About 8 years ago I attended a new hip-hop artist showcase at the club called The Knitting Factory in Manhattan. Even a bit tipsy and still buzzed from having met Guru from Gang Starr a group of cats from North Carolina hit the stage and blew my mind. They called their group Little Brother, which was kind of odd to me at the time but I was certain they were destined for big things. I just knew these country boys were going to blow up.
Little Brother went on to release six fantastic albums, the best two and hip-hop classics being Chitlin' Circuit Mixtape and The Minstrel Show, but the group never really caught on with the masses. Maybe it had to do with the two members, Phonte and Big Pooh, spreading themselves too thin with side projects and other groups or because we live in a time in which the masses are programmed to "like" certain artists. Whatever the reason in 2010 Phonte and Big Pooh decided to end the group and go their separate ways.
After the demise of the group Little Brother, Phonte easily transitioned into his other project, the group The Foreign Exchange. Many people didn't know what would happen to the other half of Little Brother, Rapper Big Pooh.
I feel that the end of Little Brother might have been the best thing that happened to Big Pooh's career as he can now shine on his on and not compromise on the harder edge he brings to hip-hop. An edge that had to take a backseat to an R&B sound in Little Brother because Phonte wanted to be an R&B singer more than an MC.
This month Phonte released what is actually his third solo album and has really found his sound and does it big for I choose as the best album of the month.
The Best Hip-Hop Album of April 2011 is Fat Boy Fresh Vol.1 by Big Pooh.
With a tremendous ear for beats and a clear love for old hip-hop Big Pooh does an amazing job producing a simple yet driving sound that stays true the genre without electronic gimmicks, out of tune hipster sung hooks and odes to tight jeans wearing punks looking for something cool to play while doing tricks on their skateboards. This is straight grown man hip-hop, like or hate it. I love it and can't get enough of it.
Big Pooh really made a daring move but only putting out a 42 minute 12 song album. Three or four bad songs could have really put an end to his career but the cat comes through like a champ and bangs from start to finish.
The song that I only give three stars out of five is titled Access and although its not a bad song it just seems to over produced and created to appeal to the popular southern sound as if he's looking for a hit instead of maintaining his integrity as an artist. Easy for me to say since it isn't my responsibility to sell his album but I have to be honest. Maybe it'll grow on me but it prolly won't. The rest of the songs are far and away the best hip-hop released in April.
Fat Boy Fresh Vol.1 by Big Pooh, get it today and take pleasure in people stopping to ask you "Who dat is?!?" when you bang it in your trunk.
Program your mp3 player with these tracks:1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,12
Little Brother went on to release six fantastic albums, the best two and hip-hop classics being Chitlin' Circuit Mixtape and The Minstrel Show, but the group never really caught on with the masses. Maybe it had to do with the two members, Phonte and Big Pooh, spreading themselves too thin with side projects and other groups or because we live in a time in which the masses are programmed to "like" certain artists. Whatever the reason in 2010 Phonte and Big Pooh decided to end the group and go their separate ways.
After the demise of the group Little Brother, Phonte easily transitioned into his other project, the group The Foreign Exchange. Many people didn't know what would happen to the other half of Little Brother, Rapper Big Pooh.
I feel that the end of Little Brother might have been the best thing that happened to Big Pooh's career as he can now shine on his on and not compromise on the harder edge he brings to hip-hop. An edge that had to take a backseat to an R&B sound in Little Brother because Phonte wanted to be an R&B singer more than an MC.
This month Phonte released what is actually his third solo album and has really found his sound and does it big for I choose as the best album of the month.
The Best Hip-Hop Album of April 2011 is Fat Boy Fresh Vol.1 by Big Pooh.
With a tremendous ear for beats and a clear love for old hip-hop Big Pooh does an amazing job producing a simple yet driving sound that stays true the genre without electronic gimmicks, out of tune hipster sung hooks and odes to tight jeans wearing punks looking for something cool to play while doing tricks on their skateboards. This is straight grown man hip-hop, like or hate it. I love it and can't get enough of it.
Big Pooh really made a daring move but only putting out a 42 minute 12 song album. Three or four bad songs could have really put an end to his career but the cat comes through like a champ and bangs from start to finish.
The song that I only give three stars out of five is titled Access and although its not a bad song it just seems to over produced and created to appeal to the popular southern sound as if he's looking for a hit instead of maintaining his integrity as an artist. Easy for me to say since it isn't my responsibility to sell his album but I have to be honest. Maybe it'll grow on me but it prolly won't. The rest of the songs are far and away the best hip-hop released in April.
Fat Boy Fresh Vol.1 by Big Pooh, get it today and take pleasure in people stopping to ask you "Who dat is?!?" when you bang it in your trunk.
Program your mp3 player with these tracks:1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,12
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