RECORDINGS Quick Spins

Nothing but instrumentals for the Beastie Boys: From left, Mike Diamond, Adam Horovitz and Adam Yauch. (By Amber Novak For The Washington Post)

DESIRE

Pharoahe Monch

You won't hear rapper Pharoahe Monch's stellar new album on the radio. Why? It's certainly not for lack of superb songwriting, bumping beats and shrewd rhymes. Songs like the title track and "Hold On," the latter featuring a cameo from Erykah Badu, could easily stack up to anything on the urban airwaves today. No, it's because of who Monch is: a 15-year denizen of "backpack rap," hip-hop's ghetto for the esoteric and eclectic. That's a shame. "Desire" is a full, robust statement from an artist in an era when most rappers can't complete a single original thought.

Alas, here's what everyone will be missing: Pharoahe Monch blasting out of the gate with the rock-infused "Free"; galloping on to metaphors galore, as he "dies laughing like John Ritter" and "lays in the cut like Neosporin"; channeling Chuck D. in a full-fledged cover of Public Enemy's "Welcome to the Terrordome"; and ditching hip-hop for other rhythms whenever he feels like it.

Monch's desire for perfection is upstaged only by his quest for justice. Even on an album of abundant riches, two arresting tracks stand out. On "When the Gun Draws," Monch decries gun violence in a novel way: He inhabits not the character of the shooter nor the victim, but the bullet. And on the finale, "Trilogy," Monch opens a three-episode "Rashomon"-style window on one incident of domestic violence, refusing to fill in the blanks for the lazy listener.

Add to these virtual tragedies a real misfortune: that most people won't be listening to one of the few hip-hop artists with something to say.

DOWNLOAD THESE: "Desire," "When the Gun Draws," "Welcome to the Terrordome"

-- Dan Charnas

THE MIX-UP