“I’ll tell you what I see from the black man’s eyes…”
No one person can completely define what it means to be black in America. Nor should any one person want to; it’s a phenomeon full of too many diverse happenings and viewpoints. You can count Pharoahe Monch, Styles P and Phonte as the latest artists to celebrate the black experience with this soulful track “Black Hand Side.”
Mike Loe’s beat has that late 60s-early 70s soul instrumentation, the type of sound you hear as the intro to many of the ballads from that era. It’s one of those slow-grooving numbers highlighted by aching violins and brass horns. These type of melodies always have a bluesy element, and Phonte captures that perfectly with his singing. A Phonte verse is always missed, but his work here is still potent. Styles P goes in first, speaking on the poverty and social problems afflicting inner-city black communities. Monch builds on those thoughts, but goes further to take artists to task who celebrate criminality and sell out their music to become “pop stars.”
Monch has always been politically aware. It’s still nice to see that element remain in his music after all these years. Pharoahe Monch’s W.A.R. (We Are Renegades) will be available on March 22.
Beats, Boxing and Mayhem 