Little Brother - May the Lord Watch (Discussion Thread)

tru_m.a.c

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Ziggiy said:
Actually 9th didn’t create The Minstrel Show on his own. That was one of the sources of problems between 9th and Pooh and Te. 9th got a LOT of credit that he wasn’t deserving of and people felt like the “magic” of Little Brother was 9th when it was really ALOT of Te doing the heavy lifting.

This time. With THIS album, Te and Pooh did the heavy lifting together and the fact that album is getting so much love and attention is finally a testament the fact that 9th wasn’t the sole “maestro” behind Little Brother.


Like i said earlier, from all the interviews and stories pieced together over the years, it seems like 9th wanted to act as Little Brother’s RZA, when he wasn’t putting in RZA type work or dedication to the brand. That “im doing ALL the beats” mentality ain’t gonna work with two SELF MADE MEN like Pooh and Phonte. Pooh been grinding and doing entire projects with some of Hip Hop undergrounds finest producers. Phonte is one of the most purely respected MC’s ever to hold a mic. 9th didn’t have no five year plan. 9th didn’t spend YEARS in the basement of his house crafting beats and setting a stage for a Pooh or Te solo album, he didn’t even do that on Minstrel Show, and on top of that REFUSED to tour with them, on their MAJOR LABEL DEBUT.

I wouldn’t necessarily want 9th doing all the beats and getting all the praise either.
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Who owns the Little Brother name? I'm surprised 9th hasn't sued them over this. Doesn't Juicy J and DJ Paul both own the 3 6 name which forced DJ Paul to produce songs under different monikers?
 
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TheDarceKnight said:
They aren't mad at him.

They did closer to 5 joints together. Not just 1.

9th wanted to do the entire album. He didn't want Khrysis on there. No Nicolay. No Pete Rock. No Nottz. No anyone that LB had done beats with since as early as day 1. I mean Khrysis had joints with LB going back to before The Listening even dropped. 9th didn't even produce all of The Listening or The Minstrel Show, and he only did a little over half of each Chitlin Circuit. And on top of that 9th didn't want to do any touring (which he never wanted to at ANY point in the group's history, and he only did one brief tour in 2003). All this after he was not a part of the group longer than he ever was a part of it (as he was basically just in from 2001-2003).

I was with those dudes when they made The Minstrel Show. 9th wasn't in the studio recording it with them. Khrysis was. That album was theirs. 9th didn't participate. They aren't mad at him now. They just didn't want him coming back trying to be throw his weight around for something he ain't been a part of since 2003.

And I don't think this will be a talking point going forward, just for the record. People love this album for what it is and they are FINALLY accepted as a duo. It's been lovely. Phonte and Pooh are FINALLY real friends. I think that's the big talking point, and the one that's really dope.

There's just some more info trickling in now about 9th and why he wasn't a part of things, but he basically hasn't been talked about since the album dropped at all, and if you listen to any of the 3 main podcasts they've done so far they don't mention him. The bigger story here is that Phonte and Pooh dropped an amazing album on their terms, and have always been the driving force behind LB since as early as the Chitlin Circuit tapes that dropped starting in 2003.
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church and repped
 
TheDarceKnight

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tru_m.a.c said:
Who owns the Little Brother name? I'm surprised 9th hasn't sued them over this. Doesn't Juicy J and DJ Paul both own the 3 6 name which forced DJ Paul to produce songs under different monikers?
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I should know but I actually don't.

The thing is that 9th cares so little about it compared to Pooh and Tay. I guess he could be super petty and sue if he owned the name, but it's like they've been saying when asked on this podcast run they've been doing...LB was mostly a side interest at best for 9th after The Listening. So I doubt he even cares like that.

And I don't want to comment too much on The Listening since half of it was done before I met any of those dudes, but sessions were going on every single night with the entire J League. For example I wanna say Away From Me by LB and How Big Is Your World by Median were recorded on same day.

Legacy and 9th would do 2-3 joints a day on some days, and all of this was in the same room and running concurrently with The Listening sessions. So LB would do a song or 2, and then Comanche or Median or Legacy or Sean Boog or Floe would step in and do one, then LB again...it was a revolving door. What I remember most in that 01-03 period about LB was Pooh and Phonte writing their verses in a car together with the beat playing. But the idea that 9th, Phonte, and Pooh all got together and recorded this album between the 3 of them is not at all how it went down. The Listening and the bulk of of what became Paper Gods by Comanche, Project Mayhem by Legacy, Relief by Median, and even Sleepers by Pooh, was all recorded in the same window of time, in the same studio (Comanche's living room). Not to mention all the joints recorded for albums that either never came out or came out years later from Chaundon, Joe Scudda, Away Team, Edgar Allen Floe, Thyrday, the list goes on.

Honestly 9th recorded way more joints with Legacy than anyone else during that Listening recording session era. Leg recorded as much as music as Pac. He and 9th probably made a good hundred joints in the stash from 2001-2003 alone.

One thing about LB in general is they have almost no material on the cutting room floor from any time period. Basically everything they've ever recorded (at least from 2001-2010) has been released.
 
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TheDarceKnight

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Ziggiy said:
Actually 9th didn’t create The Minstrel Show on his own. That was one of the sources of problems between 9th and Pooh and Te. 9th got a LOT of credit that he wasn’t deserving of and people felt like the “magic” of Little Brother was 9th when it was really ALOT of Te doing the heavy lifting.
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Yep. I'd take it a step further and say he basically just let them use their beats. He liked recording during the day. They liked recording at night. He was in maybe the first quarter of the recording sessions and then tapped out. It might be in the liner notes, but I know Lovin' It, Not Enough, and Slow It Down were some of the earlier joints recorded. Maybe he was there for those. Khrysis recorded the bulk of the songs, and 9th would listen to the joints later. I remember when 9th heard Watch Me, Say it Again, and We Got Now for the first time.

Phonte really did the heavy lifting on TMS like you said. He pretty much came up with the album concept, the song concepts, the track sequencing, etc.

People also forget at this same time that 9th had a little label thing going before Jamla. The Allies (Remo and Novej), Tightman, Big Treal, Tyler Woods, and M1 Platoon.

I love The Allies music to this day. Tightman was pretty dope too.







 
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Energy still the same, I'm gonna have to take my old ass to a concert when they hit NY. First concert I ever attended was my freshman year of college and LB performed pre-The Listening when I had no idea who they were, need to hit up another one of their shows for sentimental reasons.

 
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Izanami said:
I would say def their most cohesive. The Listening would always be my favorite and their best imo
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I don't know if this makes sense or not. The Listening is my favorite because of some of the imperfections, because it's not as polished, and because it's just such a pure piece of art. I know that sounds pretentious and corny. But I think in every aspect that albums like Minstrel Show and Lord Watch are crisper. Production sharper. Phonte much better as an emcee. Pooh much better as an emcee. But if I had to take one of their albums and could never listen to the rest, I think it would have to be The Listening just because of how fresh it was at the time and unlike anything else.

I absolutely love how good this new album is though, and how much everyone else is loving it, and how much Phonte and Pooh love it as well. They seem rejuvenated and it is lame to already want another album, but I'm glad that it seems very likely that LB will continue to deliver music to us for a long time.
 
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I just listened to the ItsTheReal interview, damn that was a good listen. Glad the hosts didn't bring up 9th too much, I'm sure they are tired of getting questions surrounding that.

It's crazy how much influence ATCQ had on them. From their group name, and then it coming full circle with Pooh and Te reaching out to each other after Phife's death, which led to this comeback album.

When Te talked about seeing Phife in The Low End Theory booklet wearing North Carolina gear, someone was cutting onions :mjcry:
 
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