Little Brother - The Listening
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CD Details
Artist: Little BrotherEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2003-03-18
Music Label: Abb Records
Soundtracks:
- Morning
- Groupie Pt.2
- For You
- Speed
- Whatever You Say
- Make Me Hot
- The Yo-Yo
- Shorty On The Lookout
- Love Joint Revisited
- So Fabulous
- The Way You Do It
- Roy Lee, Producer Extraordinaire
- The Getup
- Far Away From Me
- Nobody But You
- Home
- Nighttime Maneuvers
- The Listening
Music reviews of The Listening
Music Review: Classic? Maybe not....
Rating: 4 Stars
we all remember the great Native Tongue and Alt-Rap groups of the early 90's like A Tribe, J-Beez, De La Soul, Black Sheep, The Pharcyde, Da Bush Babees, Arrested Development, Common Sense the list goes on. Now we all loved those groups but somewhere after Dr. Dre came on the scene those groups became a lot less kool to the public eye. We also remember when they made a comeback with the likes Mos Def & Talib Kweli and The Roots & Common's new found popularity but there really hadn't been any fresh faces in that realm for awhile. That is until Little Brother decided to change that. Producer 9th Wonder and MC's Phonte & Big Pooh formed Little Brother using that name to describe themselves as the "little brothers" of those groups like De La Soul & A Tribe Called Quest. In a sense they are, 9th Wonder uses similar production angle to Jay Dee or Pete Rock or Prince Paul, soulful, sometimes laid back and usually full of energy, and Phonte & Big Pooh have solid but not outstanding deliveries but tight lyrics that are often witty and sometimes insightful like those of Q-Tip or Posdnuos. Most people are quick to hail this album giving it a four star amazing review for the beat and lyrics alone or hailing it a surefire classic which I find a bit suspect. 9th Wonder builds a myriad of grooves for you to sit back and vibe with, using colourful samples of both music and vocals to set a delightful jazz mood to the proceedings, and with an album entitled "The Listening" you've got to make sure things are nice to listen to. On point lyrics and wonderful beat that's what a debut album needs to be considered strong at this album has just that but for me what gives this album a little extra slice of dopeness is where it comes in at this point in time, 2003 most of those positive or alternative rapper had been gone. Mos Def was acting, Common had become an artist and although his music was still interesting it was harder to vibe with for most, J-Beez were working with dance producers, Tribe Called Quest had broken up, Fatlip had left his brothers in The Pharcyde and groups like Black Sheep, Da Bush Babees, and Arrested Development had been gone for years. So Little Brother marks what perhaps could be noted as a resurrection of sorts in the Native Tongue movement and that's why they get a fourth star from me as well as the other three for the production and lyrics. Now I'll just mention what I feel are the highlights on this album.Groupie pt. 2 - this track sets the rest of the album off. At the beginning it proclaims "the future of hip-hop music" which is a lot to say for a group virtually out of nowhere, although I enjoy this song a lot they seem to contradict themselves a bit with Big Pooh saying how he's humble and all that jazz when at the beginning it says the future of hip hop music and they are calling out other rappers at the end for being wack, well I guess you could expect as much on a rap record.
For You - My favourite song on the album. This song just has an awesome organ sample that makes me wanna bob my head every time I hear it and the lyrics on this song are just very clever and the chorus is berry berry catchy, hard to believe they are still underground with ish like this
The Way You Do It - The smooth flows move along with this track so nicely, even though it's laid back it exuberates a whole gang of energy. It has the drum and bass in the right spots and the groove is made by a soft piano and starts what sounds to be like steal drums which is very interesting and continues through with what sounds like a violin sample. The lyrics a especially tight to me on this joint, I like Phonte on the first verse the best with lines like "/an ill feeling that it brings about/to see n****'s mouthing your words and you ain't even got a single out/".
Those are just a few of the tracks this is a great buy for any fan of the previous Native Tonguish rap this is for you or if your just a fan album this is worth a look out, there are plenty more than just three tightass tracks but it would be too long to name them all the first half of the cd I find especially kold. Big Pooh & Phonte have great poetic lyrics with good delivery but the real star of this show is their producer 9th Wonder, he has some dope remixes of cuts from Common's "Like Water For Chocolate" album, check them out if you can for more view on his skill with the boards. Four star biggie, pick it up! peace, love and soul!
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