th1rt3en share scorching ‘Cult 45’ video

Th1rt3en press photo
Photo Credit: Zoi Ellis

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. A dynamic, dizzying exploration of hyper consumerism and political corruption, police brutality and murder, the prestigious trio previously shared album cuts Fight (ft. Cypress Hill) and 666 (Three Six Word Stories) which finds the band musically covering Black Sabbath’s Hand of Doom. The band gave their first live performance on their dynamic NPR Tiny Desk Concert, released on Monday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  

th1rt3en has shared the searing Cult 45 single + video to coincide with their debut album release. Monch describes the song as “verbal voodoo” and wants it to speak to an exorcism from hyper consumerism and political corruption, with 45 only as a backdrop for a commentary on the entire system. 

Executive produced, written and directed by Pharoahe Monch, he shares: “The video is a continuation from Fight in the sense that the band is exorcising yet another systemic thorn from the soul of the oppressed. Police brutality against the black man. The occult’s manipulation of the masses behind the veil of democracy. This song speaks to the overall temperament of the album. The frustration with fighting the evil perpetrated against us. th1rt3en is tired of holding hands and singing hymns. We’ve been assigned from a higher power to combat you on your own terms. In this existence head on. Here, hold this voodoo! Fuck you!” 

Watch the Cult 45 video via YouTube below.

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 veteransStyles 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. 

The debut album, ‘A Magnificent Day For An Exorcism,’ was released on Friday, January 22 via Fat Beats Records. 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.