The Listening (Little Brother album)

Infobox Album | Name = The Listening
Type = Album
Artist = Little Brother
Released = February 25, 2003
Recorded = 2002
Genre = Hip hop
Length = 65:13
Label = ABB Records
Producer = 9th Wonder Eccentric
Reviews =
*Allmusic.com Rating|3.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:l9s9kectdq70/ link]
*HipHopDX.com Rating|4|5 [http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/reviews/id.275/title.little-brother-the-listening link]
*RapReviews.com rating-10|10 [http://rapreviews.com/archive/2003_08_listening.html link]
Last album =
This album = "The Listening"
(2003)
Next album = "The Minstrel Show"
(2005)
Misc = Singles
Name = The Listening
Type = studio
single 1 = Whatever You Say
single 1 date = November 26 2002
single 2 = The Way You Do It
single 2 date = May 20 2003

"The Listening" is the debut album of North Carolina trio Little Brother. It was released in early 2003 on ABB Records. The album became a surprise word-of-mouth sensation among underground rap fans, despite its lack of promotion, guest appearances, or extensive distribution.

Overview

As the main producer for the group, 9th Wonder's instrumentals consist of chopped and manipulated samples of old soul records, somewhat reminiscent of Pete Rock and DJ Premier. Complimenting the backdrops are MC's Phonte and Rapper Big Pooh with their tag-team wordplay and raps. On "Speed", they talk about the pressures of working a regular job while trying to survive in the rat race, while on "Make Me Hot", they make fun of people who hassle them for beats and studio time. They also do some uncanny impressions of old school era MC's on "So Fabulous".

The underlying theme of "The Listening" concerns the group's effort to engage their listeners on a deeper level, and their frustation at casual listeners who pay little attention to lyrics and content and simply want to hear a "hot song". The interludes are performed by the members of a fictional radio station called WJLR (Justus League Radio). On the last song called "The Listening", the group address the album's main theme head on, at one point abruptly stopping the song, exchanging dialogue concerning said song, and then restarting again, which in effect creates a song within a song. This album was seen as a fresh alternative to the often violent and misogynistic raps of post-90's hip hop.

Acclaim

Little Brother received approval from notable hip hop figures. Famous drummer and producer ?uestlove of The Roots said:

Another legendary producer, Pete Rock said:

Legendary DJ, DJ Jazzy Jeff said:

DJ Spinna, an underground hip hop producer said:

Track listing

As a gag, the ending of the album's interludes featured a doo-wop style group singing. That's actually the incidental music from the 1990s FOX sitcom "Roc", which starred Charles S. Dutton.

References