An official mix of new and old tracks from Pharoahe M-m-m-monch.

1. Glorious – Sa Ra feat Pharoahe Monch 02:12
2. Calls (remix) – Robert Glasper feat Jill Scott and Pharoahe Monch 04:09
3. So Good – Pharoahe Monch 03:08
4. The Cycle – Eric Roberson feat Pharoahe Monch 04:52
5. Broken Heart – Pharoahe Monch 03:30
6. Broken Again -Pharoahe Monch 03:59
7. SKIT 00:33
8. Bar Tap – Pharoahe Monch feat Mela Machinko 03:07
9. The Light – Pharoahe Monch 03:34
10. So Fine – Brandon Williams feat DEnAuN and Pharoahe Monch 03:44
11. Home (We Got This) Pharoahe Monch feat Phonte & Tamisha 03:12
12. Loose Ends – Sergio Mendez feat Pharoahe Monch, Justin Timberlake and Will.I.Am 05:34

Following our reveal of the best major label hip-hop albums of 2014 earlier in the week, we now present our favorite indie LP’s of the year. As per usual, it was hard to find 10 inclusions for the major label list, and hard to narrow it down to only 10 on the indie list.

10. Step Brothers (Evidence + Alchemist) – Lord Steppington – Rhymesayers - Lord Steppington is unlike anything either Al or Ev have done thus far, which is testament to their versatility. It doesn’t sound like a Dilated album without Rakka, nor does it sound like, say, Albert Einstein from a production standpoint. Evidence and Alchemist have challenged themselves here, and ended up producing a dope, unconventional underground rap album, most likely dreamed up in the smokiest of atmospheres. Here come the lords.

9. Bishop Nehru + MF Doom – NehruvianDOOM – Lex Records – MF Doom teamed up with rising star Bishop Nehru for NehruvianDOOM, a solid collaborative album that found him laying down tracks for the young emcee. While some complained about re-used beats, we didn’t mind, as we don’t really listen to Doom’s beat tapes anyway. Sewn together brilliantly with Doom’s off kilter samples from various different sources, it’s rare we find Doom producing a whole album for someone, which made this a real treat.

8. Your Old Droog – Your Old Droog LP – Droog Recordings – It started off as some kid on Reddit proposing the idea that Droog was actually Nas in disguise, leading to a whole bunch of people accidentally checking for the Coney Island, NY rapper. What we found was an incredibly solid LP from a budding emcee with an airtight flow and classic, sample based production. Released on “Droog Recordings” this is the definition of an indie success story.

7. Apathy – Connecticut Casual – Demigodz Recordings – Connecticut Casual is a concept album, but isn’t as heavy as say, The Roots …And Then You Shoot Your Cousin, for example. It’s a pretty straight-shooting, classically styled hip-hop record, but Ap ties the entire thing together by using his home state as a backdrop. Using the New England area’s rich history as a blueprint, he examines the state’s dichotomy of its Yacht-owning upper class, and it’s seedier crime ridden underbelly. Another well put together album, with very interesting, unexplored territory in hip-hop music.

6. Ras Kass + Apollo Brown – Blasphemy – MelloMusicGroup - Ras Kass and Apollo Brown’s, Blasphemy, is a concept LP that is more or less a crusade against organized religion. It’s also one of the best albums of the year, and quite possibly the most concise album that Ras has ever recorded. Ras has finally been given an equally yoked producer to match his sharp lyrical prowess.

5. Ghostface Killah – 36 Seasons – Tommy Boy – Where the Wu failed with A Better Tomorrow, Ghostface delivered with a literal “better tomorrow” releasing his excellent 36 Seasons LP just a week later. An incredibly tight-knit concept album with fresh, original live production from The Revelations, Ghostface Killah has long proven to be the Wu-Tang Clan’s most consistant member.

4. DJ Premier + Royce Da 5’9 – PRhyme – PRhyme Records – American dream team of DJ Premier and Royce Da 5’9 reunited after the success of their classic single “Boom,” for Preem’s first group project since the dissolution of Gang Starr. While the album showed both artists doing what they do best, we’d love to see how they mature as a group with consecutive albums as time goes on.

3. Statik Selektah – What Goes Around – Showoff - While not as high-profile as some of the other releases on this list, Statik Selektah’s What Goes Around was easily one of the most consistent LPs of 2014, especially considering its length. Stat has matured into one of the best producers in the game, able to zero in on that “golden age” sound, with an extensive guest list to help drive it home.

Pharoahe Monch – PTSD – W.A.R. Media – In his most focused and consistent LP since Internal Affairs, Pharaohe Monch has taken a real-life bout with depression and turned into one of the strongest independent LP of the year. He doesn’t try to recapture the success of “Simon Says”, nor does he try to crossover with Cee-Lo-esque gospel/soul tracks, despite his obvious singing chops. This is an unapologetically dark, incredibly well-written, musically sound LP that finds the emcee returning to greatness. Pharoahe Fucking Monch, ain’t a damn thing changed.

1. Run The Jewels (Killer Mike + El-P) – RTJ2 – Productomart / Mass Appeal – RTJ2 is a worthy sequel to the original that gets consecutively better with each listen, topping many of the industry’s year end lists across all music genres. It’s so far removed from what major labels have been pushing on us for the last few years, yet it sons them all with a smart, progressive, politically minded, and musically dope album that challenges the status quo, and reminds us why we still love hip-hop after all these years. It is possible that this album could mark a turning point for hip-hop music, so bump this shit like they do in the future.

Talib Kweli, 9th Wonder, and Pharoahe Monch speak on their new business partnership, Indie 500.

Verse two, though…J57 says of the “Sample Free Remix,“Torae asked me to remix this track off his Admission of Guilt project, so I brought in Grammy Award Winning musician, Jay Jennings as well future legend/close collaborator of mine; ATR to play extra keys and backup vocals through out the track. This track is 100% sample-free — all melodies derived from me humming them in voice memos on my iphone.”

With his fourth solo-LP, “PTSD” (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), Pharoahe Monch re-emerged with a new concept project which finds the ground-breaking emcee tackling PTSD; a severe anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to any event that results in psychological trauma. Throughout the duration of the LP, Monch narrates as an independent artist weary from the war against the industry machine and through the struggle of the black male experience in America.

Pharoahe Monch has been at the forefront of lyrical innovation for two-decades now. Not only is he one of Hip-Hop’s preeminent lyricists, crafting intricate rhyme schemes and intelligent raps, but he is also an incisive political and social commentator, using Hip-Hop as a platform for political engagement.

Today, Monch peels back the curtain on one of the album’s most hopeful tracks, “Broken Again,” which was premiered today and it is the first video released from PTSD. “Broken Again” is a track about facing real-world issues and personal plights head-on and it finds the esteemed emcee chasing a mirage of a muse in the distance all while lamenting his topsy-turvy mental state.

Last month, Pharoahe told REVOLT of his latest album, “PTSD is very heavy right now with soldiers coming back from war trying to get acclimated back into society.”

From the album Rolig Under Pres, by Denmark’s DJ Static.

This happened. That Aaliyah line is going to rub some folks the wrong way.

One can only imagine what its like to be recognized as one of the top performers of your craft, name-dropped by the biggest rapper in the world, yet still a face of anonymity to most. What must it be like, when success has been awarded to you via a hit single called “Simon Says”, only to have it taken away, thanks to an uncleared sample?

But this is not the reason why Pharoahe Monch is suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, as the title of his new album suggests. It’s a fitting follow-up to his last album, W.A.R. (We Are Renegades), with an even more tightly-knit concept running throughout, symbolic of both his struggle as a starving artist and that as product of his environment.

From the onset, Monch choses to open the record up with a pair of bleak tracks. Over a Havoc-esque beat, “Time2″ parallels his current position as a now independent artist, with that of the recently fired company man, going out in a blaze of glory in the middle of Times Square. Followed by “Losing My Mind”, Pharoahe weaves ridiculous rhyme patterns, as he contemplates suicide: “I spin, the cylinder on my revolver / I spin, the cylinder / Would someone explain who’d leave a Dick in charge of a Bush / Of a colon I’m screwed, saw more war than Warsaw Poland, viewed / An infant’s insides, outside of his body / Inside of a place of worship, ungodly / Out cries tears ‘Dear God, where are we?’”. It’s the complexity of Eminem, meshed with the crystal clear visualization of Nas. Or simply, it’s Pharoahe Monch.

He’s a rare breed of an emcee that can paint such pristine visuals, while still penning the most complex, jaw-dropping lyrics possible. Yet he still bumps it up a notch when the competitive bar is raised. “Rapid Eye Movement” is a lyrical tour-de-force, as he and Black Thought go toe-to-toe, almost arriving at a draw on who had the better verse. The same can be said for “D.R.E.A.M.” with Talib Kweli, as the two subtly re-imagine Wu-Tang Clan’s “C.R.E.A.M.”, peppered with references the classic track, yet not done so in such an obvious manner.

Both “The Jungle” and “Damage” find Monch speaking on his surroundings, backed by heavy concepts. “The Jungle” describes every day street life as the literal wild safari, while “Damage” is the third chapter in his “bullet trilogy”, where he spits from the perspective of a slug. Later on “Broken Again”, Monch’s character turns to heroin to cope, as he vividly describes putting the needle to his arm. Once he does, the track takes on a high of its own. The album closes with the melodic Step Kids collaboration, “Eht Dnarg Noisulli”, which offers little hope at escaping “the grand illusion”, yet he finds solace through his rhymes. A light at the end of the tunnel, perhaps.

In his most focused and consistent LP since Internal Affairs, Pharaohe Monch has taken a real-life bout with depression and turned into arguably the strongest independent LP of the year, thus far. He doesn’t try to recapture the success of “Simon Says”, nor does he try to crossover with Cee-Lo-esque gospel/soul tracks, despite his obvious singing chops. This is an unapologetically dark, incredibly well-written, musically sound LP that finds the emcee returning to greatness. Pharoahe Fucking Monch, ain’t a damn thing changed.

Words from Reggie O$$É: “Pharoahe Monch has been a favorite MC of mine for a long time so it only makes sense that we deliver his best interview in existence. In support of his brilliant album ‘P.T.S.D.’ we had an in studio listening session as Monch gave us his most personal interview to date. Who knew he used to carry them blammers? Who knew he was fed a deadly drug cocktail that took him to the edge of insanity? Who knew he was a heavy DipSet fan? Or liked 2 Chainz? What other MC admits getting murked on his own song? I really enjoyed this session. I hope you do too. Stand the fuck up!”

From Coalmine Records upcoming Unearthed compilation, hitting May 13th.

Pharoahe stops by Juan Epstein to talk about his whole career including great Organized stories, Rawkus era stories, working on The Lifer’s Group project, making no money off of “Simon Says”, and where he ranks among the top MCs of all time.

Organized Konfusion reunites on the latest single from Prince Po and Oh No’s new album Animal Serum.

With his highly-anticipated fourth solo-LP, PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) in stores today, Pharoahe Monch re-emerges with a new concept project which finds the ground-breaking emcee tackling PTSD; a severe anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to any event that results in psychological trauma. Throughout the duration of the LP, Monch narrates as an independent artist weary from the war against the industry machine and through the struggle of the black male experience in America.

When Eminem recently name-dropped him (“But I still rap like I’m on my Pharoahe Monch grind”) on his “Rap God” single it was for good reason.; as Pharoahe Monch has been at the forefront of lyrical innovation for two-decades now. Not only is he one of Hip-Hop’s preeminent lyricists, crafting intricate rhyme schemes and intelligent raps, but he is also an incisive political and social commentator, using Hip-Hop as a platform for political engagement as his “Bullet” trilogy hauntingly speaks to audiences in the same dark personification of a bullet.

The first installment of the “Bullet” trilogy was introduced by Pharoahe in the seminal song “Stray Bullet” with Organized Konfusion via the Stress: The Extinction Agenda LP in 1994. The second installment came via his 2007 solo-LP, Desire, on the Mr. Porter produced “When The Gun Draws”. Socially prophetic and politically relevant, “Damage” from the upcoming PTSD continues to chronicle the tragedy of inner city killings and mass murder. Although it was penned before The Dark Knight Rises theater massacre in Colorado and the Newtown School shootings, the song relevantly accentuates the obvious ongoing gun issue in our society and provides a chilling reminder that bullets have no name. Similarly, a then rough-version of Monch’s protest song, “Stand Your Ground,” was released immediately at Monch’s insistence after the Trayvon Martin verdict was announced and added more discourse on the polarizing debates about racial profiling, civil rights and the inadequacies of the justice system. Monch’s social commentary was subsequently profiled by MTV, Vibe, Huffington Post, AOL, BET, Ebony and LA Times.

While Monch is not afraid to tackle the tough topics, the diversity you come to expect from Monch abounds on PTSD as he is quick to remind everyone that he’s still a “Top 5” emcee on recently released “Bad M.F.” and “Rapid Eye Movement” as he and Black Thought get lucid for a 4-minute exhibition of pure lyricism. Further, Monch addresses the struggle of the hood on “The Jungle” “sometimes we all feel fenced in” and the haunting isolation of addiction on “Broken Again” and the LP’s title track swiftly brings you back to the overall concept of the LP “F*ck you know about struggle/the boy in the plastic bubble/when I drink away the pain I guzzle/my life is like a complicated mathematical puzzle.”

Monch’s longtime collaborator, Lee Stone, returns to the fold to produce four tracks; including “Dream” f/ Talib Kweli and Marco Polo who reunited Monch and Prince Po for a new Organized Konfusion track (“3-O-Clock”) from his recently released project, chips in three tracks as well. Monch also links up with Mello Music Group’s rising upstart, Quelle Chris, on “Scream.” Further displaying his versatility, Monch collaborates with The Stepkids (Stones Throw Records) on “Eht Dnarg Noisulli.”

In related news, Pharoahe Monch is currently on tour in Europe an is planning a full US tour to support PTSD in the spring, check www.pharoahe.com for tour and album updates.

1.) “The Recollection Facility” (produced by Pharoahe Monch)
2.) “Times2” (produced by Marco Polo)
3.) “Losing My Mind” f/ deNaUn (produced by Jesse West)
4.) “Heroin Addict” (produced by Pharoahe Monch)
5.) “Damage” (produced by Lee Stone)
6.) “Bad M.F.” (produced by Lee Stone)
7.) “The Recollection Facility Pt.2” (produced by Pharoahe Monch)
8.) “Rapid Eye Movement” f/ Black Thought (produced by Marco Polo)
9.) “Scream” (produced by Quelle Chris)
10.) “SideFX”f/ Dr. Pete (produced by Pharoahe Monch)
11.) “The Jungle” (produced by Marco Polo)
12.) “Broken Again” (produced by The Lion Share Music Group)
13.) “Post Traumatic Stress Disorder”(produced by Boogie Blind & B.A.M.)
14.) “Dream” f/ Talib Kweli (produced by Lee Stone)
15.) “The Recollection Facility Pt.3” (produced by Pharoahe Monch)
16.) “Eht Dnarg Noisulli” f/ The Stepkids (produced by The Stepkids & Pharoahe Monch)
17.) “Stand Your Ground”f/ Vernon Reid (produced by Lee Stone) ****Bonus Track for Digital Purchases

With his highly-anticipated fourth solo-LP, PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), Pharoahe Monch re-emerges with a new concept project which finds the ground-breaking emcee tackling PTSD; a severe anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to any event that results in psychological trauma. Throughout the duration of the LP, Monch narrates as an independent artist weary from the war against the industry machine and through the struggle of the black male experience in America.

Pharoahe Monch has been at the forefront of lyrical innovation for two-decades now. Not only is he one of Hip-Hop’s preeminent lyricists, crafting intricate rhyme schemes and intelligent raps, but he is also an incisive political and social commentator, using Hip-Hop as a platform for political engagement.

‘Rapid Eye Movement’ featuring Black Thought of the Roots Crew, is a lyrical barrage worthy of these two titans, as Monch and Black Thought get lucid for a 4-minute exhibition of pure lyricism. “Rapid Eye Movement” is produced by Marco Polo. PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) will be released on 4-15-14.

Official music video by Diamond D & Pharoahe Monch performing “Rap Life”, from Diamond’s upcoming Diam Piece.