[rating: 3.5]
Not quite the underground club banger one might have hoped for from the man who once dropped Simon Says and Fuck You and who claims his forthcoming W.A.R. LP (now delayed until early autumn) will be a throwback to ’93/ ’94 hip-hop. True, Shine has a meaty boom-bap beat (courtesy of one Diamond D), avoids the densely layered production of the dullest material on the last LP and the rhyme king still rips peerlessly (“You see my momma cannot afford wholefoods/ She break fast with a prayer and call it soul food”). On the other hand that mournful soul hook, the downbeat xylophone melody and the general subject matter (it’s tough on the streets) suggest Monch had his mind less on getting hands in the air in the club than on getting heads nodding down on the corner and you can’t help hoping that this is the calm before the storm. Or maybe the shoe before the cloth. Downloads below…including dope Mako & The Hawk remix of the classic Simon Says
(Out 27 July on Duckdown)
Pharoahe Monch “Shine” feat. Mela Machinko (prod. by Diamond D) by duckdown
PHAROAHE MONCH – Shine – FREE DOWNLOAD (courtesy of RCRDLBL.com)