14. Hip Hop fans had to wait eight long years for Pharoahe Monch to release the follow-up to his landmark debut album Internal Affairs, luckily he rewarded our patience with a superb sophomore effort. 
It seems like a man with the pedigree of Pharoahe Monch shouldn't need to prove himself, but the long layoff between albums surely had much to do with how hungry he sounds on Desire. Throughout its 47 minutes Pharoahe unleashes a barrage of expertly crafted metaphors with the speed and accuracy of a cruise missile. There's diatribes against the record industry (no doubt fueled by his battles with Rawkus Records and the labels that tried to woo him after they dissolved), lazy MC's ("Desire"), domestic violence ("Gun Draws") and even a homage to the poignancy of Public Enemy's politics ("Welcome to the Terrordome"). In all, it is a concise package that never relents in its power and persistence. With eight years since he was last in our collective consciousness, Pharoahe Monch makes sure he doesn't waste one second of our attention and reminds us that he's every bit the prolific MC he was when he instructed us to "Get the fuck up" in 1999.
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