i never liked his beats anyway

^^youre ridiculous. he is versatile and always on point. LB however, often falls short lyrically. I think this is a good split tho. LB and 9th have always sounded better on guest spots, etc. the listening was weak.

LB doesn’t fall short lyrically very often. Have you listened to anything past The Listening? Minstrel Show was pretty decent, I thought. Maybe Pooh falls off sometime, but Tay is almost always on point. The split is a good move, and probably won’t be that big a deal. It’s not like 9th has been doin every LB beat recently anyway

So it’s safe to say 9th is no longer a part of Justus League all together then, uh?

This could go either way. LB’s not gonna hit it big, we all know that, but their flow went very well with 9th’s beats, like they were made for each other. 9th isn’t the greatest, but don’t front, he’s a pretty good producer when he wants to be. His shit is mad soulful too(plus in my book). Get Back all comes down to how LB picks their beats. No matter how dope an emcee flows, if the beat is garbage, the track is garbage. This is sort of like when Dilla left SV, though 9th is no where near Dilla. I’m not sure about the higher profile guests though. They need to get Elzhi on Get Back. While a much better emcee, him and Phonte mixed well on Hiding Place.

Day one, anyway.

i dont no wut to think… only time will tell

It breaks them. One of the things that made them special was continuity of sound. Too few artist put out albums that sound like they have a singular vision. They were larger together than the sum of their parts.

Without that, in my opinion, they become just another rap group. Lyrically they were never stellar. Rarely profound.

The get back is going to sound like every other album out, and that is a shame. They had something

I wish both parties the best..only time will tell though how good LB will be without 9th and if fans pre-9th leaving will accept them even without 9th wonder production…

So will this delay the Getback from coming out? Since it’s no longer on Atlantic? We all thought them signing with Atlantic was a great look for them being underground…so is it back to ABB again?

WTF?? This is the same shit that killed Slum Village.

How did it kill Slum Village? Their last album, which featured nary a Jay Dee beat, was on point for the most part.

Word, Rizoh. The self titled record was pretty dope when you really gave it a listen. I’ve seen some people hating, but elzhi is fucking nasty, and the BR Gunna beats were as smooth and soulful as SV gets.

I agree with Purpose though. Thinking about that, LB is similar to ATCQ. Neither were spectacular emcees, but the two of them over those dope beats just created this chemistry that was great. All apart from each other and nothing they did was even worth a glance. LB had the same.

Considering the last few track we’ve heard from them sans 9th, it seems they may be trying to emulate that sound. We’ll see though.

I’m assuming everyone’s heard Separate But Equal. LB will do just fine without 9th Wonder.

Not a fan of them individually or together. I always thought 9th was way overrated and even though LB never blew up and never will I still thought the little attention they did get was more than deserved

Truth be told, this should come as a shock to no one.

9th Wonder’s beats have become stale like bread of the same name. This is better for Phonte and Big Pooh than it is for 9th, unless he emerges re-energized (though his beats for the new Sean Price aren’t bad; they are just no “Church”).

Separate but equal was chill - but it was not a peer to either the listening or the minstrel show. It sounded a little more like everyone else’s records.

Musical continuity is underrated. Everyone is like I am going to get a beat here cause this guy is hot, and another from here cause that guy is hot, etc. Not that that cannot work, but I think that when an album is truly cohesive both musically and lyrically, it is just a better piece of work. Certainly part of Be’s appeal was that there were only two hands behind the boards, or the gang starr records, early wu-tang, etc.

It not so much whether or not they will be fine (because they probably can be) as much as it is what did they just lose. Just because you can be fine without something doesn’t mean that the lost didn’t have a profound and often detrimental impact. I think they lost a great deal.

I would like to be proven wrong by their future releases, but I dont hold out hope.

The fact that I posed the question: Will the loss break the group artistically means that: 1)It’s debatable in the first place; 2)9th’s aesthetic contributions was a key aspect of the crew.

I agree with your point about musical continuity, but is that the only route to a consistent album? (See my comment on Slum Village above) Phonte and Pooh are excellent wordsmiths and the only challenge they’ll face here is making albums the old fashioned way. Sure, they’ll have to relearn everything they knew about beat selections, but that’s a small price to pay in the long run.

I agree with a lot of what’s said above: 9th is overrated but he was also about the best thing about LB but maybe it won’t hurt these guys. After all didn’t Slum Village end up selling more records and having bigger hits after Jay Dee left?

Everyone seems to be discounting 9th. 9th is right now bigger than LB on his own and may continue to be as long as folks keep coming to him for beats..which I doubt will stop anytime soon.

I think 9th is a great producer even if he can get a tad repetitive over the course of an entire album. Then again, losing a good producer can never help a group. With that in mind though, people shouldn’t sleep on how good that Foreign Exchange joint was either. Phonte has a good ear for beats so i assume whoever they get to replace 9th will be a like-minded spirit. But still the question lingers…why the fuck did they sign to Atlantic?

9th Wonder is the truth!! Do not underestimate his creative musical ability…he’s a real dope beatmaker. Honestly, Phonte (Tiggalo) is one of the dopest lyricist to hit the scene…Pooh just needs to keep up. This is such a sad situation though…I’m definately gonna miss that original LB sound…but in my opinion I believe that LB should have originally consisted of 9th, Phonte, and Median(of the Justus League)…oh well, LB shouldn’t worry b/c they got Kryhsis to back em’ up…Kryhsis is also the truth too!

The best stuff they’ve done has been the mixtapes which 9th really had nothing to do with. separate but equal is the best one so far and 9th didnt do anything on that I dont think.

first off, 9th wonder had beats on “separate but equal” until the best track on the mixtape “speed racin”. 2nd “The Listening” and “The Minstrel Show” are ALL TIME HIPHOP CLASSIC. I can pretty much Guarantee Little brother will never make a album anywhere near close to those 2 again. Just like Slum Village never made an album close to fantasic voyage 1 and 2 after dilla left. 9TH is the sickest producer in the game today who has worked Multi-platinum artists like JAY-Z, MARY J BLIGE, DESTINYS CHILD, MEMPHIS BLEEK. ONLY way little brother will get near any platinum is if they put rims on they car. I LOVE little brother and will buy getback. BUT getback will be a NICE album, no more no less. THE LISTENING AND MINSTREL WERE CLASSIC.

Personally LB is dope, 9th Wonder is dope, they are dope togather and apart. The question is will Lb get enough exposure to the masses.

I agree with my man above, LB’s albums have been CLASSICS! You don’t hear music like that no more. It reminds me of Tribe, Pete Rock, SV.. it’s a real lost art in music today. BUt if you look at those artists I just named, what’s 1 thing they all have in common…Everyone of them had a superior beat maker behind the boards (Ali Shaheed Muhammed, Pete Rock, Jay Dee) Losing 9th Wonder is a big blow, but I don’t want LB to be commercial unless they stay the way they are and don’t conform to popular music, and make the people conform to them. LB for Life!

Hi all!

Very interesting information! Thanks!

Bye