Rating:
Genre:
Rap
Release Date: 09/13/2005
Few groups earn a major-label contract based on their producer's merits, but when
Little Brother jumped to
Atlantic for their second full album,
The Minstrel Show, any cynic looking for a good reason would point to the increased profile of trackmaster
9th Wonder (
Jay-Z,
Destiny's Child). But it wasn't just
9th Wonder that made
Little Brother's first album one of the best
underground rap debuts of the new millennium; rappers
Phonte and
Big Pooh matched a smooth Southern drawl with up-North smarts. Like their influences in the
Native Tongues family, the trio cast a clever eye over music and culture, sniffing out hypocrisy and greed, then dismissing them with sparkling satires.
The Minstrel Show presents more of the same, expanding the palette to a host of hot topics:
R. Kelly's
"Trapped in the Closet" series, which gets skewered by the spot-on
"Cheatin"; exploitative urban TV stations (the album's main concept); and even the need for brand-name clothes (
"5th and Fashion"). And any fans who feared that
9th Wonder's success would lead to a diluted or overly polished record have nothing to worry about; awash in '70s
soul and mellow, slapping beats, his productions make the message tracks carry just as well as the humorous material.
~John Bush, All Music Guide
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