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Liberator 2.2
Little Brother
The Listening

Every few years it seems like someone’s talking shit about hip-hop being dead.  Hip-hop sells more records than almost every other genre but still can’t get any respect.  While hip-hop’s biggest selling records are often the most boring, there are still hip-hop records that surprise you with their creativity. Experimental artists like Outkast, Lauryn Hill, Common, The Roots and Talib Kweli have found a way to keep it innovative while staying true to hip-hops roots. While not as left-field as those artists, Little Brother keeps it gangsta while sticking close to the original form.

North Carolina’s Little Brother offers some of that “golden era” sound that’s been missing.  Not since Black Star emerged has there been an artist that harkens back to the old school without being preachy, boring, and lacking of street credibility.  Little Brother aims for a time when artists like Gangstarr, Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth, De La Soul, Brand Nubian and Tribe Called Quest were the rulers of the universe.

On Little Brother’s debut The Listening, the trio brings that boom-bap flavor full circle.  “yo life is a blessing/ and I’m livin’ it / for better, worse or indifferent” rhyme MC’s Phonte & Big Pooh, who are just happy to be in the game.

They explore their spot in the industry hustle on ‘Speed’,  “check it out another day to face/I’m share cropping in this data base/ trying to pick up a check I only see 20% of” rhymes Phonte in a cadence that echoes early Common and new-schooler Mos Def.

Among the many highlights are the jazzy ‘Whatever You Say’, ‘Yo-Yo’ and infectious headnodder ‘Shorty on the Lookout’. Group member/ producer 8th Wonder’s jazzy, horn-filled tracks make like a young Pete Rock (who in turn recruited the rookie to work on his next album).  Finally backpackers who make music for former backpackers to reminisce to.