It’s Thursday so it’s time to throw it back to 2005. Everyone knows the superstar beatsmith 9th Wonder who emerged from Little Brother along with Phonte and Rapper Big Pooh, but some may not be familiar with their polemical classic The Minstrel Show. Released amongst mass controversy for “being too intelligent” and criticizing the prepackaged, superficial rap game of the mid-2000s, the group admits that other rappers, “Tried to think fast but never could out wit us/ The only thing they could ever do was outfit us.”
9th Wonder samples selections of soul masterfully right in the wake of his skyrocketing to fame, after producing “Threat” for Jay-Z in his 2003 Black Album, and Phonte and Rapper Big Pooh layer the beats with the cerebral rap they always bring to the table.
The most unique aspect of this classic album is the fact that it is actually a show. Recorded in front of a live audience with Chris Hardwick (as most may know for being a total nerd and the host of Talking Dead and Talking Bad), Little Brother presents an actual parody of the 19th century minstrel shows, even complete with white rapper Joe Scudda performing in blackface. The satire in this album may be worth just as much as the rhymes and beats themselves.
With all three artists diverging on their own career paths, Little Brother has not come out with many other projects since. So, with that in mind, let’s all give another listen to Little Brother’s magnum opus and be thankful that not all hip-hop was dead during this time.
