th1rt3en is the combative new project from legendary Jamaica, Queens rapper Pharoahe Monch joined by musical assassins Jack White drummer Daru Jones + renowned guitarist, Marcus Machado. The debut album, ‘A Magnificent Day For An Exorcism,’is slated for release January 22 via Fat Beats Records and speaks to the cleansing that we need from societal ills and a world gone mad.
A dynamic, dizzying exploration of hyper consumerism and political corruption, police brutality and murder, the trio recently shared lead single Fight (ft. Cypress Hill). Now, they share the epic new track 666 (Three Six Word Stories) which finds the band musically covering Black Sabbath’s Hand of Doom so authentically that Sabbath band members thought it was a sample rather than a replay. After Monch sent a letter to explain his intent with the song, the band allowed th1rt3en to use their composition for this new song.
“666 (Three Six Word Stories) was not written for the sake of simply being provocative,” explains Monch, “but to be able to spaz out over a dark groove, losing all control, allow Marcus, Daru and myself to clear a path through this heavy darkness and forge through towards the light at the end of the archaic tunnel we’re all collectively experiencing. I also wanted to embellish on the legend of Ernest Hemmingway’s six word story, so I wrote three six word stories at the end of the song, hence the title 666.” Listen to 666 (Three Six Word Stories) via YouTube below. You can also check out a live performance of the track + some commentary on the song here.
Pharoahe Monch has had a hall of fame career thus far, first as a member of the 90’s group Organized Konfusion and even more notably as a solo artist revered by his peers including Eminem and Questlove. He recently collaborated with beloved rap group De La Soul and fellow hip hop veterans Styles P, Talib Kweli, Mysonne, and Chuck D for the Supa Dave West-produced Remove 45, a call to arms about removing Trump from office. Aggressive, abrasive, often irreverent and fearless with their examination of the world today, the propelling percussion, bewitching hooks, elite lyricism and brilliant guitar work makes for a sonic explosion worthy of the best of all genres. In a landscape where we are constantly being conditioned to shrink our thinking into social media’s algorithm and age demographic, the world is in need of reflection and atonement and th1rt3en is just the band to get the process started.
