Phonte Sends message To Fans & ABB Records - "We Havent Seen a Dollar | Update : IGTV vid

Well unfortunately this post reminded me how much I listened to the listening back in the day...time to revisit it

 

Still got work to do, without no fringe benefits
And sayin, "Phonte ain't rippin' it"
That's oxymoronic like Icy Hot or ABB Distributed

Beni B ain't done them right since 2002 smh. They would've signed with Chris Lighty and Jive in 2004 (Minstrel Show) if it weren't for Atlantic allowing Beni B to keep vinyl rights

 

The fact Big Pooh had to start driving Uber should be enough for fans to understand they were being screwed off them Listening/Minstrel Show royalities.

 

That's horrible.

 

It's hilarious how they don't even acknowledge 9th anymore

 

What’s the story from their fallout?

 

He dipped after the first album basically.

 

I don't for sure if that's why Pooh was driving Uber, substitute teaching, etc. LB wasn't gone have a ton of royalties from Listening or Minstrel Show because they didn't sell much and streaming don't pay much either. They did get money from Atlantic. I think that was more because show money dried up and he wasn't doing much from a music standpoint. Phonte been steady working even after LB fizzled out in 2010

@TheDarceKnight you got any more insight?

 

Even the cover told the story with the open seat

 

Yep. ABB screwed Dilated Peoples too

 

9th was getting paid though, lol.

Dude said he built a whole studio and started a label from funds he got from those albums, and thanked the fans. The Listening is a classic though. I copped that immediately after it dropped, and have a few copies on vinyl too. That's how much I love that album. But it seems like 9th was working privately with ABB to cut Pooh and Phonte out of bread, and that's never cool. So it's a shame they couldn't keep working together and building on that legacy. LB was a breath of fresh air for Hip Hop. Money really did them in. It's fukked up.

 

Damn.

 

That may have been the case, but in general producers get a WAY bigger cut of royalties than the artists. That's how Scott Storch got so much money to eventually blow.

 

Yeah, I don’t think Pooh was ever in a situation where he was starving and was driving Uber out of desperation or anything, but yeah. The Listening and Minstrel Show didn’t sell a ton of records (although for their time and for the marketing dollars put it, they actually performed quite well.) I think Phonte always made more money from Foreign Exchange and FE Records than he did from Little Brother. Pooh eventually moved into managing a few artists and some more executive/behind-the-scenes work. But I don’t think it’s an insult or a stretch to say that his solo rap career didn’t pay as well as Phonte’s signing and producing career.

People gotta realize that LB broke up in 2010 and didn't reunite until 2019. So there was 9 years there where Pooh was working as a solo artist for most of those years, as the strreaming era was kicking off. I imagine that's when the Uber driving happened, etc. I think both of these guys are situated decently here in 2021, although ABB has been not paying them for the better part of 20 years now