Artist Profile: Little Brother

Little Brother is a 3-man hip-hop group that started in 1998 at North Carolina Central University in Durham, NC. I've been a huge fan since I picked up their debut album "The Listening" in 2003 when I was a freshman at UNC-Chapel Hill. "The Listening" was a true throwback to early 90's hip-hop. Little Brother chose their name because they said they felt like they were the younger brothers of groups like A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, and Public Enemy. "The Listening" featured sample heavy soul beats provided by producer 9th Wonder and rhymes about everyday struggles by Phonte and Big Pooh.

Before releasing their next album in 2005, Phonte worked on a side project with a producer from the Netherlands named Nicolay. Together as The Foreign Exchange, they released their collaborative effort called "Connected." During this time Big Pooh also released a solo mixtape entitled "Sleepers" and producer 9th Wonder worked with world-famous artists like Jay-Z, Beyonce, and Memphis Bleek. The group released a mixtape called "The Chitlin Circuit 1.5" which featured unreleased tracks that had been recorded during 2003-2004.

The 2005, release was called "The Minstrel Show" and once again featured soul samples provided by 9th Wonder along with contemplative rhymes. This album received a large amount of critical acclaim including 4.5 out of 5 microphone rating from The Source magazine. The album would turn out to be the groups last album as a 3-man team. Soon after the release of "The Minstrel Show," 9th Wonder left the group. Both sides maintain that there was no animosity but simply creative differences. 9th Wonder teaches a hip-hop history class at NCCU and continues to produce for a wide variety of hip-hop artist.

Little Brother continued to tour in 2006 and 2007 and in late 2007, the now duo released their third album, "Getback." This album featured production from a wider variety of producers including Illmind and Denaun Porter but still featured one track from 9th Wonder. I really enjoyed "Getback" and the expansion of Little Brother's new sound but at the same time I missed the congruency of the albums that were produced entirely by 9th.

Last week Phonte released a second Foreign Exchange album entitled "Leave It All Behind" with producer Nicolay. This album features no rapping, but instead Phonte sings on every track. In November, Little Brother will re-release their 2007 mixtape "Separate but Equal," on iTunes but this time without the annoying yelling of DJ Drama over every track and the DJ scratches and replaying of the first 3 lines of the song.

Little Brother has proven that they are one of the most skillful duos on the microphone in all of hip-hop, but my favorite thing about them is their ability to relate to the average person. Their songs are about things that normal people go through unlike most of today's rap groups that talk about their ridiculous cars, weapons, and girls. Little Brother talks about the struggles of maintaining a relationship while working a full-time job, missing their children while on tour, and voicing their political opinions.