https://djbooth.it/lbisback

Little Brother fans rejoice. Phonte and Big Pooh, with the announcement of Hopscotch Festival, are back to working together. That means new music, and yes, a Little Brother tour, is on the way.

"I'm excited to announce that my brother Big Pooh and I are back at work. New Little Brother music and a tour are coming soon," Phonte wrote in an email to DJBooth.

He continued: "After conversations with 9th Wonder following our Art of Cool reunion show in Durham last year, the three of us mutually agreed it was best for LB to continue as a duo, as Pooh and I have officially been Little Brother since 2007."

With seminal albums to their name, it will be interesting to see how Little Brother take their influential sound and update it for 2019 listeners. Growing older in hip-hop is no easy feat, but if anyone can do it, it's Little Brother.


Hopscotch Festival will take place in Raleigh, North Carolina, September 5 through September 7

When Phonte shouted out Big Pooh on NNIGN I posted on facebook that I see that as a sign of them getting back together soon.

Welcome back LB!!!!

dont get me wrong, they did a LOT of great work post-9th, but there was always a cohesion missing for me after his departure

and while there have been plenty of LB bangers made by other producers, there are also a LOT of questionable production decisions in that era as well

im psyched to see what the next chapter holds tho

...and Khrysis do the rest

but i doubt thats what they're doing

Like if 9th was officially in the group people would expect 9th at the shows and on every beat and don't think that will happen.

I'd bet the Soul Council would probably be handling the bulk of the production...but I do hope with the collection of people Pooh & Phonte have connected with they do reach out of NC for a couple of joints.

Arm-chair QB: Do an EP with mostly 9th and then a album later would be dope.

Maybe Pete Rock, DJ Spinna, Apollo Brown contribute.

>there are also a LOT of questionable production
>decisions in that era as well

Examples? Just curious, not debating or disagreeing.

I don’t recall any “bad” production or production that didn’t fit the group. Even though it wasn’t 9th and was a different sound, I still thought the production of all their material was true to the group and at least decent quality.

I can honestly say I played GetBack just as much as the first two albums....meaning I played the hell out of all of them.

there are a couple standouts, but for the most part that whole record is problematic for me beat-wise

Whole thing seems rather slapped together as if it were done out of some sort of obligation (label contract or otherwise).

Outside that, ‘Getback’ and ‘...And Justus For All’ each only had one 9th beat and they are consistently jamming so I’m not overly concerned about a diminished 9th presence on whatever they do next (but if they are all in fact cool now I would be surprised if he didn’t slide them a few tracks).

ya Leftback is really the problem child for me
theres joint here or there on Getback and Justus that I dont love, but overall they're great records, so if we're back in that kinda space then im cool with it

i guess im also a little trepidatious because Im wasnt crazy about the beats on the new Phonte album either. But I'm also hypercritical bc im from NC, i was up on these cats super early, and in another era I would have been a fantastic A&R so i think i know better than everyone else lol

That title has always bothered me for some reason lol.

songs probably demo’d, possibly even finished that didn’t make cut
on Get Back and were essentially “leftovers” and it’s a play on get back.

And in that case, I have newfound respect for the title if they were trying to jab the label lol.

But at the same time it makes the strain on their legacy that much worse haha - just like a thrown together, leftovers album.


>RE: My guess is contractual obligation and left back is
>songs probably demo’d, possibly even finished that didn’t
>make cut
>on Get Back and were essentially “leftovers” and it’s a
>play on get back.

>just like a thrown together, leftovers album.
>

for much the same reasons (contracts)
like i think....
Timberlake's 20/20 exp part 2 ?
Drake's If you're reading this . ?
im sure there are others

And frankly I'm glad some artists are willing to do that. There's a lot of gems found in cutting room floor material.

Wish Dre and some others would follow suit.

Lookin forward to new content.

And the beautiful part is, even if 9th isn't an official member at this time, we all damn sho know dat 9th & Soul Council gonna be all over dey shit.

Match made in HipHop Heaven.

I was happy to hear they were performing together but wasn’t expecting new music. As always, it’s a day 1 automatic cop for me.

Little down that it's not with 9th, but as everyone has said, I'm sure he'll have a few beats on there.

i hope it works out and we get to hear new music relatively soon

He put out probably the best Justus League project with Sleepers and while checking in periodically on his post LB career, I fell down a rabbit hole with all of his stuff about a year ago. Really solid and he took a lot of chances, whereas Foreign Exchange albums have been stuck in sleepy time adult contempo mode since LIAB and Phonte's two solo albums have followed suit.

I remember I lucked into getting "Sleepers" at a local record store and the outtakes from Pooh when he was giving it way on Twitter if you answered a question of his correctly. Of his newer stuff though, "Home Sweet Home" with Nottz gets unlimited play from me.

>I remember I lucked into getting "Sleepers" at a local record
>store and the outtakes from Pooh when he was giving it way on
>Twitter if you answered a question of his correctly. Of his
>newer stuff though, "Home Sweet Home" with Nottz gets
>unlimited play from me.

I still listen to it pretty often. That shit bangs. Nottz went in on those beats. And Pooh was top notch throughout.

Words Paint Pictures
another end to end burner

this is gonna kill me - what other song uses this same sample/similar beat
https://rapperbigpooh360.bandcamp.com/track/promise-land-apollo-brown-remix

>Words Paint Pictures
>another end to end burner
>
>this is gonna kill me - what other song uses this same
>sample/similar beat
>https://rapperbigpooh360.bandcamp.com/track/promise-land-apollo-brown-remix

I'm not sure I recognize it !

One off producer rapper combos

Those 2 Pooh joints
Fetti
Gran turismo
The easy truth
Rubber souls
Daytona
Commons Kanye & no ID records

That’s just off the top, the list goes on...

Especially when those albums are short and w/out filler. Which most of the ones you named are.

And you named a lot of my favorites. This is one of the main reasons I was always such a big Common fan. All his albums were supremely focused (for the most part at least) because he honed in on 1-2 producers and vibed with them for the entire album. It creates a cohesion that can't really be realized when you're working with 12 producers on 12 tracks. No matter how hard you try.

But he's like 10 levels below Phonte as an MC. Hopefully their reunion will provide some middle ground from a production standpoint lol.

almost bodies all of Tiggalo's solo career, as far as production. Lyrically though, it's not a knock against Pooh, Phonte is just a phenomenal rapper...and in true Phonte fashion, he had the best verse on Sleepers...on "Every Block"

>almost bodies all of Tiggalo's solo career, as far as
>production. Lyrically though, it's not a knock against Pooh,
>Phonte is just a phenomenal rapper...and in true Phonte
>fashion, he had the best verse on Sleepers...on "Every Block"

But yea - Phonte is an all-timer. Just one of those things.

No dis to Pooh. I just think Charity came together perfectly.

to me. Everything about it was perfect. Sequencing, album length, beats.

Cause I loved the beats on Charity, for the most part. And love the album as a whole cause #phonte.

But I tend to agree with the general consensus re: the sleeptime beats on No News is Good News. I still really like that album but I think after 7 years I'd have appreciated a little more pickiness re: the production he chose to rhyme over hah.

>But he's like 10 levels below Phonte as an MC.

Look at someone like Lupe, who until somewhat recently, despite being a complete rhyme for rhyme virtuoso, could not put together a consistent album. Despite his talent and leaning on charisma, Phonte strikes me as someone who may be a bit inflexible. I agree, with no 9th involvement, maybe Pooh can be a grounding influence this time around.

>RE: But what is talent if you can't put together good albums?

Both his solo albums have been really good IMO ("Charity" tops "No News"), but he's yet to make the leap from good to great/classic, IMO due to some sleep beat selection.

Based on his talent he should have at least one solo classic. But again, his albums are very good.

-not too excited about phonte and pooh together without 9th, would rather have solo phonte.

-pooh better than phonte in any capacity. FOH

-don't mean to be disrespectful of Little Brother or anyone else' opinion.

-Love Little Brother, not excited about this news

you stated your opinion. What makes us "wildin" anymore than you...when that's all we did?

You’re telling me that you’ve found a smattering of different opinions ....on an internet message board???
Call the motherfucking smithsonian playboy and report this extraordinary find STAT!!

But Phonte has yet to drop a solo anywhere near as good as The Listening or The Minstrel Show, shit I even like Getback more than either Phonte solo. Not to mention the Chitlin Circuit, Separate But Equal and And Justus For All.

History shows these dudes are better together than apart.

When they worked together they made music that I consider some of my favorite in all of hip hop. But when you separate them? or take one out? or put another way I would be ecstatic if they were back together, but if one is going to be missing I'd rather miss pooh.

The 20 year Anniversary is prob right around now of JL...bring back the whole crew!

It didn’t appear that he’s put anything out since 2011 from what I could find?

Always liked his rapping.

Spotify has joints from him as recently as 2017 I think.

had to end up buying the physical off Amazon. That album stays in constant rotation. So many really good songs. He and Phonte play well off one another, too.

bought the sender not knowing it was that old. his show was dope. very talented brother.

This isn't a reunion, just Phonte and Pooh working together, something they've been doing.

.