9th Wonder Says Without Phonte, There Is No Drake (Audio)

[TheDarceKnight]

Yo @stoplurkinho (why you change your name?) do you remember how much cats on The Lawn hated that song?


I remember one thread in particular, some cat was renouncing his LB fandom and all that. A Lil Wayne collaboration was so left field in late 07 lol




From all the things I've heard from and read about Phonte, he's a "my way" type of dude. If he wasn't feeling a solo album at the time he wasn't gonna do it. That same trait is why I'm resigned to the fact we'll never get any type of new LB album with all 3 reunited. He's adamantly said it won't happen numerous times. I really wanna know what's the beef between him and Pooh though, that shyt must be serious, to not talk to your mans for a years.

I requested a name change because I ended up in some hot water in real life over some posts that got seen in the locker room



I requested a name change but didn't pick the name. I'm sure It'll change back soon.

yes man the Lawn hated that song. I wanna say Good Clothes also. I know Phonte was always the leader of the group, and is really set in stone on things, so that makes sense.

Everytime a solo album was brought up, it was almost like fans/media were offending him. It was clear he wouldn't do it "at that time" and he was cemented in as "I'm Little Brother / Foreign Exchange."

It's easy to say this in retrospect, but JL collective needed a heavy hitter solo act to sell well to kick in the doors for the rest of the crew. The only one that coulda done it was Phonte.



Yeap, Phonte is clearly a guy who doesn't conform to media/fans/outside influences etc. Ultimately he seems happy doing overseas shows, Foreign Exchange stuff, etc. while maintaining to his word about how the team has shifted over the years.

I can't help but think ... what if?

Good post. Honestly I think a lot of League cats could have done a really great solo album for the crew, given the right push.

L.E.G.A.C.Y. had a really unique personality but his music was a little too dark and left field to put it on for the crew.

Chaundon could have done it. he had a ton of music and had some crossover joints that I think could have done very well. He also repped The Bronx and NC and had a pretty big skill set.

Joe Scudda wasn't officially in the Justus League, but he arguably got the best look out of the whole Hall Of Justus. He even got cast on The Shied after the Lovin It video. He put out an EP in 2010 but I don't know why we never got an official solo album. he had joints from ALC, lots of good production and features in the stash and ready to go.

Who else? Sean Boog/Khrysis (Away Team) did better as a duo, Comanche and Edgar Allen Floe probably weren't the ones to do it. Pooh held it down with Sleepers. Tough call. There were some guys very close to the League that weren't actually a part of the crew that could have been good choices.

I'm kinda with you. I think Phonte was the guy.

EDIT: I think Median could have done it. That Relief album got changed a few times, but Median I say could have made a solo album to really hold things down for the Justus League. It got tricky because once Hall Of Justus formed, there were members that were in JL and HOJ, and members that were in one or the other, but not both. HOJ really had the better resources, but Median wasn't a part of it, and was only a JL member. The JL was never really a group. Just a crew/loose friendship of 15 rappers, producers, and a DJ. HOJ was a management company started by LB's manager Big Dho, who was also in the JL.

JL:
Phonte
Big Pooh
Median
L.E.G.A.C.Y.
Sean Boog
Chaundon
Cesar Comanche
Edgar Allen Floe
9th Wonder
Khrysis
Eccentric
Yorel
DJ Flash
Big Dho
Mike Burvick

HOJ:
Big Dho
Big Pooh
Chaundon
L.E.G.A.C.Y.
Joe Scudda
Away Team (Sean Boog & Khrysis)
Sean Boog
Khrysis
DJ Flash
Darrien Brockington
Jozeemo

 

[Osmosis]

Little Brother is up there with Slum Village as my favorite Hip Hop group of all time. It's a shame they never got their just due. I will say though this thread proves why Drake has enjoyed the success that he has. Dude really is a student of the game.

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

Drake's verse on this

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

^^^^ Surprised Drake never worked with Kardinal Offishall...

he did.

See, this is how I know drake haters truly don't appreciate drake's commitment to the game:

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

I love LB but Drake was going to blow up regardless brehs

basically.

dude was basically the biggest internet rapper

he had the internet going ham waiting for So Far Gone.

 

[tremonthustler1]

Word, Drake's older material is basically Phonte mixed with some Budden

Do What You Do is straight up dry clippin Joe Budden's style to a tee

 

[Cynic]

I've heard him say it before. I think he's absolutely right. I think Drake would openly say so. For what it's worth Phonte and Little Brother as a whole were very influential on Kanye West. Kanye's also mentioned Phonte as being one of his favorite rappers.

When Drake won songwriter of the year at the BMI Awards, he thanked Andre 3000, Kanye West, and Phonte, for their contributions to his career.



He listed Phonte in his top 5 emcees and talked about how he dropped the ball on collabing again on that Not Here Anymore joint - http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.17552/title.drake-says-he-dropped-the-ball-on-phonte-collaboration

Drake was actually supposed to be on this. That's why Phonte said "2 comeback seasons apart" but since Drake fell through, so it's just Tay and Elzhi.



If you listen to the joint they did together with Elzhi, Drake is basically using Phonte's flow to the tee.



Drake and 9th shooting the shyt, for no other reason than to post it.

That opening sample reminded me of this........

 

[NigerianDonDada]

Big Sean used to stan these nikkas back in the day when he was on his hip hop shyt Before the Def Jam signing Sean was a heavy hip hip head


2:45 mark

I probably got every Little Brother record on the laptop

 

[phonthought3000]

@stoplurkinho why won't they just leak or independently drop that Embassy album. From what u speak on (songs named after movies) and boondocks saints that joint sound like fire. Also me as a huge LB fan I kinda given up on a reunion to the point I don't want it cause even if they do that magic and chemistry wouldn't 100% be there. Now saying that what do u think the chances of a group album wit 9th, Tay, and Median would be since that was originally gonna be LB

 

[iBrowse]

I have no idea why we can't get an LB reunion. On the Combat Jack interview in the first post of this thread, 9th says he's cool with Phonte and Pooh, and that he'd love to do something for the 10th anniversary of Minstrel Show next year.

Combat Jack gets excited, but 9th still insist that it's not going to happen, and says "I got my peace, and they're both good with me." I mean fukk, I feel like we're finally so close but so far away. On 9th's Jamla album this year, they're on song apart.

Look at tracks 4 and 5. Their names are right on top of each other. Someone please get these men to reconcile.

What happened between them exactly? :totheeastside:

 

[Bishop_BP_Jakes]

9th said Stephen Hill from BET told them their music was too smart for the audience...I can imagine they were getting the same type of feedback from the "HOT's" and "Power's" across the country who are all owned by the same corporations...


Plus they never had a cosign that was established in pop music.. Kanye West had Jay-Z..Drake had Lil Wayne as his "big brother"


Ironically Little Brother didn't have a big brother type in pop music to help them crossover...

Also, whomever was in charge of picking their first single/s dropped the ball like shyt.

Explain why "The Get Up" was the debut single over "Whatever You Say"
"Lovin It" was dope but "Slow It Down" was the obvious choice IMO on The Minstrel Show.
I didn't love the song, but they had Lil Wayne at the height of his powers in 2007 for "Breakin My Heart", but "Good Clothes" was the lead single on Getback
. shyt "Extra Hard", "Step It Up", "2 Step Blues" and "Dreams" made more sense but.....

Oh, and fukk NC radio for not playing the singles they dropped. shyt was disgraceful
"I ain't never heard a group that blew and went global, then come back home and still be called local"
-Tigallo

 

[TheDarceKnight]

What happened between them exactly? :totheeastside:

Between Phonte and Pooh? I have no idea man. If I did, I still wouldn't put it out there anyways, out of respect. But I have no idea. Honestly I'm not even that curious. I just wish as a fan that we could get a reunion one day. Even an Eo would be so refreshing right now.

About a year after the Minstrel Show I went back to finish college. Honestly one of the things I always admired about Pooh/Phonte/9th Wonder were that from what I saw, it seemed like they did a good job of keeping group issues private. They didn't put their business out there like that.

Even when they split they made sure that it was pretty quiet and no one really knew anything until the little exchange between 9th Wonder and Phonte when Leftback came out, and 9th was upset they used the song Star, and then Phonte made the video, etc.

@stoplurkinho why won't they just leak or independently drop that Embassy album. From what u speak on (songs named after movies) and boondocks saints that joint sound like fire. Also me as a huge LB fan I kinda given up on a reunion to the point I don't want it cause even if they do that magic and chemistry wouldn't 100% be there. Now saying that what do u think the chances of a group album wit 9th, Tay, and Median would be since that was originally gonna be LB

I'll try to answer as best I can. Embassy was Chaundon and L.E.G.A.C.Y. I have no idea what Chaundon is up to. Leg was my best friend out of everyone, and I haven't talked to him in a while. Most of the music is pushing 10 years old. Khrysis produced the whole thing. Honestly you've probably gotten more than you think from it. Colors was changed to Seeing Is Believing, and got put on the Hall of Justus compilation. I think Happy Gilmore was released on something. Identity/Fight Club, The Shining, and The Stand I think all got released. I'll try to get you a list of everything from it that's out.

I just can't think of how they could get it released. I don't even think Leg is that interested in music anymore. A good half the album has been released elsewhere. A lot of the movie titles would be dated and need to be re-worked. Definitely though, Leg and Chaundon both have faults of great unreleased music both solo and together.

I think the chemistry might be there man. They did so much music. if there was legit no animosity or beef, I think they'd probably be able to make a great EP or LP.

9th/Phonte/Median album? I don't know about a whole album. Median is signed to Foreign Exchange, so I think we'll keep getting collabs between Tay and Median, but I don't think a full album.

This beat sounds like it's from The Listening era, so I bet this is what an "original Little Brother" album might have sounded like

 

[iBrowse]

@stoplurkinho Yeah I figured it was the case with them keeping things quiet for the most part. I too as a fan have been waiting for a reunion for the longest while but I don't think the chemistry would be the same. Plus I figure that with as long as its been fans might have expectations that exceed whats realistic and another case of what happened with Cuban Linx 2 would happen.

 

[CEITEDMOFO]

one of my favorite groups

 

[Poitier]

It makes sense why his music is garbage.