just settling in...and musing on monch...
so i find myself drinking hot chocolate in the office because central air is on WAY too high, trying to stay awake and entertained via the giant step jukebox and thought to myself...i need to write something, anything...
and then i started thinking about Pharoahe Monch, mainly because i've been listening to an advance of his album Desire, which drops on June 26th. i think it's been about eight years or so since head nodders caught whiplash from his "Simon Says" single and the Internal Affairs album. its been at least 15 years since the first Organized Konfusion record. heads will probably hate on him for singing in spots, but there are a few joints i'm diggin'. his revamp of Public Enemy's "Welcome To The Terrordome" is kinda nice. "What It Is" is another joint that comes to mind. he almost gets Idlewild on "Body Baby," a cut that's bound to throw people who go back with him for more than a minute. production is on-point throughout, with SA-RA, Black Milk, (the late, great) J Dilla, and others offering their services. Pharoahe drops a line that i still can't get over on the title track: "Monch is a monarch, only minus the A&R." i'm sorry, but that's hot. very effective. and it's moments like those that i wait for in anticipation that keep me listening.
nothing lasts forever, and the "Releasing Hypnotical Gases" Monch could only stay out in orbit but for so long. but i think a joint like "Simon Says" proved that point already. (if that song didn't, then ghostwriting for Diddy certainly did.) as he stated at least twice in that song, "if you're holdin' up the wall, then you're missin' the point." i don't believe that coming closer to Earth's gravitiational pull has hurt his flow or his lyricism. the gifts are still there. to this day, i still find myself reciting the opening lines from his guest appearance on De La Soul's Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump:
"how many n*ggas who would actually kill still rhymin'?
how many n*ggas who are actually signed still killin'?
but when it comes to killin' a mic, you ain't willin'
and i'm supposed to be shook? that's the sh*t that kills me..."
if he never spit another line in life after that, i wouldn't be mad at him.
"i ridicule the pitiful, piss upon the miniscule
Pharoahe Monch, better park dat ass like municipal."
and then i started thinking about Pharoahe Monch, mainly because i've been listening to an advance of his album Desire, which drops on June 26th. i think it's been about eight years or so since head nodders caught whiplash from his "Simon Says" single and the Internal Affairs album. its been at least 15 years since the first Organized Konfusion record. heads will probably hate on him for singing in spots, but there are a few joints i'm diggin'. his revamp of Public Enemy's "Welcome To The Terrordome" is kinda nice. "What It Is" is another joint that comes to mind. he almost gets Idlewild on "Body Baby," a cut that's bound to throw people who go back with him for more than a minute. production is on-point throughout, with SA-RA, Black Milk, (the late, great) J Dilla, and others offering their services. Pharoahe drops a line that i still can't get over on the title track: "Monch is a monarch, only minus the A&R." i'm sorry, but that's hot. very effective. and it's moments like those that i wait for in anticipation that keep me listening.
nothing lasts forever, and the "Releasing Hypnotical Gases" Monch could only stay out in orbit but for so long. but i think a joint like "Simon Says" proved that point already. (if that song didn't, then ghostwriting for Diddy certainly did.) as he stated at least twice in that song, "if you're holdin' up the wall, then you're missin' the point." i don't believe that coming closer to Earth's gravitiational pull has hurt his flow or his lyricism. the gifts are still there. to this day, i still find myself reciting the opening lines from his guest appearance on De La Soul's Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump:
"how many n*ggas who would actually kill still rhymin'?
how many n*ggas who are actually signed still killin'?
but when it comes to killin' a mic, you ain't willin'
and i'm supposed to be shook? that's the sh*t that kills me..."
if he never spit another line in life after that, i wouldn't be mad at him.
"i ridicule the pitiful, piss upon the miniscule
Pharoahe Monch, better park dat ass like municipal."
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