Pharoahe Monch-Desire Full Album Zip
Rancul Ratha
Pharoahe Monch has a stunning hip-hop pedigree. The Queens-born MC went to high school with Mobb Deep's Havoc and Prodigy, founded the seminal Organized Konfusion with Prince Po, and ghostwrote for Diddy on Press Play. But the brain-bending lyricist remains best known for a quartet of laddering synth bleats (the uncleared Godzilla sample from "Simon Says" that got his debut solo album, Internal Affairs, pulled from shelves) and a command to "get the fuck up" so irrefutable in that "how the fuck up?" was the only possible response.
His long-delayed sophomore album, Desire, is primed to change that. It's a best-of-both-worlds record, formulated something like this: backpack-rap's sense of social justice (minus shrill self-righteousness) and overclocked verbiage (minus rhythmic malaise) plus the trap star's outsized charisma (minus deadening conspicuous consumption) and furious delivery (plus rampant conspiracy theories). Monch knows it, too, neatly summarizing the dichotomy on "What It Is": "They thought I was backpack/ Slept/ Didn't know that that he kept inside the knapsack..."
Monch also handled production on "What it Is", where conspiratorial whispers and an urgent synth monotone make the thread of paranoia running through the record sonically explicit. This conspiratorial bent, combined with the album's interludes (which range from civil-rights polemics, meditations on telekinesis, and a satire of Clear Channel-controlled FM radio), give it a recondite feel. Yet Monch's fantastical side is tempered by hyper-modern references to the Iraq war, stem cell research, Hurricane Katrina, and*,* in a clear moment of weakness, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. His penchant for working hot-button topics into his rhyme schemes is so pronounced that you almost expect to hear about troop surges and colony collapse.
The long wait for Desire is due largely to the Rawkus/Geffen debacle, and Monch isn't happy about it-- as on Clipse's Hell Hath No Fury, his frustration with being stuck in label-purgatory is apparent in pockets of the album. The first time he speaks, on the whammy-barred screed "Push", it's to liken the rap industry, with its "choruses of cocaine, tales of black heat," to indentured servitude. "Now switch that advance for your emancipation!" This angry-prole stance pervades the album; Monch seems more concerned about labels fucking with his personal agency than his money. He doesn't take pride in wealth like cocaine rappers, nor does he take pride in poverty like their undie foils-- he seems more interested in specific self-definition than on picking a side in rap's culture war. At a time when a thread of unquestioning capitalist acquiescence runs through an otherwise lively and diverse rap climate, Monch's embattled anarchism isn't just refreshing, it's inspiring.
Desire is the second solo album from hip hop artist Pharoahe Monch, released on June 26, 2007. The album comes eight years after the rapper's critically acclaimed solo debut, Internal Affairs, which followed the break-up of Monch's former group Organized Konfusion. After a short stint on Geffen Records, a number of labels began a bidding war for the rapper, including Eminem's Shady Records, Denaun Porter's Runyon Ave. Records, Bad Boy Records and Sony Records. In early 2006, it was announced that Pharoahe had signed a deal with Steve Rifkind's Street Records Corporation for the release of his second album.[11] The first song released from the album was "Let's Go", produced by Black Milk. "Let's Go" was featured as the B-side on the album's first proper single, "Push", released in September 2006. A music video for "Push" was also released in late September 2006, and has received play on MTV Base. The video is set in the New York City blackout of 1977. A ten-minute internet-only video for the track "When the Gun Draws" was released exclusively to AllHipHop.com on January 3, 2007. Desire features production from Monch, longtime collaborator Lee Stone, The Alchemist, Denaun Porter, Black Milk and Sean C. Album guests include Erykah Badu and Denaun Porter. The single Desire is featured in the video game Madden 08.
Monch released three albums as part of the rap duo Organized Konfusion with partner Prince Poetry: The self-titled Organized Konfusion, Stress: The Extinction Agenda, and The Equinox. The duo handled a large amount of production on these albums themselves. All albums received positive critical reviews, but moderate sales. As a result, the duo split up after recording their final album The Equinox in 1997.
Prince Po and especially Pharoahe Monch are excellent emcees who throughout the whole album deliver lyrically tight and dense verses that will leave your ears burning. This album would have been virtually flawless if they would have released it as a 12 or 14 song record, without all the skits to distract us. 7.5/10
Hey, thanks! Yes, I got those 2 other albums, and like them a lot, but I know the other album and "oh no" better so I stuck with those. I just got an interview done, I'll put it up online soon, so come back for that. He gets real philosophical, all about the nature of music and even life (to an extent), so you'd probably really enjoy it.
Pharoahe Monch: Well, you know, I am a big film fan, and the visuals for the project are so gripping, as are the songs on the album. The album is almost like a motion picture, so I thought I would go with that theme, to give people a sense of what the album would sound like.
PM: Those early blaxploitation films were a big part of my growing up, and that shaped the images that I tried to create. Those films are embedded in my head; the films, the music, the struggle... even how Melvin Van Peebles had to go about making that film is similar to my making of the W.A.R. (We Are Renegades) album. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder still comes from the emotional and psychological effect of where I'm at after that album, after making those statements and trying to be a rebel and a renegade.
PM: I am very excited and very happy right now, and I am in a good place. It is important to let people know that, because the new album is a reflection on depression and suicide. All of those things that have happened to people that have experienced those life-threatening things, and getting through them. I had to dig deep to find these songs within myself and put them on paper.
For this record you reunited with Lee Stone, a long-time collaborator, who worked with you on your first two solo albums, Internal Affairs and Desire. How did you two meet initially?
PM: On this record I worked with Black Thought - I am big fan of his. We haven't worked together since the last [Talib] Kweli record we did [Quality in 2002]. Speaking of Kweli, I have him on a separate song - both of the songs are amazing, they are really incredible. And then we have Denaun Porter of D12 fame, who is one of my favourite producers. He's also a great singer, so we have him singing on the album. I also worked with Marco Polo, and a whole lot of people assembled who I worked with before from the W.A.R. album.
I wanted this to be my most introspective writing. I'm very metaphoric, but I got dropped from my healthcare provider during the making of this album. I'm pulling from experiences that I went through from side effects of the medicine that I was on and stints in the hospital. I knew it would be challenging but that's why I took it on because for me to be excited about hip-hop, you can't be comfortable, nahmean?
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