Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
I have no idea how I learned about Little Brother. It’s possible that I read about them in some hip-hop magazine like The Source, though it’s more likely that my roommate in grad school put me up on them. He was — and still is — one of the most informed music heads that I’ve ever met in life, so let’s just give him that credit. I definitely had a burned version of their debut album, “The Listening,” well before the official release of the album on Feb. 23, 2003, courtesy of the University of Maryland-College Park’s kinda-sorta speedy ethernet connection. I downloaded most of the songs from that album while I was supposed to be cleaning data and doing regression analysis for my graduate fellowship on the voting patterns of young people.
While I can’t pinpoint where I first heard of them, what I do remember is hearing “Whatever You Say” for the first time and being absolutely floored by how dope that beat was (even Doja Cat loves this song and Phonte’s verse). Produced by (now legendary producer) 9th Wonder (Pat Douthit) with rappers Phonte (Phonte Coleman) and Big Pooh (Thomas Jones III), I listened to that song over and over like it was the greatest song I’d ever heard in my life. The song is about, simply, hollering at women and getting curved by those women. I will never forget how hard I laughed the first time I heard Phonte rap, “So what I’m husky, the chicks still love, 3 o’clock have they ass running to Waffle House for me…” I instantly felt like I was kindred spirits with some rappers, which I think was part of the appeal of the group and why…
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