Friendly rap feud comes from underground

By Jon Juliano
Collegian Staff
October 31, 2007

As 50 and Kanye continue to battle it out in the record stores to see who can be number one on the charts, number one in wealth and number one with worst Justin Timberlake collaboration, there is a more significant match going on in hip-hop right now. Grab Michael Buffer and ring the bell because the group Little Brother and its former producer 9th Wonder both have albums out right now.

In the red corner we have the deadly duo from North Carolina. With the tenacity from the Tar Heels, comes Big Pooh and Phonte and their new album Get Back. With this album, the group did something most rappers, including 50 and Kanye, never achieve: Create a CD you can play in order without pressing the skip button.

Get Back starts with the political song “Sirens,” and the very first line sucks you in like a vacuum of perfection. “They talk about us not using the word n****/I wanna speak about a couple issues much bigger/ Like most black folk live below the poverty line/And they wonder why we attracted to crime.”

There’s a lot of lyrical skill throughout the album. Some of that skill comes from the only famous cameo on Get Back, Lil Wayne on the song “Breakin’ My Heart.” I didn’t think his verse was that strong at first, but it just grew on me like the southern rapper himself. The song is about relationships and features my favorite Lil Weezy line: “…And I know cheaters never get crowned/So I play fair like roller coasters and clowns.”

The song “Can’t Win for Losing” has the two rappers coming off bitter, which is good because it shows they’re still hungry for the respect they won’t get. Little Brother is underground enough to get respect from hip-hop heads, southern enough to make songs about having fun while remaining a good enough rapper.

The whole album is light and playful, but substantial enough for you to fall in love with the album song by song. Other highlights of Get Back include the jazzy “Two Step Blues,” and maybe my favorite LB song to date “That Ain’t Love.”

And in the blue corner we have the current master of production, 9th Wonder. Known for making beats for Jay-Z’s The Black Album, he’s one of the top producers in the game. After the success of he Black Album, 9th was doing full albums for many rappers, and making a name for himself by doing songs for Lloyd Banks, The Game, Destiny’s Child and Mary J. Blige.

His album with Little Brother, The Minstrel Show, created a lot of buzz, but when it came to the next album, Get Back, Phonte and Pooh didn’t like the songs he made and thought it was best to go in a different direction than the renowned beat maker. As a result, 9th kept working on other projects and now is back with his second official solo effort, The Dream Merchant Vol. 2.

The album starts off with “Shots,” featuring Sean Price. The underground legend brings his sense of humor and talent to the banger, and his hype and popularity to the album. Price might have the best line on the album, “N***** talk hip-hop all the time/I throw a clip in the glock watch ya hip-hop to the nine.”

Mos Def contributes a surprisingly solid verse accompanied by Jean Grae and Memphis Bleek on the song “Brooklyn on My Mind,” and the song “Saved,” featuring emcee-turned-Entourage-actor Saigon.

The best beat is on “Sunday,” a sort-of-love-song to God’s day of rest. The rest of the beats are absolute bangers, but at the same time don’t distract from the lyrics. Unlike Kanye, 9th knows when he needs a beat to stand out and when a beat should just be a soulful backdrop to the album.

Dream Merchant is really strong, but the drawback to it is that it is a compilation of mostly unknown, good but not relevant artists. It’s a solid collection of songs, but they blur together in the listener’s memory.

With that in consideration I am going to have to say that Little Brother will probably win this bout. The album is not only the winner, but will beat any other rap record coming out this year, and yet they are still the loser because they will not get the credit they deserve.

9th and his former group seem to still get along, though, as there is a Little Brother song on Dream Merchant and a 9th Wonder song on Get Back. I think that the preservation of their friendship is good for hip-hop. Underground acts need to stick together for the uphill fight against corporations like Rolling Stone that push bad hip-hop because it makes money, and forget about the ones that deserve the most respect.

julianoj3@lasalle.edu