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Little Brother

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Little Brother
Also known as	LB
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 Chittlin 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]

1 History
2 Discography
3 References
4 External links

History

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.

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. It's 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 disapprovements 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", undoubtedly one of the album's brightest gems. Little Brother is currently on a promotional tour along with L.A.- based hip hop artist Evidence.

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." ^[3]

Discography

Main article: Little Brother discography

2003: The Listening
2005: The Minstrel Show
2007: Getback

References

External links

This box: • • edit Little Brother
Members
Phonte \| Rapper Big Pooh
Group Albums
The Listening (2003) \| The Minstrel Show (2005) \| The Commercial Free EP (2006) \| Getback (2007)
Solo / Other Recordings
Connected (2004) \| Sleepers (2005)
Related articles
9th Wonder \| Foreign Exchange \| Justus League

• • e Justus League
Groups	The Away Team • Little Brother
Members	9th Wonder • Big Dho • Cesar Comanche • Chaundon • Darien Brockington • DJ Flash • Edgar Allen Floe • Joe Scudda • Khrysis • L.E.G.A.C.Y.
Albums	Wooden Nickels • Paper Gods • The Listening • Connected • Sleepers • The Chittlin Circuit 1.5 • True Links • National Anthem • The Minstrel Show • Squirrel and the Aces • The Commercial Free EP • Separate But Equal • Floe Almighty • Soldiers of Fortune • Getback
Affiliates	Jean Grae • Supastition • Nicolay • Skyzoo • Murs • Kaze