dope interview…cool info on the 9th Wonder situation

Insightful interview..gives me all I need to know about the situation…I wish them all the best in their endeavors..

danke!

word up. i get so tired of folks talking about how hip hop of today is terrible – but they only listen to mainstream corporate top 40.

you need to look around to find good hip hop. and if you’re too lazy to support decent hip hop, well, then you deserve what you get on the radio.

What is so “forward thinking” about Little Brother?? They have had their moments but pretty much they’re an ordinary-sounding throwback to early 90’s hip hop w/o the flair or swag of the best of that era (Native Tongues, Gangstarr, Pete Rock & CL Smooth, DITC etc.). I’ve said it before: if they had come out back then, nobody would be talking about them cos there’s so many other groups doing what they do better.

Ian, let me get this straight: your gripe with them is that they’re walking in the shoes of the Native Tongues and Pete Rock & em? Would they rank better in your book if they rapped more like St. Lunatics?

what’s unusual about little brother is not that they’re “forward thinking,” but that they are “thinking.” to say nothing of their rhyming style or beats (which yes, are old school-ish), they actually write songs about interesting things that are on their minds. which is refreshing.

whether or not you think that’s revolutionary is really a matter of taste, i guess.

but the notion that hip hop is dead is ridiculous. people have been saying it since the first mc rhymed over the first disco record, and it ain’t gone nowhere yet. it’s just a dumb story angle gone rampant. but at least it gets people talking, i guess.

percy’s dead! oh no! seriously though, i think that character could, if used properly, open the group up to a bigger audience.

^ha! i tried to tell him that.

Rizoh, my gripe is that they’re a mediocre version of that but get celebrated like they’re incredible. To me its bland MC personalities and NO HITS. I mean, how many memorable records can u name effortlessly that Tribe, De La, Black Sheep, JB etc. are responsible for? Now can U name even one song LB has done on the level of those groups’ best cos I can’t?

Ian, I don’t think it’s fair to juxtapose them with Tribe and De La…just yet. It wasn’t until last year or so that folks started comparing OutKast with other all-time greats. Pit LB against their peers and see who’s doing it better.

As for some outstanding songs (I don’t really see “hits” as the yardstick for excellence), I can name a whole bunch, but right off the bat:

“Hidin’ Place”
“Not Enough”
“War”
“Whatever You Say”
“Grown Folks”
“Give It to Ya”
“The Getup”

I have to compare LB to those groups ‘cos that’s who they’re obviously influenced by. Forget the word hit cos they’re 3 albums in and they have yet to make any. When are they planning on starting (LOL)?? Using your criteria though, maybe u think the songs ref’d above are outstanding but they’re hardly classics that have impacted hip hop the way the music of their creative mentors has. These kids are overrated and out of their element. Kanye and Common are the true descendents of that movement, LB are marginal underground players championed by dilettants. If Atlantic drops them (like they should), I’ll be in SHOCK if another major label picks them up.

And to compare them to two more of their contemporaries, I’ll even take Slum and Lupe over them and I’m not even that big a fan of Lupe and SV objectively prolly aren’t even half the rappers Phonte and Pooh are! What they both have over LB though is that they have topics to their songs and aren’t just rapping to be rapping and they can write catchy songs. As soon as LB learn to do both of those things, let’s talk!

As for Outkast, they were in a different league from day #1 and cats REALLY started rating them from ATLiens and def. Aquemini on.