No Minstrel Show Here
Little Brother is back with their new album, trying to avoid Hip-Hop’s “Black Face” syndrome

Interview by Meat
Photos by Steve Sangalang

Over the past year and a half, the three members of Little Brother have been keeping busy while not trying to let all the hype around them get to their head. After being credited with creating an underground classic that has appealed to both Jay-Z listeners as well as young budding collegial backpackers, MCs Phonte, Big Pooh and producer 9th Wonder are once again ready to continue their musical progression with their second full-length release, The Minstrel Show. Minstrel is exactly that, a continuation rather than a recreation of their phenomenal 2003 debut, The Listening. I got a chance to catch up with Big Pooh via telephone as he shed some light on their journey thus far and the meaning behind their upcoming album.

Meat: How’d you guys get started?

Big Pooh: We met back in ’99 through some mutual friends at North Carolina University. We didn’t really start Little brother till 2001 since we were all doing our own thing. At that time, 9th was working on a project when we recorded a song called “Speed” which ended up being the first song for our album, “The Listening”. We just liked the chemistry we had and decided to give it a go.

Meat: How you guys hook up with your first label ABB records?

Big Pooh: Through the Internet. We had put up a couple of songs on there just to get some un-bias opinions. A guy from ABB heard some of the songs and called his boy in North Carolina, who happen to know us, and got us in contact with each other. The rest is history. It’s been cool, you know, you always have you’re up’s and down’s but we all have the same goals.

Meat: How’d you feel about the response to your first album?

Big Pooh: It’s been flattering. We didn’t expect it to pop like it did but we just have been taking it like it is and have kept on moving. You know, we felt like we knew then that it was only the beginning and we have so much further to go. We have so many expectations for ourselves, individually and as a group. It’s been great, but we have more to do.

Meat: How’s the response outside of the U.S.?

Big Pooh: Anytime we leave the U.S. people have shown us a lot of love. We’ve done Japan, three European tours, all through France, Amsterdam, etc… it been a lot of love overseas. They’ve got a lot of love for music out there.

Meat: The group is now signed to Atlantic, what made you guys decide to settle with them?

Big Pooh: It was just a situation where we had a lot of labels coming at us after we put out our first album. When Atlantic came around, it seemed like the right situation for ABB and us since we’re still signed to them. It’s been cool, for both parties.

Meat: How’s the new single, “Lovin’ It” doing?

Big Pooh: Cool. I think a lot of the fans were wondering what we were going to do next after signing with a major label. They’re able to see now that we’ve stayed on the ball and they seem to appreciate that. Joe Scudda got on that and it just felt nice, eventually becoming the first song for our new album. We weren’t planning on it becoming the single, but we just did it and decided to go with it.

Meat: How’s the rest of the album?

Big Pooh: First off, it’s all 9th wonder on production except for one track. We have some guest MC’s as well as DJ Jazzy Jeff doing cuts on there. Basically, it’s a progression from the last album, sonically and lyrically. It’s a more intense album. When we did the first album we were just happy to be doing music, even if it was on the side since we all had other jobs. With “The Minstrel Show”, that was our job, that was our life, you know what I’m sayin’, all we had to do was make that album. You can hear that when you listen to it.

Meat: What’s the meaning behind the title “Minstrel Show”?

Big Pooh: We’re basically talking about how we feel the Hip-Hop game is right now. Nobody wants to be themselves anymore. They just see who the top cat is at the time and are trying to emulate that person or group, whoever it is. We’re comparing it to the time when white performers were painting their faces black for entertainment. Even later when blacks were allowed to perform, they still put on the black face paint. The same thing is going on today, but the only difference is that now the new black face is stuff like rims, jewelry, selling drugs and things like that. People now feel like in order for them to be successful they have to talk about the same things whether they live that life or not. That’s where the Minstrel show comes in, it’s not like back in the day when you had to paint your face in order to perform, we now have an option. We don’t have to talk about rims, you don’t have to talk about drugs, but people feel like you do in order to gain success in the music industry. That’s the today’s Minstrel show right there.