#NerdSwag [Reviews] ARMY OF THE PHARAOHS / PHAROAHE MONCH

Why hello Pharoahs. Welcome to another downright dirty edition of #NerdSwag. Ironic you see, today we have a legendary rhymesayer and an on-the-way to legendary supergroup doing their finest Egyptian, hip-hop magician thing. But before we get on with the reviews, I’ve got to send a huge shout-out to a threesome of Queens legends: Prodigy and Havoc, otherwise known as Mobb Deep-deep-dee-de-d.. (for their new, yet feels refreshingly old again, LP, The Infamous Mobb Deep), and, my favorite emcee of all time, Nas. This past week saw the 20-year anniversary of Illmatic, Moody’s as-close-as-its-gon-get #2 hip-hop album of all time. Timeless both lyrically and musically, Nas’ debut was an inspiration to thousands upon millions of 80s babies; a life lesson that anything can be accomplished with dreams. Especially, street dreams. All hail the real King of New York.

For now, let’s enjoy some lyrical etymology.

IN DEATH REBORN

Let’s just say.. I’ve been dying to get my hands on an Army of the Pharaohs joint in quite some time. It certainly hasn’t helped that last year watched Esoteric go full Machete Mode with Czarface, Apathy and Celph Titled’s Demigodz joint pronounce it Killmatic, and founding father — and Jedi Mind Tricks frontman — Vinnie Paz do nothing less than Carry on Tradition. 2K13 was no doubt a very good year for AOTP, and that was without an album. Four years and three studio albums later, it’s that fucking time to get the band back together.

DMX was wrong. Hell is fucking cold.

For two albums. According to Vinnie, In Death Reborn will see a follow-up come November. And, hell, even if that shit gets delayed, there’s enough heat from this “next-gen Wu-Tang” in these 14-tracks to satisfy your most gutter geek needs. What I mean by that is, these dudes put the fire in the most sci-fi/fantasy/superhero of rap topics, all the while sounding as ferocious as the topics they speak. “I got no time for extra shit / I’m like a bad film editor with extra clips… / I’m on the throne, all alone, where the devil sits… / Laugh at the believer, you benevolent / He only half as nice, sacrifice the sentiment / Praise be to God, he define logical / Put me at the foul line, take 2 shots at you.”

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