If you haven’t clicked the video, check it out…because I’m talking about the well established but to many still up and coming rap group Little Brother Yep, as I continue to evolve with my blog and explore new ideas, this is one of them. Something I just made up literally lol, called Blowin’ up…where I exam what is going on and why certain groups, artists haven’t broken through the ‘underground’(I strongly dislike that term) If you have been coming to yocheckthisout…I posted about Gordon Gartrell radio a few posts down. I mentioned how little brother are one of my favorite groups and I definitely mean it. I was listening to Micheal Baisden(yes I’m a young old head) It was earlier this week and he had people shouting out their colleges and talking about their favorite college memories and songs that embodied their college experience. I was listening as people shouted out their college(University of Maryland Eastern Shore! What up!) and their class i.e. 1990 and speak with such passion about how they loved their 4,5, etc years in college. I was sitting in traffic thinking damn! what songs can I reminsce about that didn’t come out between 92-96 LOL…at first I thought of the UMES classic party jam circa 2000 Mystikal’s classic cut ‘Shake it fast’ but then I was like there has to be more. Little Brother came to mind…not just one song but the whole ‘The listening’ album, definitely epitomizes my college days even though I was a junior when that album came out but as I walked on campus with my backpack, CD player(no MP3 then) and my DJ headphones(I’m a wannabe DJ) it made me think about how people circa ‘School Daze’ era must have felt, even then I knew listening to Little Brother that it was something that would stick with me. That if someone asked me what songs do you think about when you think about college, Little Brother is definitely going to stand out and if I had that feeling, what is wrong with video, radio and record companies!!
I’m gonna put it out there…people are tired of ‘getting silly’, ‘walking it out’ and any other new song that will come out with a heavy base beat and built in dance/mindless rap over honestly… hot beats by the time I finish this post. When I say people, I mean just that…PEOPLE! kids in middle school/high school, college students, 20 somethings, 30 somethings, old school lovers, new school suburban, urban whomever. I’ve had this conversation with a lot of people, I even spoke to my best friends’ after school program and a group of 8th-10th graders basically said ‘we’re tired of this!’ There is nothing wrong with ‘Get silly’ but when that type of song is all you hear, yeah there’s a problem. It’s not that song is different than let’s say ‘Jump’ by Kriss Kross but that’s not all that was being played back in ‘92′ If Little Brother came out back in let’s say between ‘88-93′ everybody would know who they are. Same thing if Tribe came out today they would most definitely be underground. WHY!?
If 13 years kids are tired of the music that is suppose to target them, somebody’s focus group did not work. Not only that, why isn’t the adult segment of the hip hop generation represented, Little Brother is grown folks music. It’s music I would and do let my little 11 year old sister listen to. They are hilarious, have meaningful lyrics and represent what 99% of people are going through. There is nothing wrong with dancing I will fully admit ‘I walk it out’ every chance I get on the dance floor but why can’t I hear ‘two step blues’ as well? You can dance to that fo’ sho’. If Lupe’s song ‘Dumb it down’ is right, what is the point. Dumb the music down for what? The kids, adults everybody, we get it!! We are tired and the record industry is failing because the music being put out is failing to provide us with those ‘good vibes’, uplifting feeling and overall putting smiles on our faces. Little Brother is independent now and I’m glad! I’m not even in the industry but I would tell anybody to go independent or stay independent. I could care less if Sony stops selling CD’s, Warner Brother’s etc. The music and culture will continue the internet is proof. I guess if the music industry is following the pattern of what’s going on in the U.S. they are just clueless, people on the street get it, but the suits and the people around them clearly do not. What is being played on the radio as I speak has over extended it’s welcome by my estimate two years too many.
Little Brother put out the ‘Minstrel Show’ on Atlantic back in ‘05′ Atlantic didn’t support them at ALL!! Again what happened, why sign an artist you are not going fully support. The album is hot…well all their stuff is but why didn’t I hear ‘lovin’ it’ on the radio. Although VH1 Soul played that joint, but again how many people are watching VH1 Soul? Yes people are tired but they are not necessarily seeking other options, they are just stuck. Like if you’re tired of your job but you don’t know where to turn, you’re staying where you are. I hope it will get better, but hip hop music is moving away from the mainstream anyway. It would be nice to turn on the radio and hear Little Brother being played along ‘with at least 18 jams in a row’
Peace
