40 Fun Facts About Pharoahe Monch

Pharoahe Monch was sued over the hit Simon Says for sampling the theme of which movie monster?

Godzilla's studio, Toho, sued in 2001 because the hook used Akira Ifukube's theme from Godzilla vs. Mothra without clearance. The dispute halted distribution of the album.

Which lifelong condition does Pharoahe Monch credit with pushing him toward his intricate vocal delivery?

Asthma has afflicted him since he was thirteen months old. He says it forced him to push his breath control in ways he would never otherwise have tried.

Which fellow rapper directed the music video for Pharoahe Monch's 1999 breakthrough single Simon Says?

Busta Rhymes directed the clip and also guests on the parent album. He returns on the song's star-packed remix, which closes the record.

Which British actor is the guest on The Warning, the opening track of Pharoahe Monch's album W.A.R.?

Idris Elba opens the 2011 album before any rapper is heard. Its other guests range from Immortal Technique to singer Citizen Cope.

Pharoahe Monch raps on a remix from Reanimation, a 2002 remix album by which rock band?

Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda featured him on a reworked version of High Voltage, a remix built by Evidence and DJ Babu.

In the early 2000s Pharoahe Monch joined the Spitkicker collective alongside De La Soul and which comedian?

Dave Chappelle was a core member of the collective, founded in 2000. Its first tour put Monch on the road with Biz Markie and Common.

Pharoahe Monch rapped the theme song for the 2002 edition of which sports video game series?

Madden NFL 2002 carried his theme, and the football series came back to him later: the title track of his 2007 album appears in Madden 08.

Which hip-hop label boss told Pharoahe Monch's duo he might sign them if they changed their name?

Russell Simmons of Def Jam disliked the name Simply II Positive MCs. The pair hunted for a new one and became Organized Konfusion, though they ended up signing elsewhere.

Organized Konfusion, the duo that launched Pharoahe Monch, came from which New York City borough?

Queens was home to both members, and their first deal was with a small label there, Solid Sound Records, in the late 1980s.

Which Denzel Washington film has a Pharoahe Monch song on its soundtrack album?

Training Day's soundtrack credits him as a producer as well as a performer, on a lineup that runs from Dr. Dre to David Bowie.

What is the title of Pharoahe Monch's 1999 solo debut album, home of the hit Simon Says?

Internal Affairs just missed the top 40 of the Billboard 200. It then sat out of print for years before reaching streaming services on its 20th anniversary.

Which West Coast star performs the chorus of Oh No, the 2000 hit by Mos Def and Pharoahe Monch?

Nate Dogg was Mos Def's idea, pitched to Monch in a phone call. The single went on to top Billboard's Hot Rap Songs chart.

Which neo-soul singer guests on Hold On, a track from Pharoahe Monch's 2007 comeback album?

Erykah Badu is one of only a handful of guests on the record, which arrived eight years after his solo debut.

Pharoahe Monch's 2014 concept album, written out of a period of depression, is named after which condition?

PTSD continues the story of his album W.A.R.: its narrator comes home from combat and struggles to readjust, mirroring Monch's own fight with the music industry.

Which 2007 album was Pharoahe Monch's second solo release, arriving eight years after his debut?

Desire followed a bidding war among record labels and leaned on soul and gospel, which Monch called a fresh sound for him.

What do the letters stand for in the title of Pharoahe Monch's 2011 album W.A.R.?

We Are Renegades came out on his own W.A.R. Media imprint through Duck Down, and its theme is an artist going to battle against the music industry machine.

Which independent New York label signed Pharoahe Monch as a solo artist after Organized Konfusion split?

Rawkus Records was also home to Mos Def and Company Flow. It previewed Monch on the hit compilation Soundbombing II before releasing his album.

Which rapper was Pharoahe Monch's only partner in the 1990s duo Organized Konfusion?

Prince Po handled most of the duo's business as well as rhyming and making beats. Burned out after three albums, he gave Monch his blessing to go solo.

Pharoahe Monch's 2007 album reworks Welcome to the Terrordome, a 1990 single first released by which group?

Public Enemy recorded the original for Fear of a Black Planet. Monch's version keeps the title and sits beside tracks built on soul and gospel.

Which superstar rapper's label, Shady Records, joined the bidding war to sign Pharoahe Monch in the mid-2000s?

Eminem's Shady Records competed with Bad Boy and Sony for him. Monch chose Steve Rifkind's SRC instead and released his second album there.

Which jazz saxophonist is named as an inspiration for Pharoahe Monch's winding vocal delivery?

John Coltrane and jazz in general shape how he phrases a verse. Monch also likens his writing to film-making, re-taking and rewriting lines like scenes.

Which soul singer joins Pharoahe Monch on Still Standing, the final track of his album W.A.R.?

Jill Scott sings on the closer, produced by M-Phazes. The song earned its own music video a year after the album came out.

Pharoahe Monch and RZA share the song Dollaz & Sense on a 2009 rap album by which blues-rock duo?

The Black Keys made the project, called Blakroc, with Damon Dash. Mos Def and Ludacris were among the other rappers who dropped in.

Simon Says by Pharoahe Monch plays in Boiler Room and which other film released in 2000?

Charlie's Angels used the song in 2000, a year after it peaked at number 97 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The hook of Pharoahe Monch's 2012 single Damage borrows a line from a 1991 hit by which rapper?

LL Cool J's Mama Said Knock You Out supplied the line. Monch spent three years collecting lyrics for Damage before he found the right beat.

Pharoahe Monch wrote a trilogy of anti-violence songs, ending with Damage, from the point of view of what?

A bullet narrates all three: Stray Bullet in 1994, When the Gun Draws in 2007 and Damage in 2012, each a protest against gun violence.

The short film for Pharoahe Monch's Clap (One Day), about a police raid, features an actor from which HBO drama?

The Wire's Gbenga Akinnagbe, who played Chris Partlow, appears in the film. Terence Nance directed it as a raid that goes dramatically wrong.

Pharoahe Monch guests on It Ain't the Money, a track from a 2003 album by which singer?

Macy Gray featured him on It Ain't the Money, from her third album, The Trouble with Being Myself; Beck is among the song's co-writers.

Which California rap group guests on Fight, a single by Pharoahe Monch's rap-rock trio th1rt3en?

Cypress Hill joined the trio on a single from A Magnificent Day for an Exorcism, its 2021 debut with guitarist Marcus Machado and drummer Daru Jones.

Which 1997 concept album, linked by storytelling skits, was the third and final Organized Konfusion record?

The Equinox gave the duo its best Billboard 200 placing, yet they split after it, worn down by years of thin label promotion.

Before he rapped, what was Pharoahe Monch's original role in the duo that became Organized Konfusion?

Beatboxer was his job while his partner handled the rapping. Once his own rhyming skill showed, he joined in as a second MC.

Which future D.I.T.C. rapper made his recording debut on Organized Konfusion's 1991 single Fudge Pudge?

O.C. was a childhood friend of the duo and the only guest on their debut album. A 2004 plan to add him as a third member fell through.

Which long-running horn band plays on Push, the lead single of Pharoahe Monch's second solo album?

Tower of Power supply the horns on the self-produced single, which borrows from Country Preacher by jazz keyboardist Joe Zawinul.

The music video for Pharoahe Monch's single Push is set during which 1977 New York City event?

A citywide blackout is the backdrop of Paul Minor's video, which fits a song critics heard as a throwback to 1970s funk.

Which rapper guests on The Truth from Pharoahe Monch's solo debut and on D.R.E.A.M. fifteen years later?

Talib Kweli shares the 1999 track with Common, then returns in 2014 on a song produced by longtime Monch collaborator Lee Stone.

Which old-school rapper ranked Pharoahe Monch 26th in his 2003 book on the fifty greatest MCs?

Kool Moe Dee placed him in There's a God on the Mic, a ranking that puts Monch in the company of Rakim and Slick Rick.

Which D.I.T.C. producer made The Light for Pharoahe Monch's debut and Shine more than a decade later?

Diamond D produced three tracks on the 1999 album. Shine, featuring singer Mela Machinko, became the first single from W.A.R. in 2010.

Which producer made a demo for Organized Konfusion in the late 1980s, shortly before he was murdered?

Paul C mentored the pair closely enough that Monch later said that without him there would have been no group and no solo career.

Which Philadelphia rapper trades verses with Pharoahe Monch on Rapid Eye Movement, from his 2014 album?

Black Thought, the voice of The Roots, appears on the track, one of three on the album produced by Marco Polo.

Which rock guitarist guests on the title track of W.A.R. and returns on Pharoahe Monch's next album?

Vernon Reid of Living Colour plays alongside Immortal Technique on W.A.R., then returns three years later on Stand Your Ground.