eMusic Review 0
Durham, N.C.'s Little Brother formed in the late '90s, back when Southern rap was transitioning from a regional scene into a nationally renowned creative wellspring that had room for both Goodie Mob and Master P. But by the time they released their debut The Listening in 2003, hustler-heavy club rap had become the dominant face of the Dirty South, turning conscious-minded groups like Little Brother into strangers on their own turf.
This phenomenon frustrated the Native Tongues-indebted group so acutely that it sparked the concept behind their sophomore album The Minstrel Show, one of the decade's most iconic rebukes of what they depicted as a self-debasing thug culture. But while it became a flashpoint in a hip-hop culture war between gangsta swagger and social uplift, its greatest insights lie primarily in its skits, which skewer BET clownishness, hood fashion and R. Kelly-style R&B. The real statement of the album comes from simply delivering the kind of lyrically-focused humanism that operates outside the Rap City bubble. And whether it's a love song ("Slow It Down"), a declaration of artistic perseverance ("Say It Again") or both at once ("Still Lives Through"), Phonte, Big Pooh and 9th Wonder channel frustration into… read more »
