The album was resurrected by Pharoahe Monch himself in 2019, 20 years following its initial release. The album’s success and demise were both based on its lead single »Simon Says« produced by Pharoahe and his now long time collaborator Lee Stone using a sample from the »Main Title« of the 1964 movie »Mothra vs. Godzilla« by Akira Ifukube. After being brought to Funkmaster Flex and Hot 97 by Pharoahe’s friend Busta Rhymes, the intended club banger »Simon Says« became the unavoidable radio and summer hit and was licensed for use in several movies.
Unsurprisingly, the fact that the sample had – in fact – not been cleared, although Pharoahe had provided the label with the necessary info, was no longer to be ignored. The master owner Toho Music sued and – as the story goes – Rawkus missed several potential opportunities to retroactively clear the sample. And so the single and the album including the single had to be withdrawn from record stores and whatever amount of copies there still were had to be destroyed at a time when »Internal Affairs« was doing extremely well. About five years ago now, Pharoahe made the album available on all streaming services on his own label for the first time and re-released it on vinyl in collaboration with Fat Beats.
»Internal Affairs« marks Pharoahe’s transition from being part of a Hip Hop group with at least two rapping members, which were way more prevalent in the 80ies and 90ies, to a solo artist. As one half of the seminal band Organized Konfusion (alongside Prince Po), he started releasing albums in 1991 with the self-titled »Organized Konfusion« until the group broke up following their third effort »The Equinox« in 1997. That transition made him face the challenge (of course also being a desired chance) to write and perform songs without a constant partner to rely upon, but also to collaborate with other MCs for which was no comparable room during OK times. Being a chronic asthmatic, that challenge was both a physical and a psychological one.
Your favourite rapper’s favourite rapper
The challenge resulted in the 15 tracks that became »Internal Affairs«, about half of them produced or co-produced by Pharoahe himself, including a »Simon Says« remix. The Intro is followed by »Behind Closed Doors«, an aggressive track based on some low end piano and brass sounds from the soundtrack of a 60ies Sidney Poitier movie. Pharaohe starts with »What is a scorpion? An animal that stings« in reference to Pharoahe’s zodiac sign and LL Cool J‘s »What is a panther? An animal that kills« from 1990’s »To Da Break Of Dawn«.
Of course, Pharoahe being Pharoahe, it’s not enough to just amend one line from another guy from Queens, but instead he reworks a total of six of LL’s bars in a row. Maybe one out of hundreds of reasons why Monch is also often referred to as »your favourite rapper’s favourite rapper« – with LL and Eminem shouting him out on a regular basis. The track perfectly shows Pharoahe’s almost absurd attention to detail as well as his nerdiness and lyricism.
As a producer he slides in some Q snippets from an obscure soundtrack, thus indirectly references the first black actor to ever receive an Oscar while being a strong social voice and effortlessly pays homage to LL by adapting almost half a verse to Pharoahe’s world. And while doing all that, he creates great music, another aggressive banger of which there a quite a few on Internal Affairs – next to »Simon Says« e.g. »Rape« (rape as in: Pharaohe dominating the beat) or »No Mercy« feat. M.O.P, an earlier Alchemist production.
There is also warmer and sometimes almost lighthearted stuff such as »Queens« based on a Maxwell sample on which Pharoahe raps and sings about experiences in the borough he was born and lives in until this day. With »The Light« a Diamond D produced love declaration to a girl named Valerie and with »The Truth« a soulful collaboration with – at the time – Rawkus label mate Talib Kweli and Common, again by Diamond D.
The most important thing about »Internal Affairs« might be that the album and the entailing turmoil around lawsuits (also due to »Simon Says«), which led to being blocked from releasing music for quite a bit, have been the foundation for a long-lasting and still active, by now independent solo career. It prepared Monch to create and release four more albums, all of which have been gifts to mankind, including the 2021 group effort by th1rt3en with drummer Daru Jones and guitarist Marcus Machado. If mankind is lucky, »Internal Affairs« will be followed up about 25 years after its initial release by »External Affairs«. Should it take a little longer, it definitely won’t hurt the outcome and accordingly mankind neither.
