Dru, I just wrote this review for extra credit in my Mass Comm class:
For this extra credit assignment I chose to review Little Brother's newest mixtape. Little Brother are a hip-hop group formed in 2002 consisting of "Phonte", "Big Rapper Pooh" and the "9th Wonder". The "9th Wonder" was their DJ until about a year or so ago when he decided to go solo. They went to college for at least 2 years in Greesboro, NC, but are originally from the Raleigh-Durham area. Their newest album, And Justice For All with Mick Boogie, is, in my opinion, their best. As a standard, they are damn good, much more focus is shown in their lyrics rather than the beats or catchy repetitive nonsense like many other "rappers" out there today. They are relatively unheard of and for a long time were underground, I still would not call them mainstream because their hip-hop style is a Mid-Southern Old School type, not the Pop style that airs on most mainstream radio stations of today. Their lyrical ability is some of the best I've ever heard, not unlike groups like Gang Starr or other heavyweights like Biggie. Although I would not say they are close to the quality of Rakim. As far as the album goes, it is amazing, if you like hip-hop, I would definitely suggest picking it up, if you can find it. Also, the album has a great feature of not having any cuts in it, the flow from one track to the next is amazing, there are no breaks, there is always a beat going. The ability of the DJ to meld the beats from one to the other is quite uncanny as well. The album very much plays not unlike a live album, but the greatest thing is, it's not live at all. Little Brother normally flows about growing up in the lower end of society or blue-collar life, there is none of that nonsensical tripe about gang banging or killing, and an extreme lack of graphic female aggression, which is too commonly seen in most other genres of hip-hop/rap. I think they are one of the greatest groups to come out in the last 10 years, and this album is one of the top five to come out since 2000. They also rarely use other artists on their music, they do not have a lot of tracks "featuring" anyone else, which I think makes their music much truer and downright amazing...