Pharoahe Monch is back after a long hiatus to deliver his spiritual, insightful brand, of hip-hop with the recent release of his sophomore solo effort Desire.  If Nas proclaimed that hip-hop is dead, who better to eulogize it than Pharoahe?
 
Artists such as Common, J-Dilla, De La Soul, Mos Def, and Talib Kweli have all taken turns serving as defibrillators, for hip-hop's recent heart-failure.  Now Pharaoh is charged up and has just received the clear signal.  He recently chopped it up with okayplayer's Mel Blunt to expand on his first commercial release in eight years.
 

Desire
 
I wanted a true reflection of who I am, where I've been and how I've grown . . . you can entertain at different levels other than what radio is reflecting now.  You can put your soul on the music and entertain like Mahaliah Jackson.
 

Pharoahe Monch
 
OKP: How does it feel to finally release your sophomore solo effort?
 
P. Monch: It feels great; it's such a long road, more of an excitement about what the future holds about art and music beyond this effort. The future . . . things continue to move forward I'm happy about it, even though I've been in the game for a minute, it seems like the first quarter-artistically.  I have so much room to grow.
 
OKP: What caused the 8 year hiatus?
 
P. Monch: The bulk of it was because of label changes and label politics. I got out of that; had some beers, had a good time, and finally decided to settle down with a situation so I could get this music out.
 
OKP: How many times was the release date changed?
 
P. Monch: I changed it once.  I wanted to release the video for "When the Gun Draws."  I wanted an unusual vision to be established before the release.  I'm signed to Universal with a unique deal, it [the CD] belongs to the New York based label as well as the United Kingdom based label.
 
OKP: What did you really want to get across artistically on this project?
 
P. Monch: I wanted a true reflection of who I am, where I've been, and how I've grown.  More importantly; entertaining, this is the entertainment industry. To show people that you can entertain at different levels other than what radio is reflecting now.  You can put your soul on the music and entertain like Mahaliah Jackson.
Stevie Wonder said that Minnie Ripperton was a black artist/vocalist but wasn't considered R&B.  He said that people were so narrow-minded and her range was so wide.  She had these vocals that were just incredible ... radio couldn't classify her.  It parallels with R&B artists today, even hip-hop. You want to fight that same fight.  It's a shame that we haven't grown in a different direction.  We still throw people in categories.
 
OKP: Did you get to pick the lead single and or subsequent follow ups?
 
P. Monch: Yeah, the thing about Steve Rifkind Company (SRC) that was dope and the reason why I settled with them is because we would get a chance to put some music out there, without the hot trendy R&B dude or female on the chorus. Me and Steve Rifkind were really feeling "Push," everybody was feeling it; I still get e-mails about it.  But it didn't catch on with radio, I guess, because it wasn't "Chain Hang Low" or whatever.  So we came with "Desire" and the U.K. had "Body Baby." I think that shit was hot to do it that way to have a whole bunch of things out there like the old Def Jam so people could be like O.K., alright.
 
OKP: Was it challenging to come up with content?
 
P. Monch: Nah, it was all in the chest.  It's all right there.
 
The D-Word
 
I told myself, you've got to do what this music is telling you to do, no rewrites.  That's why I picked that track it spoke to me that way.                                 

OKP: How was it working with Diddy?
 
P. Monch: It was dope.  I had my qualms [initially] at the same time it turned out to be a great learning experience in that, here's a dude that has this work ethic where he just doesn't stop and only sleeps for 4-5 hours a day.  I wanted to see how it worked on that side; I wanted to see how it sounds when multimillionaires get beats from producers. What's their work process?  Because I know what my work ethic is, he heavily respected mine.  I learned a lot I even went back to my project and said let me rewrite some things. Not that they weren't up to par. We laughed about it and I said that I'm not going to bust my ass over here on your project and not go back to my project and work just as hard or harder.  I went back to mine and figured that I'd write my shit over three times if necessary.
 
OKP: Did it open any doors for you in terms of making new connections?
 
P. Monch: Yeah, [doors opened up] with him to be quite honest with you, more than anybody else.  He wanted to sign me over there, I don't know how good of a fit that would have been.  He's a good person to know.
 
OKP: How about with Dilla and how did "We Must Be in Love" materialize?
 
P. Monch: Dilla, I met only one time.  They sent me the song, so we were never in the studio together. But my spirit and my heart told me to go all out whether simple, complicated, preachy or whatever.  I said you've got this opportunity. I told myself, you've got to do what this music is telling you to do, no rewrites.  That's why I picked that track it spoke to me that way.
 
He played a very vital part in the neo-soul movement working closely with Tribe (Called Quest) as a part of the Ummah and with Erykah Badu and D'Angelo; he gave it that funk swing.  I don't think people really big-him-up on that.
 
OKP: Do you have any Dilla tracks on the project?
 
P. Monch: No, but I've been speaking with Mr. Porter who's close to his family.  We may be able to work something out [for future projects].
 
OKP: Speak On It!
 
P. Monch: That actually is the most threatening weapon that a man has--to awake the people consciously black and white. . . [when] you get to the point where regardless of how you're saying it-you're making people aware-they've [the music industry] got to shut that down man.
 
OKP: What trends are you tiring of in the industry?
 
P. Monch: All of it!  They just . . . it's just out of control right now.  Forget regional. Let's say me, Kweli, and Common go triple platinum this year and they start playing a bunch of  conscious music-that's just tiring. That's the thing to do now, play what's popular. I hate that shit man.
 
OKP: Well, Well
 
P. Monch: There's so much room for diversity, it's [the dumbing down of hip-hop] so blatant. How do you lie to yourselves? I know that the DJs get so many complaints... that it gets to the DJs they have to know.  Some fan would be like I'd really rather you play some Pharcyde.  There are other songs to play besides what you're being told to play. It used to be a point when you'd get someone's album and latch on to [a cluster of songs] that you like' I'm my own damned man.
 
OKP:  Speak on it brother ... preach!  Do you see the art form of hip hop -creative rhymes and content and more skilled sampling returning to the forefront?
 
P. Monch: I think we have a lack of honesty.  Artists that are popular right now are a lot more talented than they let on to be they dumb it down. I say that because a lot of the cats you know are just doing it [making dumbed down rap music], because they're so talented it's nothing to fit in with what works.
 
OKP: They're brainwashing folks. When the music industry saw the power of Public Enemy, with their keen ability to communicate lucidly and boldly to the masses through hip-hop, I think they got scared.  It wasn't a Malcolm X or a Martin Luther King Jr., but it was a voice of consciousness that could reach millions of people worldwide.
 
P. Monch: That actually is the most threatening weapon that a man has-- to awake the people consciously black and white.  That throws a lot of fear in ways that you and I still don't understand. So anytime you get to the point where regardless of how you're saying it-you're making people aware-awakening them to the situation-they've [the music industry] got to shut that down man.
 
OKP: um-hmmm! Go on brother.
 
OKP: Are you going on tour?
 
P. Monch: Yes, I'm involved with the "Rock the Bells" tour.
 
OKP: What do you think the hip-hop purists can do to get control of the steering wheel again?
 
P. Monch: I think they need to just push forward and go at these heads and tell people they have a lot more control than they imagined. A lot of times you get forced to listen to a bunch a shit that you don't like.  Stop listening to that shit and don't buy that damned album if you don't like it from the heart. That's why the record sales are going down.
 
OKP: Amen brother Amen!
 
Don't hesitate to check out Pharoahe's latest, Desire, in stores now.  This project has no guest emcees which is refreshing and flies in the face of today's music industry trends.  The project does include cameos by Erykah Badu and Dwele, who plays the trumpet and sings a chorus on the record as well "It's incredible," Monch says. "Its part of a three-part song called "The Trilogy".

- Mel Blunt 

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