Published: Monday - July 30, 2007
Words by Starrene Rhett
Pharoahe Monch (Photo: SRC / Universal)
Pharoahe Monch is probably your favorite rapper's favorite rapper. Seriously, he may have ghost written for or collaborated with him while the masses were oblivious to just how prolific and lyrically gifted the Monch is, in real life and in rap. We met him years ago as ˝ of the duo he co-founded, Organized Konfusion, but then we met him again when he went solo, dropping the classic Internal Affairs. People are still bumping "Simon Says," one of his most popular songs, to date.
Fast-forward about 10 years and it's obvious we really haven't heard from Pharoahe Monch in a long time. Read: 10 years is really 20 in industry terms. However, he's back with a new classic, Desire. Now with SRC, he's past his previous label drama; and assertively bringing what he wants to bring to the table as an artist he's not about to censor himself for anyone. Ladies and gentlemen: Pharoahe Monch is back! Wake up and recognize.
Ballerstatus.com: How's your asthma, just out of curiosity?
Pharoahe Monch: It's good. I mean, it got a little shaky over in London, but I'm good.
Ballerstatus.com: Ok, that was just a random thought, but anyway… over the past couple of years, aside from the obvious, what's been going on with you in terms of Desire? What's been happening that inspired the songs?
Pharoahe Monch: I think natural growth and an awareness that's important to have -- an honest reflection in songs that you do; an honest reflection of where you are and what you're feeling and that being said... at points where you're down and you're going through a struggle, be it personal or heartbreak or music industry or whatever, the growth comes from that when you have friends and family, or you get something inspirational that teaches you how to get past that point or to persevere past that point, or to push -- no pun intended -- past that point. These are the things that inspired some of the songs. You just get to the point where you feel like you can't go on any longer and the struggle gets so hard, and you can relate that struggle -- civil rights or whatever your situation may be. And me growing, me learning these lessons, inspired me to write some music that sort of feels that way and if you don't get it from the lyrics, you'll get it from the vibe of the music. Even if you were to play an instrumental, you would be like, "Man, this beat sounds inspirational."
Ballerstatus.com: You created "Free" about the industry where you're really speaking your mind. Aren't you afraid of being blackballed?
Pharoahe Monch: Can I curse?
Ballerstatus.com: Yep.
Pharoahe Monch: F--- the music industry, man! This sh-- is in shambles right now. It's not to be respected right now, not to say that I'm disrespecting it. I don't think the song is that disrespectful. I think it's a metaphoric view of how I see a portion of the music industry right now. But the music industry, I guess, if you talk on a broad scope, it's still a beautiful thing. But if you're talking on the narrow scope that is hip-hop right now, how it's being marketed when encompassing radio, encompassing the DJs, encompassing artists. I'm not inspired by the greater portion of it, so it's just not in my heart like that. I think "Body Baby" and "Push" are bigger risk taking records than "Free." Music and words that inspire people to open their minds and awaken them to subject matter. That's more dangerous to the machine than me blatantly saying the machine sucks or f--- the machine. You know what I mean? They don't care, they've been withstanding that for years... am I rambling?
Ballerstatus.com: [Laughs] Nah, you're straight, but I know that a lot of labels were courting you when you were in limbo, but you ended up with SRC. What was the decision behind that?
Pharoahe Monch: I don't want to sound like I'm disrespecting the labels that I didn't sign with so, for this interview, I'll just say that in past interviews, I hope I didn't sound like I was disrespecting the other labels I didn't sign with. But I had an offer from Sony and I had an offer from Puff with Bad Boy because I was working closely with him and he was hearing the music and really diggin' it, and various other offers that were more lucrative than the Universal deal, but I just needed -- just being in the situation that I was in -- knowing that the hiatus was on, knowing that I needed to reintroduce myself, I needed to work under a situation where someone wasn't hell bent on putting out this single with the hot R&B chick in the chorus then frisbying the record up to radio to see what the response was and then, if it caught, seeing what the first week numbers were like and all that usual sh-- that they're doing right now that's not really working for any of the artists. I knew that I needed to implement songs like "Gun Draws" and "Push" in order to re-brand myself as an artist with some substance and some subject matter into the market place to help redefine or to define what my cereal -- and I like it as a cereal -- I don't know if I said this in my last interview, because it's about branding, so at this point... you walk through that cereal aisle and you get Kanye Cereal, 50 Cent Cereal, Young Buck Cereal, it's a lot of cereal in the aisle. But I feel like SRC gave me the best chance to help sell my Pharoahe Monch Cereal, Desire, because they let me implement songs like "Gun Draws" and shoot a video for it, where I don't feel like a Sony understood why it would be necessary and labels staying in a set tradition of how they market. SRC realized first that it's a real viral internet society and most of my promotions have been internet. Even the presidential candidates now are doing internet commercials. Hilary Clinton has a commercial to help her pick which song she should pick with her campaign. Do you know about this?
Ballerstatus.com: No.
Pharoahe Monch: It's that deep, what people pay attention to. We're changing and you have to change with it. That being said, to answer your question, SRC was the most Def Jam, Loud, ol' school, Rawkus label that would allow me put out some singles and let people be like, "Yo, I'm kind of feeling this, I kind of see where he's going, because it had been a long time."
Ballerstatus.com: This question is corny, but I can't resist, what do you "desire" for yourself in the next couple of years?
Pharoahe Monch: I desire to have people buy lots and lots and lots of boxes of my cereal and eat it [laughs] and then I can make other little off brands of fruity flavors, chocolatey cereal and then I can do my film cereal. I just want to get to a comfortable place where I can express freely. Great success on this record will allow me to do... where as a lot of people reach their goal and they kind of reach, reach, reach, reach, reach and it's going to allow me to be more artistic than I've ever been, which is my Trojan Horse kind of plan. If the Pharoahe Monch record was to go gold or platinum, or triple or whatever, instead of you seeing me working with the new hottest producer who's producing for Britney Spears or whatever, you'll see me working with... you heard that song that Blackmoon and Tribe did together? It's crazy -- I just want to stay on the cusp of being cutting edge in terms of hip-hop ideas and song writing. That's first and foremost. And I guess the usual corny sh-- to say would be people have been asking me about acting stuff lately...
Ballerstatus.com: Being that you're a visual artist, if you could paint a picture of the industry right now what would that look like? Is that something you can describe?
Pharoahe Monch: It would probably look much like the scene in the Bible when people are surrounding the Golden Calf. It's referred to as the -- I'm forgetting the term right now -- when Moses goes into the mountains to speak to God and he's like, "Hold me down 'til I get back," and when he gets back, everybody is fornicating and playing with the gold and the jewelry and spinning around and having sex with this big giant calf and he's like, "I told ya'll wait until I got finish speaking to God," everybody is just bugging out.
Ballerstatus.com: Wow. Ok, they're rushing me to end this, so this is my last question and it's totally random. The last time we spoke, it was about fashion and you talked about your affinity for women's shoes. How's that been treating you, especially now since it's summertime?
Pharoahe Monch: [laughs] There are lots more heels and open toes since the weather changed, so I've been a happy camper just standing around with my gaze to the ground looking at polish and feet go by.
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