Sean Price’s solo debut Monkey Barz was released off of Duck Down Records on May 31, 2005. The album was part of Duck Down’s “Triple Threat” campaign. The campaign included the releases of Sean Price’s Monkey Barz, Buckshot and 9th Wonder’s Chemistry and Smif-N-Wessun’s Tek N Steele: Reloaded. All of the albums included in the campaign featured cover art designed by clothing designer Marc Ecko. The Monkey Barz cover art is based off of the Planet of the Apes series. The title itself is a play on words. Price is not referring to the playground equipment but rather to the idea that he writes bars that are tough, animalistic and intimidating like a monkey. This theme was also prevalent in the album’s prelude Donkey Sean Jr. “Rising to the Top” was featured in the 2001 video game Grand Theft Auto III. “Onion Head”, “Heartburn” and “Boom Bye Yeah” are standout tracks on the album.