper Pharoahe Monch started off as one-half of critically acclaimed Organized Konfusion alongside Prince Po. After three albums that failed to move enough units to justify any major record label giving them the time of day, the duo broke up, and even though they did not rule out the possibility of working together again, the group name was effectively retired. Pharoahe Monch hustled a solo deal out of Rawkus Records, made a few appearances on the label compilation Soundbombing II, and eventually released his debut, Internal Affairs, off of the strength of "Simon Says", a catchy not-at-all-like-what-you-would-expect-from-Pharoahe Monch club-ready track that utilized the aforementioned Godzilla sample, one which nobody at the label (apparently) bothered to clear, so even though a single was released and the song itself appeared in numerous films and television projects, including the first Charlie's Angels movie (also known as "the good one"), once the song hit the Japanese market, Monch's debut was pulled from store shelves and fucking erased, thereby rendering the two hundred thousand copies sold as the only discs ever created, limiting Monch's sales considerably.

So, yeah, whoever still owns the single for "Simon Says" has a real collector's item on their hands. Which pisses me off, since that was one of the first CD singles I sold when I was struggling for a bit earlier in this decade. Groan...

1. INTRO
It's certainly titled like your average rap album intro, but since Pharoahe Monch actually rhymes on here, it gets a pass.

2. BEHIND CLOSED DOORS
Even though Monch's beat is alright, I never paid any attention to this track when it was featured as the b-side to “Simon Says”. Hearing it today, it seems that my initial impression was spot-on, as this song is simply boring.

3. QUEENS
I actually really liked this song. Depressing as hell, though.

4. RAPE
Very interesting, and incredibly blunt in the opinion as to how today's artists are fucking up our chosen genre. Even more pertinent today than it was back in 1999, even if Monch takes the metaphor a bit too far.

5. SIMON SAYS
This remains the only hit song that Pharoahe Monch will ever have in his solo career, and it still sounds good today, even if it's obvious that this track was recorded solely to attract attention to the project and not because this is the kind of song Monch likes to create. A lot of critics have decried Monch's flow on this track, and I have to agree: the rapper that appears on here is not the same guy who appears elsewhere on Internal Affairs. I always found it strange that Busta Rhymes directed the video, which, if I remember it correctly, sucked. Rawkus Records was sued for the Godzilla theme music sampled throughout “Simon Says” and, as a result, both the single and Internal Affairs were pulled from store shelves, but the song is easy enough to find.

6. OFFICIAL
Pharoahe gets his Gza/Genius on, utilizing the names of athletes, teams, and sporting good manufacturers into his verses, to fairly good effect, although his final verse ends abruptly, even as the music continues to play.

7. HELL (FEAT CANIBUS)
The contribution from Canibus notwithstanding, this song was literally hell to listen to. I think I now see demons from the corners of my eyes.

8. NO MERCY (FEAT M.O.P.)
After a pretty dope-sounding interlude, Pharoahe Monch and the Mash Out Posse share mic duties over an amped Alchemist Instrumental. The pairing of M.O.P. and one-half of Organized Konfusion isn't the most obvious, but aside from a bit of awkwardness from Monch, the collaboration rocks.

9. RIGHT HERE
I remember when I used to order vinyl and CDs from HipHopSite.com (before they became a digital download-only affair in order to cut costs), they would throw in promotional stickers from Rawkus Records (and others, naturally) advertising “Right Here” as the second single from Internal Affairs. It was a poor choice by the label: this song is annoying as shit. (To be fair, they were referring to the "Right Here" remix featuring Xzibit, but that doesn't make the song any less mundane.)

10. THE NEXT SHIT (FEAT BUSTA RHYMES)
Now this is more like it. They actually played this on the radio around my way exactly one time. In regard to radio-friendliness, Busta and the Pharoahe's joint effort works just as well as “Simon Says”, but on a level that hip hop heads can still appreciate. I've always liked this track.

11. THE ASS (FEAT APANI B. FLY)
It's really bizarre to hear Pharoahe Monch and Apani pair up to rhyme, battle-of-the-sexes style, about, um, sex. The song itself isn't that good, but it has an energy that's lacking from some of the Internal Affairs tracklisting. My question is, what the fuck is Apani doing staring at the generation of little boys in Pre-K? That shit's more disturbing that any horrorcore LP.

12. THE LIGHT
I just didn't care for this song.

13. GOD SEND (ORGANIZED KONFUSION)
This track is labeled as an Organized Konfusion song and not simply as featuring Prince Po, which is interesting. The beat is effective, if not a little bit creepy, and the interaction between the two rappers is still comforting.

14. THE TRUTH (FEAT COMMON & TALIB KWELI)
The Pharoahe is outshined by both Common and (former) labelmate Kweli, but as a total package, this song is really good. This track is probably exactly what hip hop heads were expecting after hearing that these three would be appearing together, so I suppose the best compliment that I can give it is that it's exactly what you two wanted to hear.

15. SIMON SAYS (REMIX) (FEAT LADY LUCK, REDMAN, METHOD MAN, SHABAAM SAHDEEQ, & BUSTA RHYMES)
When I first heard of the existence of this song, I figured that it was a necessary evil, something commissioned by Rawkus to capitalize on the surprise success of the original “Simon Says” and sell more units of Internal Affairs. For the most part, it sounds exactly like that description, but Reggie Noble sounds like he's doing a lot more than simply cashing a check on here. Pharoahe Monch also submits a new verse. This is the only other song that I've ever heard Lady Luck appear on (the first was EPMD's “Symphony 2000”), and her verse pretty much explains why she was dropped from Def Jam with the quickness. Rawkus also managed to sneak their artist Shabaam Sahdeeq onto the track, for no reason other than getting free promotion. Overall, not the worst remix in the world, but nowhere near very good.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Internal Affairs falters in places, but it works more often than not. Pharoahe Monch was never anybody's obvious choice for solo stardom, but for the most part he proves that he can handle the spotlight well enough, over beats that are almost consistently entertaining. And “Simon Says” is still a guilty pleasure, although it's certainly not any dumber than the majority of club bangers today. All in all, a triumph, and a much better album than its promotional companion, Mos Def's Black On Both Sides.

BUY OR BURN? If you can find a copy of this disc, you should buy it. However, you probably won't find one anywhere anyway, unless you stumble across the coolest garage sale in the world, so burning it may be the next best thing. I included a link anyway, in case you want to buy it directly off of somebody at an exhorbant rate.

BEST TRACKS: “The Next Shit”; “The Truth”; “No Mercy”; “Rape”; “God Send”; “Simon Says”; “Queens”

-Max