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One of the new emcees ripping apart the underground hip-hop scene is the trio of Little Brother, from North Carolina. These emcees brilliantly border the line between extremely soulful and poetic songs, to hard hitting, thumping jams. In 1998, the two emcees Phonte and Big Pooh met the producer 9th Wonder (who is now incredibly famous for remixing Nas's God's Son with new beats, calling it God's Stepson). These three individuals joined together to form an unbroken alliance called Little Brother and made it official in 2001. They're style is sort of a mix between the soulful stylings of Reflection Eternal, the collaborative skills of The Roots and Outkast, and the soft, yet intelligent lyrics of both of these groups, and other artists such as Common and J-Live. Now at last, this year, they have delivered with their incredible debut album The Listening.



Track List & Rating

1. Morning (Intro) (NOT RATED)
2. Groupie Part 2 (*****)
3. For You (*****)
4. Speed (******)
5. Whatever You Say (****)
6. Make Me Hot (***)
7. The Yo-Yo (*****)
8. Shorty On The Lookout (****)
9. Love Joint Revisited (*****)
10. So Fabulous (****)
11. The Way You Do It (******)
12. Roy Lee, Producer Extraordinaire (NOT RATED)
13. The Get Up (*****)
14. Away From Me (*****)
15. Nobody But You (*****)
16. Home (***)
17. Nighttime Maneuvers (****)
18. The Listening (****)




The production on The Listening is handled by 9th Wonder. This kid, though hes new, has an extraordinary talent for crafting nice, listenable beats to jam to, fitting the mood of the song perfectly. His style is a sort of mix between the thumping R&B stylings of DJ Hi-Tek, the well-placed medleys of Large Professor, and the truest hip-hop soundings of DJ Premier. A lot of people are praising his extraordinary work on this album, as well as on God's Stepson, where he gave the original Nas tracks a complete new sound. His style perfectly complements the intelligent and well-written lyrics of Phonte and Big Pooh, as they touch on the subject matter of underground hip-hop, the streets, and the future.

The bizarre similarities between Little Brother and Black Star are strikingly strange, and obvious. Little Brother are sort of like the Talib Kweli and Mos Def of the new millenium, and 9th Wonder is like the new Hi-Tek. A lot of the subject matter touched on by these emcees is the same as those from Black Star, which is main anti-materialistic, socially conscious, and at times, sensual underground hip-hop music. Im very sure that these guys were influenced greatly by the legendary Black Star, as it is shown throughout The Listening.

Little Brother does what most emcees do, and thats hit us with clever braggadiocio and battle rhymes. For that, we have "For You" and "The Yo Yo".

On this track, both emcees spit clever metaphors, similes, puns, and punchlines galore, adopting a multi-syllable flow and a great rhyme scheme and delivery. These guys can write tight rhymes, and you know it from the onset, and as always, 9th Wonder delivers PURE magic. On the first of the two, we get a sombre synthesized track, with some bizarre changing basslines and drums, assorted masterfully. The second of the two tracks is a bit more venomous, as they rip apart commercial and materialistic hip-hop, sending a message loud and clear to their fans. The production is amazing, as 9th Wonder delivers a soulful violin and synthesizer driven track, giving us a deep, haunting assortment of music for Phonte and Big Pooh to rap over. Its very difficult to stress how impressive 9th Wonder is as a producer, but you'll have to listen to it in order to understand.

On "So Fabolous", Little Brother continues the same idea as before with their braggadiocio, but switch to a more old-school style of braggadiocio, with older styles of rhyming and punchlines. The production is as usual, perfect with a very jazzy assortment of a beat, with soft saxophones, keyboard, and a sort of sloppy sounding drum clap, which sounds much better on wax than i am writing now. Another Classic...

Little Brother is, of course, anti-commercial just like their predecessors Black Star. On "Love Joint Revisited" and "Nighttime Movement", the trio chronicle the uprising of underground hip-hop and real lyricists, and the destruction of materialistic, boring rap music.

The first of the two is a remix of an older track, with a very jazzy beat, giving us some cello, drums, and hard thumping bass, giving us a head bobbing beat for the Phonte and Big Pooh to his us with multi-syllable lyrics. The second is a softer, more storytelling sort of track. There is an extended metaphor in this track referring to underground hip-hop as nighttime, which is beautiful to listen to. Phonte claims that Little Brother is the best kept secret in the industry, and i think hes correct. Little Brother picks on the ridiculous subject matter and lack of skill by mainstream artists, and claim that the underground will always be true, and i agree. The beat is a synthesized medley, with pianos, keyboard, and scienfic distortion in the background.

On The Listening, Phonte and Big Pooh get extremely introspective as well, like all emcees do. "Speed" is an amazing attempt at street poetry. We get a nice array of narratives and lyrics about hustling on the streets and living the hard life. It features one of my favorite beats from this entire album, as 9th Wonder gives us a hauntingly soulful mixture of fast drums, snares, and synthesized violins in the background.

"The Way You Do It" is the same idea, only this time Little Brother are focused more upon the rise to the top from the beginnings of their group, to their on-stage presence, realizing that it was all a dream to be famous. The lyrics speak for themselves, as they are thought-provoking and well-written, and some of the best. The beat uses a beautiful arrangement of pianos, cello, and violins, giving is a haunting, almost mafiosio feel to it. Incredible.

"Away from Me" is a similar pattern, but gets more personal as it examines the trio of Little Brother and their own personal retrospection on life. Lyrically, as expected, its top-notch. Its difficult to expect anything less from this group.

"Roy Lee, Producer Extraordinaire" is a skit, but its worth mentioning as it is similar to the hilarious Ras Kass parody "...In a Coogi Sweatsuit". Only on this version, Little Brother takes a shot at the incredibly weak producers out there in hip-hop.

Of course, following in the Black Star tradition, Little Brother gives us soulful, almost R&B Ballads. "Whatever You Say" has a striking resembelance to the classic Black Star track "Brown Skinned Lady". The duo of emcees go on rapping about the beauty of a female, sort of like a tribute, giving us a soft track that im sure ladies will love. The beat is a very nice, soulful assortment of piano and violin, with a jazz sound, and some sensual R&B background vocals. "Nobody But You" is more of single-oriented love song, as it is aimed to one woman. The production is familiar 9th Wonder work with a nice deep bassline, drums, violins, trumpets, and some perfect harmonization of R&B sample vocals in the background. Beautiful production and a great song.

Little Brother end the album with "The Listening". Basically, Little Brother do what all great traditional hip-hop groups do and pay their respects to the old school of hip-hop, the 80s and early 90s form of hip-hop, which inspired them. Definetely easy listening...

Little Brother's debut album The Listening is a pure classic in every sense of the word, which surprises me because of how new it is. Undoubtedly, this is the best album to come out as of yet this year. Little Brother is one of the most versatile, skilled, and soulful hip-hop groups to ever come along. Combining the jazzy feel of Black Star and A Tribe Called Quest, with the collaborative skills and creativity of Outkast and Common, we get one incredible junction who gave us a masterpiece of an album. Every Song, with the exeption of one, is a must-listen, and the majority are classics. In fact, even the one skit is worth listening to. 9th Wonder has ranked himself in being the freshest, dopest new producer on the scene today, and i look forward to hearing more of his, and Little Brother's work. In Big D's opinion, this is a new classic, and it is more than worth picking up...

5 Stars...


For more information on Little Brother, check out www.littlebrothermusic.com


Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Listening