by Omar Burgess
posted March 03, 2011
hiphopdx.com

As the release of "W.A.R." draws closer, Pharoahe explains his motivation for moving to Duck Down and why the new partnership works.

Four years since his last effort, Desire, Pharoahe Monch is set to release his upcoming album via Duck Down. During a recent listening session at NYU, Pharoahe explained why his upcoming album, W.A.R. [We Are Renegades], has been so long in the making—partially shouldering the blame by calling himself a slow writer.

“Two years ago I was at Universal in a meeting to renew my option, and what was going on at the majors was just extra wack at the time,” Pharoahe explained. After moving back to the independent circuit courtesy of a partnership with Duck Down, Monch, Duck Down CEO Dru Ha and Guy Routte of Renegade Media expressed their satisfaction with the joint venture.

“This is obviously a monumental occasion for Duck Down,” Dru Ha said. “We had the honor and privilege to partner with Pharoahe, Guy and W.A.R. Media to put out this record.”

Monch called Duck Down the most consistent, independent label in Hip Hop, and added that his the features on his upcoming album were mostly the byproduct of favors and mutual respect.

“The beautiful thing about it is it couldn’t have happened without the love and the contributions that most people did for free,” Pharoahe added. “I think they put their heart into this because they feel like we all need something and we’re all renegades—not to sound cliché. There’s a lot of effort from a lot of people who lent their selves to this project.”

One such person, Jean Grae, said she wrote eight different verses for the song “Assassins,” which also features Royce Da 5’9”. W.A.R. will be released March 22 via Duck Down.