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Army of the Pharaohs

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This article is about the U.S. hip hop group. For the military and history topic, see military of ancient Egypt.

Army of the Pharaohs (most commonly abbreviated as AOTP or A.O.T.P.) is an American underground hip hop collective originating from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, formed by Jedi Mind Tricks founder Vinnie Paz in 1998. The collective has strong links to other underground east coast groups such as OuterSpace, Snowgoons, La Coka Nostra, Demigodz, 7L & Esoteric, and JuJu Mob. AOTP's affiliations and member roster has changed several times since its formation.[1]

Army of the Pharaohs
The group in 2014
The group in 2014
Background information
OriginPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Genres
Years active1998–present
(hiatus 2015–2021)
Labels
MembersApathy (DGZ)
Block McCloud
Celph Titled (DGZ)
Crypt the Warchild (OS)
Demoz (OPG)
Des Devious (QD)
Esoteric (DGZ)
King Syze
Planetary (OS)
Reef the Lost Cauze (JM)
Vinnie Paz (JMT)
Zilla
Past members7L
Bahamadia
Blacastan (DGZ) (deceased)
Chief Kamachi (JM)
Faez One
Journalist
Jus Allah (JMT)
Stoupe (JMT)
Virtuoso
King Magnetic
Doap Nixon (OPG)
AOTP logo (as seen on In Death Reborn)

Paz formed the outfit in the late 1990s with the original roster of Bahamadia, Chief Kamachi, Virtuoso, 7L & Esoteric, plus Jedi Mind Tricks' other member Stoupe the Enemy of Mankind. The group first released the "Five Perfect Exertions" and "War Ensemble" 12" on Paz's short-lived Recordings in 1998, but then the underground supergroup remained silent for several years.[2] After a couple of successful Jedi Mind Tricks albums and a new deal with Babygrande by 2003, Paz resurrected the crew, adding OuterSpace, Celph Titled, Reef the Lost Cauze, King Syze, Des Devious, and Apathy; however, Stoupe, Bahamadia, and Virtuoso had defected from the group. Babygrande issued their "Tear It Down" 12" and first album, The Torture Papers, in 2006. The 2007 follow-up album, Ritual of Battle, saw Jus Allah and JMT protégés Doap Nixon and Demoz joining the Pharaohs.[3]

The Unholy Terror was released in March 2010.[4] This album marked the return of Apathy and the addition of two new AOTP members, Block McCloud and Journalist. Two songs, "Godzilla" and "Contra Mantra", were released before the album. This album also marked the departure of Chief Kamachi who left the group because of business issues and an apparent feud with Vinnie Paz and Apathy.[5]

In early 2011, Paz announced on his Facebook page that In Death Reborn is due to be released in 2012, however the date was pushed back and almost seemed like it was never going to be released.[6] Early in 2012, Houston underground MC VZilla and Connecticut's Blacastan were added to the group. Both artists have made names for themselves with their features and album releases in 2012. In Death Reborn was eventually released in April 2014.[7] The album featured members Vinnie Paz, Apathy, Blacastan, Block McCloud, Celph Titled, Demoz, Des Devious, Doap Nixon, Esoteric, Lawrence Arnell,[8] King Magnetic, King Syze, OuterSpace, Reef the Lost Cauze and VZilla. Their fifth studio album, Heavy Lies the Crown was released in October 2014.[9]

Recording history

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1998–2003: The original incarnation of the group

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The original incarnation of the group included five MCs: Vinnie Paz, Chief Kamachi, Esoteric, Virtuoso, and Bahamadia, along with Jedi Mind Tricks producer Stoupe the Enemy of Mankind. The group released their debut EP/single "The Five Perfect Exertions b/w War Ensemble" in 1998.[10] Both tracks were later included on Jedi Minds Tricks' 2000 album Violent by Design; with "The Five Perfect Exertions" being remixed into "Exertions Remix", and both "Exertions" and "War Ensemble" shedding Chief Kamachi's appearance. The Army of the Pharaohs project was put on the back-burner while JMT's career took off.[11] In 2003, AOTP released their debut compilation album Rare Shit, Collabos and Freestyles.[12] It contained various tracks from members of the group.[13]

2004–2007: Torture Papers and Ritual of Battle

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Prominent members of the group, 2006

The group did not return until 2005, without Virtuoso and Bahamadia. The group was now composed of Paz, Kamachi, 7L & Esoteric, OuterSpace, Apathy, Celph Titled, Reef the Lost Cauze, Des Devious, King Syze and Faez One. After years of anticipation, the group recorded its first album, The Torture Papers.[14] It was released in March 2006 on Babygrande Records. The album was produced by AOTP affiliates such as DC the MIDI Alien, Undefined, Beyonder, Loptimist, and German producer Shuko. The album includes the singles "Tear It Down" and "Battle Cry", the former having a music video. The latter was a posse cut with nine of the group's then ten members. The album entered the top 50 on Billboard's Top Independent Album Chart, and reached #42 on the magazine's Heatseekers chart. An unofficial continuation of The Torture Papers soon began circulating around the Internet called The Bonus Papers. It was composed of tracks not released on the album as it was thought that the songs didn't fit the artistic design of the album while others were known to have been extremely political and were possibly held back to reduce controversy.[15]

Army of the Pharaohs released another mixtape in 2007 titled After Torture There's Pain. As the name suggests, it was released as an addition to their debut album; The Torture Papers.[16] The group's second album, Ritual of Battle, was released on September 25, 2007. Ritual of Battle's single, "Bloody Tears", used a sample taken from the soundtrack of the video game series Castlevania. The group added four new members for the album: Jedi Mind Tricks member Jus Allah, Doap Nixon, Demoz and King Magnetic. Apathy was not on Ritual of Battle as he was working on another project with Styles of Beyond.[17]

2008–2010: Chief Kamachi feud and The Unholy Terror

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In 2008, Chief Kamachi of JuJu Mob left Army of the Pharaohs due to an apparent feud with Vinnie Paz and Apathy. He released a diss track titled First Warning taking aim at Paz and Apathy. Apparently, it started over an e-mail Apathy didn't respond to from Kamachi, what was written in the e-mail hasn't been disclosed.[5] Chief Kamachi later went on to saying It wasn't nothing personal, it was more or less a business decision.[18][19] On May 17, 2009, Apathy mentioned on his Myspace blog that a new AOTP album was completely finished. The Unholy Terror was released on March 30, 2010.[4] This album marked the return of Apathy and the addition of two new AOTP members, Block McCloud and Journalist. Two songs, "Godzilla" and "Contra Mantra", were released before the album. This album also marked the departure of Chief Kamachi who left the group because of business issues.

2011–2014: In Death Reborn and Heavy Lies the Crown

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On December 27, 2011, Paz announced on his Facebook page "Army of the Pharaohs – In Death Reborn – 2012".[6] Early in 2012, Houston underground MC V-Zilla and Connecticut's Blacastan (Demigodz) were added to the group. Both artists have made names for themselves with their features and album releases in 2012. It has been said that the album will now be released in 2013 or later. Rumours speculated on Facebook saying that Reef the Lost Cauze would not appear on the album.[6] However, on November 27, 2013 he tweeted how it's "bullshit" and he is going to be on the album.[20] The Army of the Pharaohs will reunite for their fourth LP, In Death Reborn.[21] In April 2013, the official Facebook page of Army of the Pharaohs posted "New album is not finished. Don't know when it will be finished. Will let you know when there's a release date. No need for further questions."[22] On June 27, 2013, AOTP frontman Vinnie Paz tweeted "New solo EP. New Heavy Metal Kings. New Army of the Pharaohs. all coming within the next year."[23]

On 4, October 2013, Apathy shared; "Every AOTP album we've done in the past, we all handed in our verses via email and weren't too hands-on with. This one is different. Every day we've been emailing each other, going over songs... picking beats and showing each other our verses. This might be the best Pharaoh album yet. It definitely is the illest, lyrically. We're all having brotherly competition and trying to murder each other on these songs. It's great. Definite "A" game." [24] On November 30, 2013, Vinnie Paz revealed that two new Army of the Pharaohs albums would be released in 2014. In Death Reborn is slated for an April release, the second LP is expected to drop in November.[25] On February 11, 2014, Celph Titled announced via Facebook that In Death Reborn would be released April 22, 2014.[26]

Many members of the group had released, or were working on, other projects around the time of In Death Reborn. This period was dubbed "The Pharaoh Season".[27] In promotion for In Death Reborn, Vinnie Paz released The Flawless Victory mixtape on March 2, 2014.[28] Reef the Lost Cauze released a collaboration album titled Fast Way alongside producer Emyd on March 9, 2014.[29] Member Doap Nixon only appeared on the song 7th Ghost from the album, however, he went on to say how he was only featured on one song because he had a lot of personal stuff going on and he is currently working on his fourth studio album Sour Diesel 2, he stated that there will be more of him on the LP that is due to drop in November.[30] King Syze released his fourth studio album a month before the album release on March 25 titled Union Terminology, where he speaks out about working as a union trader.[31] Apathy pushed back the release date of his upcoming album Connecticut Casual from April to June in favour of In Death Reborn.[32] Former Pharaoh Jus Allah didn't make an appearance on the album as he is currently working on his second studio album M.M.A. (Meanest Man Alive).[33] A week before the release of In Death Reborn, Zilla announced he was working on his fourth studio album titled Martyr Musick set to be released sometime June 2014.[34]

On August 6, 2014, the content was published on the Jedi Mind Tricks website announcing the second AOTP album of the year Heavy Lies the Crown set for a release on October 21, 2014. Six months after In Death Reborn.[35]

2015–2021: Hiatus and fallout among members

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As of 2015, the group has been on a hiatus whilst they all focus on their solo careers and other ventures. In a 2018 poll, Jedi Mind Tricks, the group that spawned AOTP scored 43.64% in a comparison with rival hip hop group Slum Village, who scored 56.34% as the G.O.A.T. rap group in the fourth installment of Ambrosia For Heads' annual battle series features.[36]

On February 13, 2020, King Magnetic released his diss track towards Vinnie Paz entitled "Be Quiet", thus removing himself from the collective.[37] The next day on February 14, 2020, Doap Nixon subsequently released another diss track towards Paz entitled "Leg Shot" on the same day as Paz's fourth studio album As Above So Below, thus removing himself from the collective as well.[38] Within their tracks, they both announced their departure from the supergroup.[39] The issues between the pair and Paz supposedly started in 2009 with numerous trivial matters which were all squashed in 2015. Magnetic caught up with Paz after his 2016 Jedi Mind Tricks show in Albuquerque, New Mexico and agreed to put aside the differences they had. Unfortunately however, with Nixon's release of Sour Diesel II, Paz threatened to remove his lyrics and track contributions on the album unless Nixon removed King Magnetic's verses from his album. This is what resulted in the releases of the diss track "Be Quiet" by Magnetic which was supposedly recorded many years earlier.[40]

2022–present: Death of Blacastan

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In February 2022, it was reported that AOTP member Blacastan had died.[41] As a result, members; Apathy, Celph Titled, Esoteric, Vinnie Paz, Crypt the Warchild, and Planetary reconnected again as Army of the Pharaohs to release the single "Blac Prime Minister" in May 2022 to pay tribute to Blacastan.[42] This would be the first time after 8 years members performed as AOTP. The last time being with the release of their fifth studio album, Heavy Lies the Crown, in 2014.[43]

Members

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Main article: List of Army of the Pharaohs members

Album appearances

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Rapper The Torture Papers (2006) Ritual of Battle (2007) The Unholy Terror (2010) In Death Reborn (2014) Heavy Lies the Crown (2014)
Vinnie Paz Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Celph Titled Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Crypt the Warchild Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Des Devious Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Esoteric Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
King Syze Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Planetary Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Reef the Lost Cauze Yes Yes Yes Yes[20][44] Yes
Apathy Yes No Yes Yes Yes
Demoz No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Doap Nixon No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Block McCloud No No Yes Yes Yes
Blacastan No No No Yes Yes
Zilla No No No Yes Yes
Lawrence Arnell No No No Yes Yes
King Magnetic No Yes Yes Yes No
Jus Allah No Yes Yes No[33] No
Chief Kamachi Yes Yes No No No
Faez One Yes No No No No
Journalist No No Yes No No

Discography

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Main article: Army of the Pharaohs discography

Studio albums

References

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  1. ^ "Celph Titled and Buckwild – Nineteen Ninety Now album review". Archived from the original on February 22, 2013. Retrieved December 15, 2019.
  2. ^ "Celebrity Photo Gallery, Celebrity Wallpapers, Celebrity Videos, Bio, News, Songs, Movies". in.com. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
  3. ^ Army of the Pharaohs on Answers Archived March 15, 2014, at the Wayback Machine Written by Cyril Cordor, Rovi
  4. ^ a b "PodOmatic - Podcast - Conspiracy Worldwide Hip Hop Radio - [Part 1] CREATIVE MINDS SPECIAL w/ Live Guests - Kanye West & G.O.O.D. Music's Big Sean - Celph Titled & Buckwild - Copywrite - Duckdown Records' Black Rob - Blame One - Q Bert - Cutmaster Swift - Sally DMC and more!". PodOmatic. Archived from the original on July 2, 2011. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
  5. ^ a b "Chief Kamachi - First Warning". YouTube. December 7, 2010. Archived from the original on June 28, 2014. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
  6. ^ a b c "Sharif Lacey - Sons sleep, its raining, I'm bored. Gonna... - Facebook". Facebook. Archived from the original on January 16, 2016. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
  7. ^ Vinnie Paz announces official cover and release date for In Death Reborn Archived March 4, 2014, at the Wayback Machine on Twitter (Accessed: February 14, 2014)
  8. ^ "Amazon.com: Army Of The Pharaohs: In Death Reborn [2XLP][Explicit]: Music". Amazon. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
  9. ^ Apathy tweets: Archived August 19, 2014, at the Wayback Machine 10-21-14
  10. ^ "That Realness Is Now Closed!!!". Archived from the original on November 29, 2014. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
  11. ^ "Army of the Pharaohs". Last.fm. Archived from the original on June 26, 2015. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
  12. ^ "Army Of The Pharaohs - Rare Shit, Collabos And Freestyles (CDr) at Discogs". Discogs.com. Archived from the original on September 25, 2015. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
  13. ^ "Son Profil - Xhellz - Skyrock.com". Skyrock. Retrieved March 9, 2015.[permanent dead link]
  14. ^ Muhammet the Slav (May 30, 2014). "Army Of The Pharaohs - Ritual Of Battle - tracklisting, reviews, producer". UGHH. Archived from the original on September 13, 2007. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
  15. ^ Army Pharaohs - Bonus Papers Archived February 21, 2014, at the Wayback Machine (Accessed: March 2005)
  16. ^ Publié par Fubar (Sharp Tongue) (March 7, 2013). "Underground Hardcore Rap: Army of the Pharaohs - After Torture There's Pain (2006)". Undergroundhardcorerap.blogspot.co.uk. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. Retrieved March 1, 2014.
  17. ^ "JMTHIPHOP.COM - Official Home of Jedi Mind Tricks, Vinnie Paz, and Army of the Pharaohs". Archived from the original on March 9, 2015. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
  18. ^ Kevin Nottingham interviews Kamachi Archived February 9, 2014, at archive.today chief-kamachi-speaks-on-fallout-with-jedi-mind-tricksaotp-new-album
  19. ^ "chief kamachi and apathy go at it against each other on interview ..." Rapmusic.com. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
  20. ^ a b Reef The Lost Cauze [@LostCauze] (November 27, 2013). "@whut14 its bullshit man" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  21. ^ "New Army Of The Pharaohs & Vinnie Paz Projects Due 2012 « HipHopSite.Com". HipHopSite.Com. Archived from the original on September 21, 2013. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
  22. ^ "Army of the pharaohs". Facebook. Archived from the original on January 16, 2016. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
  23. ^ Vinnie the Chin [@vinnie_paz] (June 27, 2013). "new solo EP. new Heavy Metal Kings. new Army of the Pharaohs. all coming within the next year, fuckos" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  24. ^ Apathy updates on In Death Reborn album Archived February 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine "Something Different" (October 4, 2013)
  25. ^ Apathy tweets: Archived February 27, 2014, at the Wayback Machine AOTP "In Death Reborn". April.
  26. ^ Vinnie the Chin [@vinnie_paz] (February 11, 2014). "Army of the Pharaohs - In Death Reborn 4.22.14" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  27. ^ Pinstame Archived July 13, 2015, at the Wayback Machine #PharaohSeason]
  28. ^ Flawless Victory - Vinnie Paz Archived November 11, 2014, at the Wayback Machine (02)
  29. ^ The Fast Way - Reef the Lost Cauze x Emyd Archived July 11, 2015, at the Wayback Machine (Released: March 9, 2014)
  30. ^ Underground Vault [Update 2] on Sour Diesel 2 (Accessed: March 2014)
  31. ^ King Syze' tweet about his album: Union Terminology Archived March 21, 2014, at the Wayback Machine (Released: March 25, 2014)
  32. ^ Status on Twitter Archived February 27, 2014, at the Wayback Machine by Apathy (rapper) stating the date for Connecticut Casual is pushed back to June 2014 (Accessed: February 1, 2014)
  33. ^ a b "Army of the Pharaohs - In Death Reborn". MEO Music. Retrieved March 9, 2015.[permanent dead link]
  34. ^ The Underground Vault Archived February 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine interview with V-Zilla (April 8, 2014)
  35. ^ Heavy Lies the Crown CONFIRMED Archived September 28, 2014, at the Wayback Machine (jmthiphop.com)
  36. ^ Heads, Ambrosia For (April 18, 2018). "Finding The GOAT Group: Slum Village vs. Jedi Mind Tricks. Who Is Better?". Ambrosia For Heads. Archived from the original on August 25, 2018. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
  37. ^ "King Magnetic "Be Quiet" (Vinnie Paz Diss)". YouTube. Archived from the original on December 13, 2021. Retrieved February 15, 2020.
  38. ^ "Leg Shot: Vinnie Paz Diss - Doap Nixon". YouTube. Archived from the original on December 13, 2021. Retrieved February 15, 2020.
  39. ^ "Doap Nixon Leg Shot Vinnie Pas Diss". www.siccness.net. February 14, 2020. Retrieved February 15, 2020.
  40. ^ "#WHATSBEEF: King Magnetic - "Be Quiet (Vinnie Paz Diss)" | RESPECT". Respect-mag.com. February 14, 2020. Retrieved February 15, 2020.
  41. ^ "AOTP & Demigodz Member Blacastan Has Passed Away". ambrosiaforheads.com.
  42. ^ "Army of The Pharaohs - 'Blac Prime Minister'". May 10, 2022.
  43. ^ Die, Legends Will Never (May 6, 2022). "Army of the Pharaohs Pay Their Final Respects to the "Blac Prime Minister"".
  44. ^ Vinnie the Chin [@vinnie_paz] (January 23, 2014). "@JohnJScanlon3 Reef is on mad songs" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
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