Little Brother

Little Brother—the North Carolina trio featuring rappers Big Pooh and Phonte along with DJ/producer 9th Wonder—redefined the boundaries of 2000s rap. Pooh and Phonte brought a different perspective from the club music the region was offering, drawing more from conceptual New York rap collectives like A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul than local hitmakers like Petey Pablo. Guided by the genius of 9th Wonder’s soulful production, Pooh and Phonte’s lyrics provided raw cultural commentary on capitalism, as heard on “Speed” from their 2003 debut The Listening, and on their satirical 2005 album The Minstrel Show. By 2007, 9th Wonder had left the group and, with little commercial support, Getback (2007) and Leftback (2010) were released independently before Little Brother disbanded shortly after. Almost a decade after their split, Phonte and Pooh returned with May the Lord Watch in 2019, a sonic evolution into Southern rap that serves as a testament of nearly 20 years of brotherhood.