5,776 views

Watch
- Search Videos
  
  Advanced search »
- Submit a New Video
Discuss
About
- Try clicking on the various channels to see videos posted to that channel - if you're into music you can click the Music channel to get more music sifts - go on and explore! Use the "hotness" when you have opened the channel link to get videos that have gotten a lot of votes, or use "newness" to have a look at the new sifts.
  When browsing sifts you like, have a look at the Related Posts list to see other related videos, click the tags under the video title to see more sifts tagged with the same tags or have a look at other sifts from the same user in the More Posts By list. If the sifted video is in a play list, have a look at the play list to see other interesting videos the Sift users have linked together.
  Enter the Sift Lounge to chat with online sifters about anything and everything, or read interesting posts in the Sift Talk forum.
  The Top New Videos list is always full of interesting, current videos. It is always recommended that you have a look through the Top New Videos, but also have a look at these:
  - Upcoming Unsifted Videos - active video submissions that neither are published to the front page nor archived to the submitter's personal queue
- Have you seen a really funny, surprising, scary, interesting, cute or in any other way extra good quality video?
  Post and share it here - VideoSift is the best video aggregator on the Web, where we share, discuss, promote, and interact with the best videos out there on the web. Post it here, and share it with the large community of video-interested users. And - you are guaranteed to find more very good videos here already!
  Mind you, we only share videos you discover that someone else has made; if you "self link," by posting a video you have made, have posted or have interests in, you risk the ban hammer - read the posting guidelines before posting. The sift is NOT for promoting your own videos - it is for sharing videos others have made.
  Submit a Video Now »
Login

Pharoahe Monch - 'Simon Says'

submitted by michie

1 decade 6 years 10 months 3 weeks ago

Pharoahe Monch (born Troy Donald Jamerson on October 31, 1972) is an American hip hop artist from Queens, NY. He is known for his complex delivery and multi-syllabic rhyme schemes.

Pharoahe Monch's name is derived from the monkey dolls, Monchhichis. After receiving a bad haircut, which left Monch looking like a "chimpanzee", girls in Monch's High School class began calling him "Mon Chi Chi", which was later shortened to "Monch". Monch adopted the "Pharoahe" prefix after meeting future Organized Konfusion partner Prince Po. He chose the Pharaoh title while studying Egypt.

Monch released three albums as part of the rap duo, Organized Konfusion with partner Prince Poetry: The self-titled Organized Konfusion, Stress: The Extinction Agenda and The Equinox. The duo handled a large amount of production on these albums themselves. All albums received positive critical reviews, but moderate sales. As a result, the duo split up after recording their final album The Equinox in 1997. Prince Poetry has since denied the possibility of an Organized Konfusion reunion.

Pharoahe Monch then signed to Rawkus Records, an indie label. After making several guest appearances on albums like the best-selling Rawkus compilation Soundbombing 2, Monch's much-hyped debut, Internal Affairs was released in 1999. The first single of the album, Simon Says, was a major hit in 1999; he was later sued for the use of a Godzilla sample for the beat and forced to remove the song from the album as a result. He also had a 2001 hit with "Got You," though the single ultimately didn't sell well. In 2003, Pharoahe released his final single through Rawkus Records, "Agent Orange", a war inspired song which revisited the 1991 Organized Konfusion track "Releasing Hypnotical Gases".

Pharoahe's song "Simon Says" was featured in the 2000 cinematic release Charlie's Angels. Viewers will recognize the song and backbeat in the scene where Crispin Glover is lighting a cigarette in the castle, while holding Bosley hostage. Two of Monch's songs, "Right Here" and "Simon Says" were featured in the movie Boiler Room.

Pharoahe is also affiliated with the rap group The HRSMN. Although not a member of the group (there are only four real members), he is constantly linked to someday join the group when/if they ever expand.

There were rumors his next album, Innervisions, was to be released under Denaun Porter's new Shady Records imprint Runyon Ave., but apparently the deal fell through; Monch has since announced a deal with Street Records Corporation, home of Wu-Tang Clan, David Banner and Terror Squad. The album was scheduled to be released in late 2006 but has been pushed back to April, 2007. The new album is now going to be called Desire. Monch says about the album; "...it's very soulful, very gospel, a fresh, new sound for me." The album's lead single is the self-produced track "Push", with "Let's Go" as its B-Side. The song's music video and single were released in late September 2006. Monch released a new music video entitled "When the Gun Draws" at a Brooklyn music festival in February, 2007.

Monch also produced and ghost-wrote the track The Future and ghost-wrote the track Hold Up with Mobb Deep member Havoc on rap mogul Diddy's latest album Press Play. His writing is evident in both the content and the delivery of Diddy's rhymes.

http://www.pharoahe-monch.com/