In honor of the
reconciliation between former
Little Brother groupmates
Phonte and 9th Wonder, I have decided to share a little homage of sorts to the prolific sonic brilliance that is
9th Wonder, the man who is almost single-handedly keeping boom bap Hiphop music alive and kicking. I said
almost.
The two of them
recently revealed they'd been working together on Phonte's upcoming solo album, with 9th producing most of the album.
It's been well documented that 9th and Phonte met
in college before forming with
Rapper Big Pooh the seminal rap trio Little Brother and ultimately creating and releasing
The Listening, which was instantly and still remains a throwback for the ages -- a true school Hiphop album complete with highly skilled lyrics and rhymes from two rappers possessing
Run DMC-like chemistry paced by the expert-sounding-but-still-rough-around-the-edges (think
RZA on
36 Chambers) beat-making wizardry of 9th Wonder that combined elements of
Pete Rock and
J Dilla while still managing to stand out and distinguish himself as an exceptional, traditional Hiphop producer in his own right.
Since 9th's break from Little Brother six years ago, he has been on a mission to make music on his own terms while never again allowing himself to be pressured by major label executives -- which he says he experienced at the hands of Atlantic Records (which apparently still forces
signees to compromise artistic integrity) surrounding the creation and consequent release of the group's second album (ironically titled
The Minstrel Show), their first under a contract with a major label.
That mission, in addition to working with a diverse list of artists -- from
Drake to
David Banner to
Murs to
Lil B to
Idris Elba to
Buckshot -- has included the creation of
It's a Wonderful World Music Group, which houses his record label
Jamla, home to the following well rounded roster of artists:
Hopefully the album features more of
Phonte the emcee and less of
Phonte the crooner, but as long as 9th's beats make up the majority of the backdrop, the results should be nothing short of monumental.
