Little Brother

Little Brother emerged amid the early-2000s revival of alternative rap, drawing on influences uncommon for a Southern crew: the classic Native Tongues collectives De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest plus later standard-bearers the Roots and Black Star. Phonte and Big Pooh traded verses with natural rapport while DJ and producer 9th Wonder supplied beats; the sampling specialist soon proved himself a peer to beatmakers such as DJ Premier and Pete Rock. On the commercial front the trio reached their highest ground with the Top 20 R&B/hip-hop albums The Minstrel Show (2005) and Getback (2007). 9th Wonder exited after the former and before the latter; once Leftback appeared in 2010, Phonte and Big Pooh likewise turned toward separate solo and collaborative work. The three members reconvened for an impromptu live set in 2018, after which Phonte and Pooh revived Little Brother with the 2019 release May the Lord Watch.

The group originated at North Carolina Central University in Durham. Phonte (born Phonte Lyshod Coleman), Big Pooh (born Thomas Jones), and 9th Wonder (born Patrick Denard Douthit) had been acquainted since 1998, when they appeared together in the local hip-hop act the Organization. Following that ensemble’s breakup in 2000, the three anchored the twelve-member Justus League crew. They continued recording intermittently in shifting lineups until August 2001, when they formally launched Little Brother, choosing the name as a modest tribute to their forebears. Their initial joint track, “Speed,” offered a lighthearted, grounded portrait of balancing a day job against music-industry ambitions and thereby set the template for much of their early output. Within several months they had amassed sufficient material to begin performing locally and soon cultivated a regional audience.

Once the recordings circulated online, interest spread well beyond North Carolina and secured a contract with Oakland’s ABB Records in 2002. The Listening, Little Brother’s first full-length project, arrived in 2003 and drew broad critical acclaim that singled out 9th Wonder’s production. The attention led to outside commissions, among them contributions to two multi-platinum albums: Jay-Z’s The Black Album and Destiny’s Child’s Destiny Fulfilled. The group then moved to major-label Atlantic for The Minstrel Show, a pointedly satirical and noncommercial effort that debuted at number 19 on Billboard’s R&B/hip-hop chart in 2005. While completing their third album in 2007, they announced their departure from Atlantic and 9th Wonder’s exit, leaving the unit a duo. Getback nevertheless entered the R&B/hip-hop chart at number 18 later that year, featuring one 9th Wonder beat alongside productions from Illmind, Nottz, Khrysis, and Zo!.

With Phonte occupied by the Grammy-nominated Foreign Exchange and Big Pooh advancing his solo catalog, the pair signaled that a hiatus would follow their next album. Leftback surfaced in 2010, after which the two MCs pursued largely separate routes that occasionally overlapped for nearly a decade. In 2018 the original trio reunited onstage at Durham’s Art of Cool Festival, stepping in at the last moment for Royce da 5'9", who had missed his flight. Phonte and Pooh subsequently returned to the studio and completed a fifth studio album, May the Lord Watch, issued within a year of their reconnection. Among the producers were earlier associates Khrysis, Nottz, and Zo! together with Focus..., Black Milk, and Devin Morrison.