Pharoahe Monch at Band on the Wall

Although he may be best known globally for the Godzilla-sampling dancefloor-gurning smash Simon Says, there are many more dimensions to the Queens rapper known as Pharoahe Monch, who owes the foundation of his distinctive lyrical delivery to jazz influences. First solo album Infernal Affairs is a staple classic of the (defining hip hop label) Rawkus years but this tour takes place on the eve of the launch of his fourth, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, continuing the narrative from his last work W.A.R. of an independent artist at war with the music industry ‘and the struggle of the black male experience in America’. P.T.S.D will also feature Talib Kweli, Black Thought of the Roots and Stones Throw instrumentalists The Stepkids. Currently enjoying a reunion of Organized Konfusion with Prince Po, Pharoahe is at the top of his game and catching him on this sound system is a no brainer. Support comes from the unmissable Ape Cult and the In The Loop crew.

Thu 13 Feb, Band On The Wall, 25 Swan Street, M4 5JZ. Tel: 0161 834 1786, 8pm, £15, www.seetickets.com

Thanks to Groovement