Little Brother
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Little Brother | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Durham, North Carolina, United States |
| Genre(s) | Hip-Hop, Alternative |
| Years active | 2002–present |
| Label(s) | ABB Records (2002-2007) Atlantic Records (2005-2007) |
| Website | [1] |
| Members | |
| Rapper Big Pooh (2002–present) Phonte (2002–present) |
|
| Former members | |
| 9th Wonder (2002–2007) | |
Little Brother is an American hip-hop group from North Carolina that consists of Phonte and Rapper Big Pooh. Producer 9th Wonder was a part of the group since its inception, but left before recording the album Getback. Their debut album The Listening (2003) was highly acclaimed, and was followed by The Chitlin Circuit 1.5 mixtape in 2005 and the group's second album, The Minstrel Show, also released in 2005 and received a "XL" from XXL magazine and 4.5 Mics from The Source. The group tours frequently with their official DJ, Flash. In an interview with MVRemix.com, Phonte explained the origins of his group's name: "Tribe, De La, P.E....were like our big brothers in the game so now we are the little brothers of that movement...carrying on the tradition of good music."[1]
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[edit] History
[edit] Early Career
Little Brother formed in Durham, NC at North Carolina Central University in 1998. The group began as a trio, featuring members Phonte (Phonte Coleman), Big Pooh (Thomas Jones), and producer 9th Wonder (Pat Douthit). They are founding members of the North Carolina hip-hop collective called The Justus League, under the umbrella music group The Hall of Justus.
Their official debut came in August 2001 with their first recording, “Speed;” the song talks about making it big in the music business while still dealing with the troubles and hardships of life and holding down a full-time job. They continued to work the local scene and were picked up by ABB Records. In 2002, they released the cult hit 7" single Atari 2600, with lyrics centering around video games. In 2003, the group released their first full length album, The Listening. This record boosted the group to higher acclaim, but national recognition came when Jay-Z tapped 9th Wonder for the song "Threat," off of his eighth offering The Black Album.
[edit] Success
That fall, they opened for the Hieroglyphics crew on their Full Circle national tour. Little Brother’s second album, The Minstrel Show, saw increased success due to their raised popularity. Its theme compares present day rap music and the music industry to the minstrel shows of the late 1800s.
In 2005, Little Brother became embroiled in a short-lived feud, when Young Jeezy's protege Slick Pulla challenged the group to a battle after hearing an interview in which Phonte voiced some disapproval concerning drug rap and the "snowman|mascot". Little Brother did not respond, and instead, Phonte called Slick Pulla and the pair resolved the misunderstanding.
Outside of the group, Phonte collaborated with producer Nicolay as the Foreign Exchange, on Connected. Rapper Big Pooh released a solo album entitled Sleepers. 9th Wonder has produced songs for major artists like Jay-Z, De La Soul and Destiny's Child, as well as underground artists such as Sean Price, Hieroglyphics, Splash, and fellow members of The Justus League.
In addition, 9th has produced whole albums for Jean Grae (Jeanius), Murs (Murs 3:16: The 9th Edition), Buckshot (Chemistry) and a remix album of Nas' God's Son entitled God's Stepson. In this way he has helped to facilitate the return of albums done entirely by one MC and one producer, which have seen something of a resurgence (RJD2 and Aceyalone's Magnificent City, the upcoming DJ Premier and Royce da 5'9" joint album). He is also working on a second Buckshot/9th album, to be called The Formula.
In late 2006, Little Brother began recording their third album, and second for Atlantic Records, Getback. However, in a drastic turn of events, the group announced in January, 2007 that they would be parting ways with Atlantic[2]. The move from Atlantic was likely due to the commercial failure of The Minstrel Show, and creative differences over their future material. Big Pooh was quoted as saying "We as a group just felt that it was not in our best interest to remain in a situation where our needs were constantly being overlooked. We didn't have an A&R for The Minstrel Show. We don't have any type of relationship with our current A&R. There are just a lot of internal issues that ended up working against us." Their manager Big Dho added that there were no "ill feelings towards their (Atlantic) company."
On October 23, 2007 Little Brother released "Getback," the long awaited follow-up to the Minstrel Show. With no major video or radio airplay, Getback moved about 9,600 copies during its first week in stores and will land at No. 89 on the Billboard 200 charts. The album consists of 11 songs, and features several guests, most notably New Orleans rapper Lil Wayne. Lil Wayne had been long time fan of the group's work and was invited to spit the third verse for "Breakin My Heart". Little Brother is currently on a promotional tour along with L.A.- based hip hop artist Evidence.
Little Brother is currently working on becoming completely independent artists and putting out records on their own. Big Pooh is quoted as telling L.A. Record in a April 2008 interview that "For the next record, we definitely want ownership—the first record we’ll have 100% ownership of." [3]
[edit] 9th Wonder's departure
More of a surprise to fans was news that the group has also parted ways with their longtime producer 9th Wonder. Although 9th Wonder's role in the group was that of a producer, the group's tours only consisted of the other two members and his contribution to recent Little Brother releases such as Separate But Equal were less than before (although it is worth noting that this release was a mixtape and not an official album). Nonetheless, news that he would be playing a smaller role and contributing less to their third album indicated a divide between the members. Big Pooh stated that the decision was amicable on both sides, saying "This is just a decision that had to be made so all three of us could move forward and continue to provide the world with dope music." [4]
[edit] ...and Justus For All
After releasing "Getback" Phonte & Rapper Big Pooh decided to officially release their 2007 mixtape "...and Justus For All" This time it will be released through Hall Of Justus and they will have 100% ownership of the project. "We decided to officially release And Justus For All for the fans. Since all of our mixtapes are more like actual albums, many people have been requesting us for deejay free versions of these mixtapes. So to all of the fans out there that's been asking for it, you're welcome," Rapper Big Pooh told HipHopDX. "...and Justus For All will feature 5 new songs as well as enhanced mastered versions of songs on their 2007 mixtape with DJ Mick Boogie. The Cd Version will have 5 New songs for the album and the iTunes version will have 7 news songs. The iTunes version will link former groupmate 9th Wonder with the group with "Black Light Special". Now slated as a official album it is scheduled for release on June 10, 2008.
[edit] 2008 & Beyond
Phonte & Big Pooh are scheduled to release about 5 albums in 2008 but only one as "Little Brother (...and Justus For All). Phonte Plans to release the follow-up to his album with Nicholay as "The Foreign Exchange" titled "Leave It All Behind". Phonte then plans to release an album of 80's covers with Detroit Producer Zo! Titled "Zo! & Tigallo Love The 80's".
Rapper Big Pooh is planning his second solo album "Dirty Pretty Things" due in fall 2008. He is also planning a album with another Detroit based producer Young RJ with their collaboration "The Recipe". Then, Big Pooh is planning a mixtape with DJ Mick Boogie in promotion of "Dirty Pretty Things". The mixtape is still untitiled but Pooh held a contest on his myspace page for his fans to name the project. Then he plans to record a album with Virginia producer Nottz Called "Home Sweet Home" sometime in late 2008 or early 2009.
[edit] Future Of Little Brother
During a May interview with hiphopgame.com, Rapper Big Pooh hinted that him and Phonte May never record another album together. "That's so far in the future. We don't know if we are even gonna do another Little Brother album at this point. We are working on our personal projects right now. Next year sometime, after we went through and had time to do our thing, we're gonna come together and sit and try to figure some things to as making or putting out another Little brother Album".
[edit] Discography
- 2003: The Listening
- 2005: The Chitlin Circuit 1.5
- 2005: The Minstrel Show
- 2007: Getback
- 2008: And Justus For All
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Hall Of Justus
- RBMA Podcast: Lecture Session with Phonte Coleman (Little Brother, Lumberton, USA)
- Phonte RBMA video lecture session Pt.1
- Phonte RBMA video lecture session Pt.2
- Phonte RBMA video lecture session Pt.3
- Atlantic Records' Profile: Little Brother
- Myspace page
- DJ Flash's MySpace page
- The Justus League Message Board
- Little Brother Interview with Big Pooh
- Cream Magazine interview
- Little Brother Blogspot Fansite
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