Army of the Pharaohs

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.

[1] 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.

The 2007 follow-up album, Ritual of Battle, saw Jus Allah and JMT protégés Doap Nixon and Demoz joining the Pharaohs.

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.

[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.

[9] 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 was now composed of Paz, Kamachi, 7L & Esoteric, OuterSpace, Apathy, Celph Titled, Reef the Lost Cauze, Des Devious, King Syze and Faez One.

Ritual of Battle's single, "Bloody Tears", used a sample taken from the soundtrack of the video game series Castlevania.

[17] In 2008, Chief Kamachi of JuJu Mob left Army of the Pharaohs due to an apparent feud with Vinnie Paz and Apathy.

"[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.

[28] Reef the Lost Cauze released a collaboration album titled Fast Way alongside producer Emyd on March 9, 2014.

[31] Apathy pushed back the release date of his upcoming album Connecticut Casual from April to June in favour of In Death Reborn.

[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.

[36] On February 13, 2020, King Magnetic released his diss track towards Vinnie Paz entitled "Be Quiet", thus removing himself from the collective.

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.

This is what resulted in the releases of the diss track "Be Quiet" by Magnetic which was supposedly recorded many years earlier.

[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.

AOTP logo (as seen on In Death Reborn )
Prominent members of the group, 2006