Little Brother
Part of the new millennium resurgence of alternative rap, Little Brother drew from atypical inspirations for a Southern act: classic Native Tongues outfits like De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest, as well as later torchbearers like the Roots and Black Star. MCs Phonte and Big Pooh swapped rhymes with an easy chemistry, supported by DJ/producer 9th Wonder, a sampling technician who quickly established himself as a worthy heir to production wizards like DJ Premier and Pete Rock. Commercially, the group peaked with the Top 20 R&B/hip-hop albums The Minstrel Show (2005) and Getback (2007). 9th Wonder departed between those two LPs, and Phonte and Big Pooh likewise opted to concentrate on other collaborative and solo pursuits after the release of Leftback (2010). After the trio reunited for a surprise live performance in 2018, Phonte and Pooh fully reactivated Little Brother with May the Lord Watch (2019).
Little Brother formed at North Carolina Central University, located in Durham. Phonte (born Phonte Lyshod Coleman), Big Pooh (born Thomas Jones), and 9th Wonder (born Patrick Denard Douthit) had known each other since 1998, when they performed in a local hip-hop outfit called the Organization. After that group's dissolution in 2000, they anchored a 12-member crew dubbed the Justus League. The trio worked together off and on in varying combinations until they officially teamed up as Little Brother in August 2001, adopting the name as a humble nod to their influences. Their first recording together was "Speed," a playful, down-to-earth look at the pressures of holding a day job while trying to make it in the music business. It set the tone for much of their early material. Over the next few months, they developed enough of a repertoire to start performing live around the area and quickly earned a following.
When the group made their music available for download on the Internet, a substantial buzz built far outside North Carolina, and it eventually earned them a deal with the Oakland-based ABB Records in 2002. In 2003, Little Brother released their full-length debut, The Listening, which won widespread critical praise that focused especially on 9th Wonder's production. The buzz helped him earn a raft of high-profile outside gigs, including tracks on a pair of multi-platinum releases: The Black Album by Jay-Z and Destiny Fulfilled by Destiny's Child. Little Brother leapt to major-label Atlantic for the The Minstrel Show, a highly satirical and uncommercial set that entered Billboard's R&B/hip-hop chart at number 19 in 2005. In 2007, as the group was finishing up their third album, it was announced that they had left Atlantic and had become a duo with the departure of 9th Wonder. After its release later that year, Getback -- which featured one 9th Wonder-produced track with Illmind, Nottz, Khrysis, and Zo! also among the contributors -- nonetheless debuted at number 18 on the R&B/hip-hop chart.
Amid significant activity outside the group -- Pooh's solo discography was lengthening, while Phonte was busy with the Grammy-nominated Foreign Exchange -- Little Brother made it known that a hiatus would follow their next album. That set, Leftback, arrived in 2010, after which Phonte and Pooh continued down separate, occasionally intersecting paths for nearly a decade. The MCs and 9th Wonder reconvened in 2018 to perform at Durham's Art of Cool Festival (as a last-minute replacement for Royce da 5'9", who missed his flight). Phonte and Pooh then took it to the studio for a fifth proper Little Brother album, May the Lord Watch, which arrived within a year of the MCs' reconnection. Among the producers were past associates such as Khrysis, Nottz, and Zo!, along with the likes of Focus..., Black Milk, and Devin Morrison.
© Steve Huey & Andy Kellman /TiVo
Discography
30 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Separate But Equal (Drama Free Edition)
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Imagine Nation Music - For Members Only - EMPIRE on 4 Nov 2008
Available in24-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
The Chittlin' Circuit Circuit 1.5 (Deluxe Edition)
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Imagine Nation Music - For Members Only - EMPIRE on 21 Jun 2005
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
The Minstrel Show (Amended Version)
R&B - Released by Atlantic Records on 13 Sep 2005
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Leftback
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Imagine Nation Music - For Members Only - EMPIRE on 21 Apr 2010
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
May the Lord Watch
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Imagine Nation Music - For Members Only - EMPIRE on 20 Aug 2019
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Getback (Deluxe Edition)
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Imagine Nation Music - For Members Only - EMPIRE on 23 Oct 2007
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Wish Me Well / Glory Glory
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Imagine Nation Music - For Members Only - EMPIRE on 19 Sep 2023
Available in24-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
The Listening (Instrumentals) (Instrumental)
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Imagine Nation Music - For Members Only - EMPIRE on 25 Feb 2003
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Whatever You Say/Light It Up
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Imagine Nation Music - For Members Only - EMPIRE on 2 Oct 2002
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
The Way You Do It/The Get Up
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Imagine Nation Music - For Members Only - EMPIRE on 1 Jan 2002
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Mr. Dream Merchant/Atari 2600
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Imagine Nation Music - For Members Only - EMPIRE on 1 Jan 2003
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
The Listening (Deluxe Edition)
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Imagine Nation Music - For Members Only - EMPIRE on 25 Feb 2003
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
The Listening
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Imagine Nation Music - For Members Only - EMPIRE on 25 Feb 2003
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
And Justus For All
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Imagine Nation Music - For Members Only - EMPIRE on 1 Jun 2008
Available in24-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Separate but Equal
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Supreme Media on 2 Jan 2013
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Good Clothes
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Imagine Nation Music - For Members Only - EMPIRE on 2 Oct 2007
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Mehr Punk, Weniger Hölle
Germany - Released by Dr. Skap Records on 7 Apr 2023
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Therapeutic
Alternative & Indie - Released by Rad Dad Studio on 19 Dec 2022
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Life Sentence Overturned
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Basement Hip Hop on 4 Mar 2020
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
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Little Brother EP
Alternative & Indie - Released by Rad Dad Studio on 14 Jan 2022
Available in24-Bit/48 kHz Stereo