little brother the minstrel show appreciation

[TheDarceKnight]

@TheDarceKnight was there an alternative version to this album? I always heard that there was an original one that Atlantic wouldn't put out so they had to redo it and came out with this version. I'm surprised they didnt make them change the title.

Sorry I'm late replying to this. Essay below but if you're an LB fan you'll enjoy what I wrote. @steadyrighteous you might like this too.

TL;DR- The album amazingly is exactly what they made and Atlantic didn't fukk with it, but a few things of note are below.

Surprisingly, Atlantic took the album from a hard drive in a small room in NC and released it without fukking with it. Phonte was the miracle of TMS was that it came out unaltered.

There were a couple of changes, but none of Atlantic's end. A few points.

- I believe they wanted Say It Again it Slow It Down as the single instead of Lovin' It. There was talks of a T.I. verse on a Lovin' It remix since T.I. was on Atlantic at the time.

- The original last song instead was Still Lives Through, and then they added The Olio, featuring L.E.G.A.C.Y., with a dope Curtis Mayfield sample flip. The sample was cleared and paid for so that's why I don't feel like I'm snitching to say that. The Olio ended up becoming the final song on the Import version of the album, but for some reason, they replaced it with We Got Now on the U.S. version. So the album ends with Still Lives Through, and then We Got Now is sort of a "bonus track". But the original "bonus track" was The Olio.

Spoiler

- The original beat for Watch Me was produced by 9th Wonder and not Khrysis. The vocals were re-recorded over Khrysis' beat, and I prefer the album version better. This is the OG version: https://ufile.io/x30dt

- Hold On was almost put on the retail version. Fly sample from Jermaine Jackson. It's on the Import version after We Got Now, but before The Olio. I remember being mad that Hold On didn't make the album, but the Import version is the version I listen to, so I'm not mad at it. One of Phonte's best and most underrated verses ever.

Spoiler

- We Got Now was originally supposed to have the final verse from Saigon, who was also a new hip-hop act signed to Atlantic. Saigon ended up sending in a really weird verse that didn't go with the theme of "we're the next dudes in the game right now" so they scrapped it, and replaced it with a verse from Chaundon, who had an album coming out. 9th Wonder ended up using Saigon's verse for a song on Dream Merchant 2, and Joe Scudda wrote the rest of the song around Saigon's leftover verse. Like, just listen to this and imagine it being the last verse you heard on We Got Now to close out the album

Spoiler

A final interesting point is a few mirrors between TMS and TL. On TL, Pooh's solo track is at the beginning of the album and Phonte's is at the end. They flipped that on TMS on purpose. Phonte's solo track on each album has one long verse instead of a traditional song structure. Track 13 on both albums is the sole track produced by someone other than 9th Wonder on both albums. Track 4 on both albums is Speed and Not Enough, and Not Enough is a spiritual sequel to Speed. All For You is another spiritual sequel to Away From Me.

 

[TheDarceKnight]

The original beat for Watch Me was produced by 9th Wonder and not Khrysis. The vocals were re-recorded over Khrysis' beat, and I prefer the album version better. This is the OG version: https://ufile.io/x30dt

 

[OmegaK2099]

 

[N*E*R*D]

I thought Little Brother would give us so many classics. I still appreciate The Listening, The Ministrel Show, and FE Connected. Tigallo new joint is grown man bars you gotta deal with....

 

[IllmaticDelta]

nowhere near the listening but solid

 

[TheDarceKnight]

I thought Little Brother would give us so many classics. I still appreciate The Listening, The Ministrel Show, and FE Connected. Tigallo new joint is grown man bars you gotta deal with....

FWIW if you haven't heard them, they've got The Chitlin Circuit, Chitlin Circuit 1.5, Separate But Equal with DJ Drama, Separate but Equal (a version with and without DJ Drama) And Justus For All (version with and without Mick Boogie), Getback, and Leftback.

The 4 versions total of Separate But Equal and Justus For All tapes are actually pretty good and unique, and I think the 2 Chitlin Circuits are right behind Listening and TMS.

 

[TheDarceKnight]

nowhere near the listening but solid

See, I think it's better, but I like The Listening more. TMS all 3 had significantly upped their craft. Phonte was a much better rhymer. 9th was a better producer. Pooh was a better rapper.

The Listening is just like a perfect album though. Even its imperfections are part of what makes it great so I never debate anyone that says it's better than TMS. But if someone says TMS is the better album I don't disagree with that either.

I think the original third album before 9th was gone was gonna be called Can't Win For Losing and the theme was supposed to be a movie, since the first was a radio station and the second was a TV station.

 

[Mortal1]

that's how i get into little brother because i saw the video on rap city

I use to watch the Love it video on MTV jams all the time, dope album by the way a little a head of its time.

 

[Blankthawtz]

One of my fav heavy replay albums..... *appreciates*

 

[TheDarceKnight]

fukk BET

I love how those first two LB albums flow, sequence wise. The way they start out strong, mellow out, hit you with bangers, get smooth towards the end and finish strong. Especially Minstel Show. That's how an album should be designed. Classic.

I loved that Phonte wore a shirt that said Too Intelligent to the BET Awards and was wearing it in the audience when they aired this cypher.

 

[Mortal1]

Honestly still don't get why BET banned the video what was so smart about it ?? Just let the fukking video play the songs dope.

 

[Piff Perkins]

I loved that Phonte wore a shirt that said Too Intelligent to the BET Awards and was wearing it in the audience when they aired this cypher.

I remember that. I can't think of many things that altered me perception of music and myself as a fan like that entire fiasco. I always prided myself in being smart. Not as a "haha I'm smarter than you dumb nikkas" way but just...I liked to read, I loved how dope rappers introduced me to new words, etc. So when BET pulled that shyt it wasn't an attack on just LB...it felt like an attack on me. Like they were saying "nah fukk anyone who likes this shyt."


Then when I got into the business and realized it's not personal it's just business (ie making money)...I was still pissed lmao. fukk that. BET had so many slots to play shyt, and nobody was turning their damn tv off because of one Little Brother video. That's not how anyone consumes music, especially not back then. I watched plenty of rap videos for songs I didn't like...because the video was cool. I doubt any kid was like "damn that LB vid is on, I'm turning this smart nikka shyt off"

 

[TheDarceKnight]

Honestly still don't get why BET banned the video what was so smart about it ?? Just let the fukking video play the songs dope.

The funny thing is that says way more about what BET thought about its own audience than it ever said about LB.

At or around the same time BET also banned videos from De La Soul, Tribe, Gang Starr, Black Moon, and some others.

That was the height of the ring tone era, and if your shyt wasn't a ring tone they didn't wanna play it.

Looking back that was a pretty terrible time for hip-hop.

 

[TheDarceKnight]

I remember that. I can't think of many things that altered me perception of music and myself as a fan like that entire fiasco. I always prided myself in being smart. Not as a "haha I'm smarter than you dumb nikkas" way but just...I liked to read, I loved how dope rappers introduced me to new words, etc. So when BET pulled that shyt it wasn't an attack on just LB...it felt like an attack on me. Like they were saying "nah fukk anyone who likes this shyt."


Then when I got into the business and realized it's not personal it's just business (ie making money)...I was still pissed lmao. fukk that. BET had so many slots to play shyt, and nobody was turning their damn tv off because of one Little Brother video. That's not how anyone consumes music, especially not back then. I watched plenty of rap videos for songs I didn't like...because the video was cool. I doubt any kid was like "damn that LB vid is on, I'm turning this smart nikka shyt off"

One thing I'll say about Lovin' It....I think the Scudda verse is out of place and one of his weaker verses. Not even trying to hate on Scudda. He's got verses like the one below that are fantastic. But I definitely think his verse on that song sticks out like a sore thumb. But then I gotta remember that they weren't trying to make Lovin It single when they made it. They were just making a song, and it happened to become the single later on.

 

[TheDarceKnight]

That moment in 2003 when 9th debuted the Lovin' It beat in Washington D.C. on a Dell Computer