When hip-hop superhero Pharoahe Monch announced he was releasing his third solo album, W.A.R. – We Are Renegades, on the highly revered Duck Down label, the entire rap world rejoiced. The combined stats of these two forces are very impressive. As one half of the futuristic duo Organized Konfusion, Pharoahe released three acclaimed records including the instant classic, Stress: The Extinction Level Agenda.
As a solo artist, he released the phenomenal LP Internal Affairs in 1999 which yielded the ferocious street-burner “Simon Says,” a song that continues to shut down parties and live shows to this day. He followed that up with 2007’s soulful and highly personal Desire, which brings us to his third album dropping this March. And what about Duck Down, you ask? Quite simply, this label is the headquarters of street-driven, underground, NYC rap. Since the early ’90s, it has served as home to artists like BuckShot, Sean Price, Heltah Skeltah, O.G.C., Smif-n-Wessun and most recently, new signees like Black Rob, Torae and Marco Polo, just to name a few. In all, it’s an extremely potent union, and hip-hop heads everywhere have been waiting expectantly to see if the hype would match the outcome.
