QLS Classic: Little Brother

Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. Listen and gentlemen check it out. This is a classic QLs episode featuring our fam Little Brother. Of course, you know they have a really powerful documentary called Me the Lord Watch. I highly recommend you watch it. They're one of my favorite groups. We'll assume we be one of your favorite groups. Falla, No, they're already one of your favorite groups. All right, Quest Love Supreme Classic Little Brother. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to

Pooh Durham claims me.

Like who's one of the tug of war of where the genesis and little brother actually lies?

It all started at Central, you know what I mean? We were students in North Carolina Central together, so Durham, for all intents and purposes, it is the birthplace a little brother yeah, I just I just have.

To make it clear that I'm I'm from Virginia originally just what cities Alexandria, all through northern Virginia, but Alexandria and Fairfax specifically.

Okay, all right, So, I, in the attempts to treat Fonte as a regular guest, did not assume that everyone knows his story.

I do.

However, I'm not that familiar with your story, pooh. So to give us a recap or whatever, I'll start with you. What was your entry into music?

Probably the radio, but like more importantly BMG, when they did the uh you could get likes for a dollar or whatever.

Were you or were you scamming?

I was scamming big time.

Yeah, proud Sam here. Yeah.

I did it about five different times and got five different groups of CDs. But that was probably my real intro, just learning about so many different artists. And I had

Man.

I was actually just talking about this with my wife yesterday, Like, we didn't listen to music in the house. My mom is not a huge music fan, so I just had to get at other places because it didn't come from the crib.

Yeah, I was gonna ask for the same for you, Fante, Like, was there trickle down creativity in your life like an older cousin and older like, Yeah, for me, it absolutely was. It was it was my mom. I think it started with my mom.

So the thing was, you know, I have very young parents, so my mother was my mother when she had me, she was fifteen and my dad was seventeen, So I was pretty much with my mom like all the time, So wherever she went, I was there. So during the summer, but during the like the weekends, that was when we had to clean up. We all live with my grandmother, so that was clean up time. So that was when she was playing all the you know, all just you know, the classic R and B stuff, Luther Patty, you know,

And then my other uncle, my uncle Brod, He was super.

He was kind of the more experimental, I guess in terms of his taste, Like he was heavy p funk heavy. He was a big dance music fan, so a lot of South soul stuff, south sool, orchestra, instant funk, got my mom made up.

He like heart.

I remember he had like the Heart, the Dreamboat, and the album, you know what I'm saying. So he he went all over everywhere. So he was probably, you know, one of my biggest musical influences in terms of no regard for a genre.

If it was funky to him, he just fucked with it. And that's what it was. So with Pooh, for you, you not having that like what was it just recreational or just an escape or like life playing?

It was an escape for me. I can put on music, had a bite walk man, just ride around town unless I was just listening to music, had the auto reverse so flip itself. And so you know, I just for me, it was just something I just always innately enjoyed and just enjoy listening. I was always a writer, not necessarily a music but like I would write poetry, I would write short stories. So that inspired like that intrigued me in music. That's why I took to Nas like I did,

Now, I mean, is this the typical narrative for a young black teenager in the early nineties to go this particular route, because again, I mean, you know, I'll call truly ignorant Northerners, and what our thoughts are about anybody below the Mason Dixon line. So I mean just in general, because Aucass had this problem as well, like people just landing whatever, you know, not knowing. So was there ever a I mean, is this the typical route of a young black teenager in that time period?

I definitely wouldn't say it was typical, just because you know where we grew up at where I grew up in Greensboro, North Carolina. You know, there wasn't There were people who made music, but there wasn't really the thought of actually making it as a musician. It was just yo, we like music, we spend records, you know, we freestyle whatever. But I don't think there was ever a real thought of, like, yo,

You know, you bring a steady check home. You know what I'm saying. That was life, That's what it was. Yeah.

So in terms of just musically though, we were always the South was always a big kind of melting pot because and I think a lot of things that people didn't understand the problem that cast had and also you know a problem that little brother had, you know, people didn't understand it. In the South, we grew up listening to everything. Like the South was the meeting point for

Versus New York. They kind of got caught off guard.

Like the South was a sucker punch to them, like when they saw you know, when Master p blew up and you know, no limit, you know, cash money.

They got caught off guard. They was like, what the fuck is this? But in the South, we knew that shit was coming, you know what I mean, because we had been studying it. So Okay, when I first started coming down to North Carolina, there was a club called is it the Cat's Cradle? Yep, okay, So like one of our very first gigs was at the Cat's Cradle, And I mean, you know, we were the roots, so of course we're going to attract sort of an alternative

I mean we initially met, uh in a dorm room. Tay came through in this ever ever bubbly personality to supit a rohund he wrote for English class.

Uh, and that's hot. That's how we met, as those first how we met straight up. It was.

Already on the hallway Joe Joe Wright, I remember his last name today, Joe Wright. He was. It was his room and he used to just have mad people come in the room. And I was fresh on the hallway because I actually stayed in a hotel for half of my first semester in college. But I got there. We were in the room kicking it and Fonte come in and was like, yeah, I wrote this round for English class. It's called no Apologies. And he starts spinning and I'm

Football. Man, I played football.

I started playing football in the sixth grade, and h I played all through middle school, all through high school, and I played my first two years in college and a fullback. And you know, by the time I got to college, I realized that it was a much more of a It was a commitment that I just didn't have. Like I didn't love the game. I wasn't on scholarship. I didn't care, you know, I was like, why am I out here?

Fuck?

This?

Was it a Friday night lights culture for football down there? Or yeah, it kind of was.

I mean it was a big So the school I played for in high school, Page high school, we used to whoop ass like we was the truth. And so my senior, my junior senior year, my senior year, we got to the semifinals and we almost took state, but we lost in the semifinals. But we always had a good program, and so it was something I think for me, it was just something that was more social. In high school, it was just you know, I was a big kid. I had decent size, you know, decent speed, and you

The love for it.

And I'm just like, man, why am I out here? I love doing music, so let me go do music. And that was around the time that that was when me.

And who met.

That's where we met, and I mean it morphed into a different variations of what it ultimately became. It was a big ass group of us at one time called the organization. Then that whittled down to give me.

How many how many people in that organization?

I don't know at nine so it was okay, the organization, It was me. You I guess ninth was in it by default. I think I don't even think he was in the organization. Yes, it was people I can't even remember their name.

It was organization.

It was this organization, So I know definite it was me, you, Joe God who you remember Rosie Rosie was like one of it was this. It was a girl we used to run with named Rosie who was em C.

She was dope.

Uh.

Medina of course she was in that.

Yes, yes, it was was there.

Medina was Medina was she was another girl she was She was an m C. And Medina was Dope. And Medina and and Sean Dawn they had a whirlwind ro Manus relationship.

And it was the original Chris Brown and Rihanna man.

Man old man. Listen, Okay, we leave that man to tell his own his own war war stories.

Those stories and out ours to tell.

We were collective of just em c's and and then we had a z these Colins Collins, he was he was our R and B singer.

Yeah, he keep them hollering. Collins.

He had like somebody else that wrapped. I can't remember that. I can't remember who it was. But it was your very loose and I used that term loosely. It was very loose collective of people who went to school together and we would just.

Go to each other each other rooms, freestyling and ra style and that was that was it.

And then it whittled down to Gimme, which is me sean Dan give.

Me a g I M M E y Yeah, yep, that was name. What that was at an acronym? Was it? It was? Of course it was an A.

Of course, God I murdered many ms. That was one of them.

Yeah, we had a couple of them.

That was the main one.

That was the main one. God I murdered. Man, it was so many bad We had so many bad meanings for the acronym.

But that was it.

I want a group to come out named acronym in the accomplished character resilience, right.

I don't get that ship way to fuck up out of here, But I mean it transformed into many different took many different shapes, and I still remember this is this would always be funny to me. I mean, this was the moment that changed my rap career. But it's it's still funny because it's ironic how it ended up. U Seandan didn't come back to school one semester, so that was the end of Gimme and uh Fante was in my dorm room and he was like.

Yo, man, we got went to New York. He went back to New York.

Yeah, Sean went back to New York. So I was like, what's good man. He's like, yeah, man, I don't see as being no duo. So, uh, you know, you gotta do some more work.

So but if you need me for.

Something, just I let me. That conversation changed my It changed my rap career.

Man.

It made me work the hardest ship, Like I never worked so hard my life at something. But I mean it's ironic because that's what we ended up a duo anyway.

During that period. I mean, how how much would you say you were committing to your craft as opposed to like surviving going your job and I write rhyme, maybe I.

Was surviving man.

Uh yeah, it wasn't.

It wasn't serious for me. I still didn't. I still didn't believe that it could be more than just something we were doing in school at the time, because I never saw this as a career for me. It was just something I love to do. And that moment let me know like, hey man, you gotta step your ship up or you better start really going to class. It was it was one of those moments. Yeah, I'm saying I didn't choose class.

Yeah, that was the thing.

I mean, I remember at that time because we were kind of It was a pivotal moment for all of us because at that time, Sean Donnie went back to New York and Pool was still me and you. We were only ones I think still in Durham and you were about to go home that summer. We were about to just go home for that summer. And this is ninety eight, ninety nine, No, this was this was probably was it two thousand, It had to be the two thousand.

It was two thousand and one, because that's the summer.

We don't know what it was two thousand and one to spring.

It was spring two thousand and one. I went to Charlotte for the summer and I was taking the train back to Durham because that's when the Justice League started. Yeah, that's when little brother became little brother like that.

And that end us Spring two thousand and one. That was like dealing. It was born. My oldest son was born.

He was born December two thousand, So yeah, around two thousand and one Spring, old Nigga, My head was in a whole nother place. I was like, yo, if you ain't real about this shit, nigga. Yeah, you better find something else because nigga, I got a kid.

Yeah, I'm going to say out, when you have a kid and when you have real life situations, then how much pressure to pursue your your craft? Like what's the ratio balance? Man? I was scared of ship.

I was.

I was.

I was scared to tell. But you know, my son was born the end of December. Uh he you know, he was Christmas. He was Christmas Eve two thousand and so I ended up finishing my degree in that that following semester of like May two thousand and one. His mother ended up coming back I think that next the semester after that, and she finished her degree like in December. So we were young parents and we had no fucking idea what we were gonna do. You know, I had no clue you know what what it was gonna be.

It was dope. But uh, you know, Seanda went back to New York.

Me and Pool were just you know, kind of here he was going back home for the summer, and he was going back home to Charlotte, and we had that conversation.

Was like, yo, man, I don't really see us being the duo.

But that summer, I remember Pooh went home and that was it was this event used to call call fat City that a buddy of ours was having.

It's cat DJ dr and it was like.

An open mic kind of freestyle thing and Pooh he put in work and he came back that next semester and his rhymes was just different.

He was rhyming. I was like, nigga, you shit sound good? You know what I mean?

And I could just see he had really put that work in. I mean, and we always kind of been putting it in, but I really just saw in him. I was like, yeah, like he really he really about it now, and you know, we all, you know, we took him seriously at that point.

Okay, So where does ninth come into the equation of ninth? Originally was man ninth? Was I met nine in ninety.

Eight?

Ninety eight? It was ninety eight.

Yeah, So ninety eight we were moving into the dorm. This was like, uh, you the day when everybody moves into the dorm. I was playing football, so I had already been there earlier to report for camp. So we had been in there all the all the football players. But this is when the civilians we used to call them, you know, the civilians had first moved in, so all the niggas didn't bolve like it's like it's civilians about to move in, the civilians coming, and so ninth it.

Was sports and first, and then the civilians come.

Yeah, that's when the civilians come after that, because we had to report early, you know, for two days, three of days really and so so man, so I'm I'm in the joint. I walk into the dorm and it's like the lobby kind of commons area, and I see this dude holding a source magazine.

And I was like, yo, man, let me let me see that. Let me let me see that source.

And at that time, this was again, this is like ninety eight, so this is master p you know, bad boy. I mean, this is kind of like the peak of that era, you know, approaching that era. So to see somebody with a source magazine, that shit was like, Nigga, that's like manner from heaven, you know what I mean.

It's like, oh, my god, you know about this too? What the fuck you know? And so he was like yeah, man.

So we me and him started going through the source together and it was an ad for Most steps Black on Black Side, and I think either me or him was like, Yo, man, I'm.

Waiting on this shit. And I was like, nigga, you know about that? Like what you were you up on Most?

And from that point on, me and Knife like we were like that was it, you know what I mean? It was like, you know, I found kind of another Jedi. So that was ninety eight.

Can I ask Can I ask something? Sure?

Well?

When I met culturally, did you often have to code switch musically to fit in with whatever social sirvece or you were in? So say, if like someone's not into most that is in your parameter in college, like who else are you listening to? At that time?

No Limit they ran ship because I couldn't make No Limit ran ship, bro.

Like that was for me.

It was different because so I didn't get no Limit until I got to college because at the time that was when we was playing football, and so all the football players.

Like all in the locker room.

That was what we was bumping about it about it the true album No Limit Soldiers, like you know, before we went to the weight room, like we bumped that ship. So that was when No Limit clicked for me because I was like, Okay, this is what the music is used for. It wasn't necessarily nothing. I was riding around in my car playing, you know.

So at no point were you guys like, hey, this is this thing called the love movement. I was a hold, you know, I was.

Still I was still in high school. But I mean for us, it wasn't. It was just like you like what you liked, and you learned from other people about other you know, other ship. So I learned from other people about No Limit. I learned because I was listening to New York stuff personally. So I learned from other people about No Limit. I learned from other people about

It was a lot sharing, way more communal experience. We gotten a no limit, but it was more like with binoculars, let's see what they're doing a distance, Let's see what they're doing. I mean when the movie came out, we had it on the tour bus, but it's more like, look at those guys. But we I didn't realize that that ship was a culture.

It's it was a that ship. Yeah, man, Yeah, it wasn't a movement, nigga. It was definitely a culture.

Like you saw that no Limit tank.

Out the way, and.

Yet the thing that's curious to me is that you guys still decided to go to another pasture that not travel before down there, where it could have been easy for you guys to just go that route. I just think that that wasn't who we were, you know, because I've you know, I've been asked that question a lot about you know, why we chose was the route that we did and you know, for me, I think it was just an extension of who we were, you know

It was calm and the roots, and you know, it was all the stuff from that kind of native tongue tree, and that was what felt right to us in terms of making records.

Now, I'll say what attracted me to you guys when I first heard of you guys was the fact that, well, first, I mean, our listeners need to know exactly how ahead of your time you guys were as far as I mean, what people are doing now, as far as like do it yourself, making records, making final products in your houses, in your apartment, that sort of thing, which I mean is practically unheard of. I mean, for all the folklore of Rizza. Yeah, making the wood tanking stuff in his apartment.

That's all we had, we black folk man, you know what I'm saying, working what you got? Like, we didn't have no studios, We didn't have no you know NiFe, didn't have no beat machine, like.

I mean, point was it like? Because even with us, it was like, okay, well we got to get to a real studio one day. So like we pulled it up our money and just went to a real studio and no point is there.

Like we heard what we had and what we were doing.

It was like fuck that studio like this is and then were good and then too on top of that, and on top of that, you remember we heard, so we heard the stuff that we were making in our studio. And then we also heard the stuff that was coming out of the big studios at that time, right, and that shit was garbage, And so I think that kind of gave us even more confidence because we was like, Yo, if we're doing this shit in our fucking in my homies apartment and y'all niggas is going to ease.

You know.

It was mixed on this twenty four track or whatever, and the music still ain't good. So I think for me that was a big That was a big factor too.

That's when I realized it was the man, not the machine. That's that's that's what that taught me.

What were the alternative group names? A little? I mean, was it Little Brother? Just in automatic, like that's what we are. Did you have other that was the first name? Yeah?

I think another one, The only one I can remember was Round Midnight. I remember we had that was one which things.

That was one we had one that we just all knew it couldn't be used for a rap group. Flea market Mannequins.

Oh, I remember that.

I'm still wearing that ship for something. Why.

I have no idea where that came from. I remember that name, but I don't know what the thought of it was. I think maybe I was like I was. I was listening to like Google dolls and like food Fighters, like I was into that ship. So I was trying to think of a name that sounded something like that, but.

An alternative name that you get you all the booked at a club, right.

Wait a minute, a lot of pissed off people.

So what was the the the genesis of what we now know as the listening.

At the beginning of it, man, the listening was Yeah, by this time, this is around two thousand and one, it's old one. Yeah, I graduated school in May and ninth. He was by this time he was fully fledged, like making beats. So the thing with Knife was that, you know, we met in ninety eight. I didn't hear a beat from him until like a year later. I didn't even know he made beats. He came to my room. We met in ninety eight. He came to my room one day and he had He's like, yo, man, I got

I was like, word, you got that?

She's a hell yeah, And so we played the Black Star album. We was listening to the Blackstar record, and I was like, man, this shit crazy as hell, this shit dope. And so then I didn't see ninth again for like months at a time because.

He was in school. But I don't think he was really in school. Yeah, he was a career student. Like how do y'all do that? Likes yo?

If you get if you hang around the dorm, if you can get uh, you know, if you're good with somebody in the calf, you can eat. So if you ain't, even if you ain't got no meal playing, you know, you can get in the calf on especially on like Chicken.

Day, nigga, come on anybody on Chicken Day. Every day?

Essential was like the club. I was gonna say. At Treia School, they did not allow any rentals, wrap or foil uh inside their cafeteria for fear that you know, the students would steal the food and take it back to their dorm.

Man.

Listen, man, niggas took all kind of ship back from the dorm. We were taking so word everything.

I mean, we had a takeout line in the calf so you can come and get your food and eat, like get it to go and lead.

Straight up, straight up but h so, yeah.

So around that time, you know, niney nine Poop ninth wasn't on campus like that. I've just kind of see him sporadically. But ninety he bring the Black starlebum to my room. We listened to it, and then in ninety nine he shows back up. And by this time we were in a new dorm. We were in the new residence, and so we had moved and we had like this little sweet or whatever, and so he come and he like, yo, man, I got some joints I want to play for you. And I was like, and I was thinking he had

Who is this?

He's like, yo, this is me? I said, word, I said, He's like, you made these beats. He was like, yeah, these joints.

I said, what you make them on? He said, man, I just make him on fruity loops or well no, no, no, I'm sorry. It wasn't frud loops at the time. This is even before fruit loops. He was using a program called called beat Nah. This was even before acid. It was called it was a program called be Box and he was using be box and cool at it to make to make tracks, and I mean again, it was unheard of me.

I was like, nigga, what the fuck?

Like, I was really on a computer and so but he had some joints and so one record he had was one Beat Had.

I said, man, when you let me wrap over this?

He was like, all right, cool, he said you really want to wrap I said, yeah, let me wrap over this joint. And I did a record called paper Lines and that was like ninety nine. That was like the first song me and him ever did together. And I remember doing it. I played it for pool, played it for just cats and our crew. They really they really fucked with it. And that was that was kind of

I can't remember if you wrote with me to the studio that night or yeah, I think.

I think I came up on the train and I wrote with you.

Yeah, we came.

We came to the studio together and I was like, I was like, well, ship Pool here like you you want to rocket? He was like, yeah, I rocket, And so we did that song together and that was it.

That was just like the Speed.

I know, that was their first joint together. That was the very first song we put together. Oh shit, okay, okay. So it's also explained to me who is in the Justice League? Okay, all right, I'm sorry should I say Justice League?

That side was to remember the names, it's fifteen of them, and also.

How do you how do you wrestle with that Justice League? And have y'all ever had a meeting a collective meeting? Like I talked to Rook.

I haven't taught the rook in sometimes Rook from the Justice League, but it was it was always love, I love.

Yeah.

We met.

At one point me and Brook was talking. This was years ago.

He was like, yo, man, we need to do a Justice League meets Justice League, Like let's let's collab, let's do some ship and we were talking about doing it, but I know it just never happened. But it was never no, no, smoking's first. I think we were first.

I think we were first. I think yeah, all right, all right, all right, so so Justice League members, Okay, so let's let's we're gonna do this the easy way.

Start with the niggas on the phone.

Yeah, me, and do you have nine? Did you have Sean Dawn? You have Seambu Crisis? Uh Na Cason right that Comanche? Hey, uh flacentriccentric Centric big legacy though leg lega thirteen.

Were the crisis Crisis.

I said crisis.

You got crisis.

I said crisis.

You show your Allen Poe and Eggar Allan Poe or.

Said flow the flow. I said, PoCA, Yeah, I got the flow. The reading nig I think that's it. I think forgetting. So it's fifteen. We forget.

We got Mike Bird, we got Eccentric, we got some of your real got some of your got Bird, got Bird says all.

We got book saves a crisis, leg crisis. I think what about the weight, you said, the Waight team. That's I think we got everybody.

Median media damn median median.

Yeah. Yeah.

Another dude that showed up intermittently like he would just vanished. For like months at a time, and then just popped back up. That was that's that's been meetings and mo since I know him. Everybody needs your elk be in their life.

Just shows up in here. That was him? Was it so with speed? Like when is the official like okay, are we a group? Or was it just like okay, what is this?

I mean?

Is it like a relationship where you're like, you know, like after the third date, then she's like, okay, so what are we? We are farmers.

For that? I think like a day or two later, like we all just kept listening to the song and noticed the chemistry and said, hey, this sounds good. Let's let's make a few more and see how it come out. And a few more turned into a whole Lass album.

Okay, Now I really want to now that I've established the story for those that are not familiar, now I want to get to my real first question because even more than the roots, like okay, okay, granted it's like eleven of us, but really the roots are two people, and it comes down to me Intarique and fifty to fifty is a little bit more easier than thirty three or three and third. So in the beginning, are you guys ever, like, what is the the democratic process of how decisions are made?

Man?

At that time, I mean, it was we had I think I thought was a fairly a good system that got kind of you know, corroded over time. But but originally, you know, it was the three of us. It was me, poor Knife, and Doe was our manager. So pretty much whenever it came down to do something, me, poor Knife would discuss it internally, and it's three of us, so automatically, somebody's gonna lose, you know what I mean. Sometimes I lose,

And that was it.

Once Ninth left the group, that was when things changed and we no longer had that kind of third swing vote, so to speak. So that was when for me, I think just the group became very taxing because it was just, yeah, it was, but yeah, particularly and hard as a twosome at that point because at that point in time, me and Pool hadn't really I don't think me and you had really talked like that.

About what we wanted and about kind of at all.

We didn't have none of them conversations, so we were just making a lot of them decisions on the fly, and you know, when you don't have a third person there to kind of help smooth things over, in some ways, it made it really hard.

But in the beginning, that's what it was.

It was the three of us, we make a decision and then just kind of told our manager what we wanted to do with it.

So what were your initial goals for the listening? Was it like, Okay, we'll have these collection songs, we'll try to get a major deal too much.

It was let's do these songs, sell them ourselves, and see what happens.

Yeah, originally we was gonna do We was gonna do it, put it out ourselves because I was on I think I had like a credit card at that time, I had my little Discovery card and I was we was on disc makers and I was just running numbers. I'm like, yo, so how much if we just press this shit ourselves? And we moved out the trunk like I was, you know, doing it just in my mind, and I was talking to ninth about it. Because I remember we were in We were in the computer lab at h at at

So that was the computer.

So whenever I wanted, whenever I wanted to get on like okay, player and ship nigga, that was all computer lab. So uh, my Homie Median he was a student at n C State but like not really a student, but he had an I D.

So he was there. You know us we use Yo Reil, Yeah Leroy.

Uh we used LeRoy's roommate, Uh, Louis Cheronis like he was the he was the cafe Nigga pretty pretty pretty low when we were this joint.

And and then like when I was at Central like that that that my last year. That was when I was I was on the newspaper.

I was an editor.

I was the arts in arts and entertainment editor on our newspaper, and so I would be in a computer lab all the time.

You know.

That's when I would get all my OK player post off. But after that, I mean I was going home like nigga, we have no computers at.

The crib, no cell phone?

Shit Ty didn't he have a cell phone at that time?

Yeah, I don't think I got my first cell phone probably like oh, what four something like that, some shit like that.

Yeah, three four, Yeah, Boss, Bill, correct me if I'm wrong. No, this is literally the Bill Gates story. Bill Gates' story had a faulty ID that let him stay in the computer lab like fifteen hours a time. To be in the computer lab during Bill Gates day was like attaxing, like forty dollars an hour thing, but he never got charged for it. So then he was like, all right, I'm gonna stay in this motherfucker for fifteen hours a day figure out how to turn this big ass room

That's what I wish we made Bill Gate's money, but really, but fate didn't have it that way.

But but no, that was it. We were just doing those records.

So at that time, yeah, the thought wasn't you know, at least for me, the thought it was just Okay, we made this record, let's just get it out so people can hear it.

And you know, it was just.

Like I don't think no one had a thought of where it was gonna go. I knew my life was gonna change. Like I can specifically remember the night when we finished everything and like we had the final mix down and sequence of the album and I just sat outside my apartment in the car just listen to the record, and I just I knew things were gonna change. I just felt that we had something special. It wasn't like, you know, yo, we're gonna be rich or we're gonna

The first sign of that, of that assurance was it like your first out out of state show. Was it like a mentioned in the source or like, what was that moment where it was like, oh, ship happened.

I think for me it was when uh, when Benny b got in touch with us, just to have somebody Benny B from ABB Records.

Okay, so that was not your label, No, No, not at all at all.

I thought that ABB was your Now ABB was Benny b Uh from the Bay Area. They they had put out like a lot of dilated people's twelve ines. That was kind of their claim to fame, uh, dillate people's the far Rye. They had put out like just a lot of stuff and they were known for just moving vinyl.

Yeah.

And that was how a buddy of ours, a promoter out this way bum rush DJ bum rush.

Uh.

He had to connected abb Ian Davis, I D and I D heard our stuff on the narre from all of us. We had posted on Okay player and all that shit, and we had the little site that was when Bossville had the John he had the Yeah, it's like he posted up to join us up on there. So it was just kind of spreading and so I G I D from A dB A B b caught

That's how we started talking.

And that was how the ABB relationship, Uh, that was how we came to sign with them.

So, Bill, were you the okay player that officially introduced okay player to introduced a little brother to Okay player?

I guess, but I mean I got it through von p from currently a Tania Morgan and like Vaughn hooked me up with Eccentric and the Centric sent me like the Beasts for Love joint revisited and like so I was. I was a Ninth Wonder fan first and then I didn't even know about these two until later, Like I think I heard speeding away from me, like maybe not maybe like a week or two after that, and then I was like.

Damn, what is this ship? Slot funked us too. He was another one.

He was the one that really cause again we had no computers, let alone a way to build a website or none of that ship. So Slot was the one that had he had built like a little site for us, and he was like, yo, I can put some joints up for y'all.

I was like cool.

And I was working at Blue Cross Blue Shield at the time, and he would call me, you know.

We would we would he would well he would DM me or PM.

Me as we would call it back then, and he was like, yo, man, like y'all joints just crashed my server.

I gotta like everybody been coming this ship. I was like word for real.

And we just had like three folks songes up there. So slop was a big, a big part of that. Was it you and Ninth or you and Pool or were you alone?

Would you?

I wouldn't. I went to the Greensboro show.

I didn't go to that one, Okay. All I remember was that we were doing a show and it was about to rain, and and said we should cancel this

For instance, about to break up my droll on your CD, nigga, I just I just thought it trash.

Right now.

I can't do that. I just leave it back backstage. I don't know, like I'm kind of proud of my track record like something. I was going to leave it backstage and I looked at it, and I don't know if it was the fact that you're handwriting like the the your your your front or whatever. You really Yeah, some spoke to me. I'm like, yo, he really puts some effort into this homemade uh this artwork. I was like.

You should have yeah, distribution, you didn't have directed consumer back then. But I think for for I can speak for me on this my decision. I think if abb if that experience would have been a better experience for us, it wouldn't have been a thing of well, man, let's go get this deal we'd have been it would have been more like shit, we good where we at, but the experience wasn't good because so, yeah, that makes the experience terrible. We still haven't gotten paid, So can I ask?

Let me ask, Let me ask, all right? So that it came out on two thousand and two, two thousand and three, Yeah, two thousand and three. Okay, So had technology as we knew now in twenty twenty been available in two thousand and two, two thousand and three, would this had been a different outcome? Very different, very different. I wouldn't have fuck personally, I wouldn't have.

Fucked with no label had we had it, you know, had we back then, you know, we already had the means of our own production.

So we owned our means of production.

We could make it ourselves, you know, if we had a straight pipeline that we could get it directly to our fans and see the money back.

Man, fuck a label, straight up. But that was but poo.

But you made a great point, you know, when you you know, you ask about what made us make that jump. You know, I really think an agree one hundred percent that had it, if our indie experience would have been better and we would have actually been like paid fairly and you know, according to our contract. If we would have actually been compensated for our work on an indie label, I think we would have been much.

More hesitant about signing to a major.

But at that time, you know, we we put out the records and you know, you're hearing all this buzz and you know, everybody's saying, oh, man, y'all about to blow up, y'all do this whatever. So then Atlantic comes knocking, and it was a bunch of labels that wanted to sign us at that time, but that kind of fed.

Uh well, Mike Karen reached out first, but we were we were told, we got the word not to deal with him. So like we ended up.

We met with Warner, We met with Jive, and then we met It's Warner and then it was Warner because Tom Waller. That's when we met Tom Wally.

Tom Wally, we met with Rest of Peace, Chris Lighty and Peter THEO and.

Jive to throw something. Yeah yeah, Chris Lighty, man, he came to.

Me and to the club, took us to the crowd house and.

Lighty yeah, like the thing was, Man, I'll never forget this ship. Man.

I remember being in there and because this is around the time of Chris Lighty, like g Unit Holland on records, Chris Lighty, right, So the thing was, man. So we went into the meeting. We had a meeting at Jive, and you know, Chris Lighty comes in and we're all sitting there at the table. It's Chris Lighty, it's me Pooh Doe, our manager at the time, and Wayne Williams DJ Wayne Williams out of Chicago.

We're all sitting in there. Williams from R Kelly, Yes, yes, yeah.

R Kelly chosen a few DJs, Wayne Williams, you know what I'm saying. So he's in there, and so, man, so we we talking and stuff and and I remember Chris saying he was like, you know, man, I listened to y'all album and he's like, Yo, it tells the whole story. He's like, it's not just singles. He's like, you know, it tells a whole story. And you know, I really think I love what you guys are doing. I think, you know, we can push it. And I was just sitting there. I was like wow, and he

I like this guy.

You know, like it was funny. He said, yo, I like this guy. And I said, yeah, it was like that. He was like yeah, He's like, you know, that was my whole thing with fifty. And he said, but I really like y'all. He said, y'all are like different from everything else that's out and y'all really cut through the clutter. And he was talking. He started talking about his time at Death Jam. I never get this shit. He was like, yo, he said, man, you know when I was at Death Jam,

I'm like, yeah, Dirty thirty. I love that fucking album. And he again he was like, yeah, I like this guy. I like this guy. I say this, I like this guy. I said, nah, man, Dirty thirty that was the shit, and he said something He's like, I never get it. He said yeah.

He said, man, I love that record too, but just because you love something don't mean it's gonna sell.

And I was like, damn, that's the fucking truth. But but yeah, man, he was.

I you know, that was just my only encounter with Chris, but I really liked him. Man, I fucked with Chris. He was a straight shooter, you know.

He you know, he's where we wanted to go. We wanted that's where.

We wanted to go for real, because you remember, Job was like, they wanted to just re release the listening first, and that was.

The problem because they them re releasing the listening means they now take some ownership, if not all, ownership of the album. And Benny Beef maybe b wasn't given that album up. He wasn't given that album up.

And I'm sorry, Yeah, I guess we had to go.

We essentially had to go where he was comfortable going. That's how we ended up at Atlanta, or we would have never went to Atlanta.

And the only reason I think, well, I won't to say the only reason I know, A big reason why he chose Atlantic was because Atlantic let him keep his vinyl rights so atant and let him continue to press the all the LB vinyl, but they retained the rights for everything else.

And so that was how we ended up at Atlanta. That's almost unpressing in it.

That did he press anything up for the second album other than loving it twelve minutes.

There was a minstrel show vinyl. I think there was Mister.

Show vinyl, and I think it was a it was another single. I gotta look through my records. I think it's a single.

Again again.

Yeah, and then and then he reissued the listening in the Mystery Show a couple of years ago.

It's like a year or two ago.

Yeah, didn't he had a courtesy to send us in me of this fabulous reissues. Vinyl ain't paying us play Boy could gave us some vinyl ship that look good? It looks it looks snasty.

You know.

I have to ask you a question which is like, like, I know, know as not not trite, but as you know, as it not meaning something today as it once meant back in the nineties. But did it mean anything to you to see those four and a half mics in the source?

Head all, yes, yes, it meant everything.

Yeah, yeah, seeing the four and a half, seeing you know we got four on the listening because again this was something that you know, this is pre like you know.

Social media, you know, for the blocks took over. Yeah.

Yeah, so I mean we were literally hearing about this, so it will be like, yo, your words that y'all got four in the source, Like what, nigga?

What?

And then you see it.

I remember like going to the you know, grocery store and buying the source and you see it and it's like holy shit, like this is really it's a real thing. And and I got like the hip hop quotable, and that to me was like holy shit, because.

I grew up. Wait a minute, what did you get quortable for? I got it twice. I got it one.

The first time I got it was for the Yo Yo, and then the second time I got it was of course my verse on the Off for you Off show. And that to me was just like man, holy shit. You know that was a moment. So yeah, that shit meant a lot back then. That should been a whole lot.

Yeah, I tried to act like four and a half MIC's on mean, nothing like the story, but you know it's still hanging on my wall. No, four and a half is the real five. I mean, me and you talked about this a lot, But four and a half is the real five. It is. It is absolutely.

So with.

In hindsight, how was the mentreal show experience? Because there was so much expectations and so much was happening. I meant like Hoove was co signing you guys, like everybody was like all the stars were aligned, Like at the end of the day, what happened?

Man? So have you been watching the Last Dance Bulls documentary?

I just got them watching it, Okay, So I watched it at eight o'clock this morning.

Ok So, the thing about it is like at the time, we only knew what we saw.

So it was just like you just see the.

You know, them going for the the you know, the third championship in the row for the second time, but you don't see all all of the underlying stuff that's going on during that time. It's just like, Yo, the concentration the motherfuckers had was amazing, And I look at the Mystery Show. It wasn't that dramatic, but it was

Now, let me ask, Okay, so is this Craig Kelman or or Julie Like what era of Atlantic.

Craig and Julie? When when when Death Jam took over? Yes? Or Kevin It's it's right, it's at the takeover. It's at the Death Jam takeover Warner. And so the real problem started before the ink was dry. On our contract with Atlantic. Robert Reef too low, I Rea.

If you say, if you say his whole name, then this might not be good. He's gonna say it was it was Reefed there because he would seem like your biggest man.

He started there. And then when we went into his office after the deal was done, we saw the boxes in there and he was on the way out. But it was it was, It was nothing more telling. Then we pulled up for a meeting one time and we were walking into the building in New York. We walking into the building and Rob and Reef is coming in at the same time, and he waiting at the desk. We're about to go upstairs. We're like, yo, what you're doing.

And this how this how you're finding out?

Yes, we found out.

We found out Reef was fired when we came.

Just like Bo said, we came to the building and you know, we realized that he had to get buzzed in just like we had to get buzzed and we're like, what the fuck.

So then we get up to his office and we see all the boxes be like Niggy, like you really fired out this bitch and you know, and he was.

I mean, I actually funny thing. We actually saw Reef in New York like last year. We was kind of doing our press run and I mean it's all love. I mean, it's you know, it was you know, I mean, everybody had to do what they had to do at that time. So it was no like hate or nothing like that.

It was.

It was it was all love. But but yeah, Reef bound. That was when he bounced. I think he went to Shady right who we went.

To, or he wouldn't. I think, I know he ended up over at uh Shady Shade for five. But it was just one of them things where we we're in the building, we're new. They don't know what to do with us really because we're unlike what they have or what they what they had and we don't have an A n R h Our marketing guy James Lopez who now runs the Will Packer Productions. Uh so, James Lopez was marketing. He ended up being our marketing our A

Wait can I ask is was rig Morales there yet or was this before he came to Rigg? He was?

Jay Brown ended up being there right before we left because Jay Brown was Lupe's A and R.

This like the Hollywood shuffle music, like literally def Jam and Shady are just that's all. It was switching characters.

So yeah, Julie too, man, Julie always was in our corner and she and she was with whatever, like as long as we came in and show her that we was passionate about what we wanted to do. She was witty. So shout out to Julie Greenwalk.

Okay, so I love the title the Minstrel Show, but humor me, why did you decide to go with the minstrel show?

Because we could call it nigga music.

That you wanted to call that we wanted to call it.

Was like, man, what we call the ship nigga music. And that was like the running we were with it. I think that might have lasted for like three.

Weeks and then we realized, Okay, we can't call it album.

They're not gonna let us do that. We didn't even think they were gonna let us do show, but.

Nigga music in the pocket. It's like, we did want to call it nigga music. Wait, was there any red flax? Like, wait a minute, I don't know, because oftentimes I'll have to explain to white people what minstrel see is and they never know what it is. And then like they're already in the middle of you know, the swamp.

So like.

Man were thinking at the time.

Man, at the time, I think they were. I mean, the one thing I got to give Atlantic credit for, you know, they let us do us. And so my main thought in going into the Mintel Show, particularly once we you know, signed to Atlantic, my whole thing was, we gotta show our fans that we can still do us on a major label, because around that time, you know, signing to a major label, in a lot of ways, it was kind of the kiss of death.

You know what I mean.

If you heard that your favorite band signed to a big label, the first thing as a music fan that your mind is like, ah, man in a scope, about the fuck they should up Atlantic, About the fuck they should up you know what I'm saying. So our whole thing was, well, man, first and foremost, we got to show our fans and we can still be us. You know, unapologetically us on a major label, and so Atlanta they

It wasn't happening back then, you know what I'm saying. And we learned it using real facilities this time around. This was same thing. It was the same.

We still recorded that one. I think by this time we weren't recording in Comanche's crib no more. We had the chop shop by that point.

Yeah. We we actually had an office space that we dubbed the studio and it was the same ship was set up, same setup, just a communal space and not someone's apartment.

Yeah, but it was the exact same setup. We had a computer, we had, Uh, we had a mic.

We U was the.

Road, We had monitors, wass.

The same The same mic that I have in my my setup right now is the mic we recorded the Mystery Show, get back all that on.

But mix wise, uh, guru mix it a real basically.

Mixine mix it that baseline. That was probably like the only kind of upgrade I guess. You know what I mean is that, you know, Google, he mixed the baseline. But everything else, Man, that ship was straight out of our computers, and you know that was that was what it was. And I think we learned a valuable lesson too, you know when you ask about you know, what was the climate like in terms of us calling it the

They got no investment, they got no skin in the game.

So you know, that's one of the things that for us it was like hell yeah, but it ended up being a liability when trying to come into the measure label system because everybody is trying to look for a leg up.

Every an R nigga want to be VP. Every mail room nigga want to be an.

A n R.

So everybody's looking for that thing to hold on to that's gonna be the star to take them somewhere else. And if they can't hitch their wagon to your star, then they don't give a fuck.

Man. I still remember we gave Sycamore so much. We gave him the petty that Babyface gave Teddy Riley the other night.

Like Sycamore down with uh Sycamore is the DJ Sycamore. He was was what do you wrong with?

I remember who he ran, but I just know he was. He was fresh, he was fresh a and R over there. And because the crazy thing is Hip Hop wanted to be our an R. But Craig Callman wouldn't let us go over with Hop because Hop and G had the office over there, and Hop was like, YO, give me them, give me Saigon and it was somebody else and Craig Carman wouldn't do it, so he ended up giving us the Sycamore. And I remember us going to New York.

They because the thing is man and the other thing too.

Like I just kind of saw, is like how much the the record industry, you know, at that time, and I mean even certainly now, how much it perpetuates dysfunction and how much it requires that shit in order to remain a business model, because you know, like we were saying earlier, you know what made you sign the.

Deal, Nigga was poverty, Like niggas was broke and shit.

So like when I saw, you know, you know, a couple of weeks ago, months ago, whatever, when when Meg was going through that shit with her label and all that shit came out and they were talking about Meg the Stallion and her deal, and everybody was just oh.

Well, you know, why don't you just get a lawyer and why don't you just get this Yeah, and.

It's like, nigga, you don't understand the consequences that the artists are living in when they signed these fucking contracts, you know what I mean.

It's hard to.

Think two three years down the line when nigga rent is about to be due on the first, So you know what I mean.

So you can't you know the circumstances of what you signed this shit.

You know, the record industry the is the shit is pretty much a goddamn glorified payday loan, you know what I mean. It's more predatory lending than anything else, you know what I mean. So poverty and dysfunction, that shit is baked into their business model. So in a lot of ways, it again, it becomes a liability if you're an artist that is self contained, know what you want, show up on time, do your job, just do it whatever, because at that point they have nothing. They can't control

So let me ask if if say, the outcome of the mental show turned out to be more rosier than what happened. Uh what we would you guys have delved into your next step, which was like uh, I mean for Pooh was like the Sleepers project, Fonte, You're you're making Foreign Exchange, uh with Nikola, like you're doing these side projects, still committed to the well. I mean then there's nine departure, so his leaving to do more production and whatnot, like your your next step was splintering up

The funny thing is the outcome of the Minstry show didn't even weigh in because the first Foreign Exchange and my album, my Sleepers album were done, already.

Done fo y okay, I thought I've been sure it was two thousand and it was five, two thousand and five, four two thousand and five, okay, okay, And Sleepers came out in February of five. I forgot when that first Connecting Connector came out in oh four.

It was it was like all four, I want to say, yeah, And we were working on those records, like with each other. So yeah, it was never a thing of like, you know, if Pool's like, I'm working on a record, I need a verse for that, all right, cool, I jump on it. He jumped on you know, foreign exchange records. So there was always you know, me just kind of being a

Okay, So without making this, you guys's uh audio obituary, So then you all right, So I actually want to cut in Tarantino this skipping in the future, because I don't know the story of after me begging and begging and publicly began, We've we've talked about this story before in the salone episode of me trying to wield a Little Brother reunion into existence. But what was the straw that at least that unbroke the camel's back for you to be like, okay, like what you down? You down?

I think it was just us becoming friends, Like we just had to take time to after we didn't speak for a while. We just had to take time to just become friends. And that just really and honestly, like for almost two years we didn't discuss making no music together. We didn't discuss It was more like, yo, how you doing in life? Like what's going on in your life?

And then.

Eventually once we did that show the next day, it was just it was unspoken, like I went to take house to pick my money up and he was like, yo, I'm cooking. He said, I'm cooking. I said I'll stay. You know what I'm saying, I'm not going to turn down the free meal. And we just was talking before everybody else pulled up, and it was just one of them things was like, man, how you feel? It was like, shit, I feel good? How you feel?

Okay? So now I want to go back a little bit. How hard is it to walk away because for me, I know, for me and Tarique, like, yes, we were birds of a feather, best friends in high school, spending night each other's couches, you know whatever, do everything together, and then we start a business with each other, and we're just slowly now, we're just slowly now now that we're inching to fifty, we're slowly now inching back to

I think for me that didn't hit till later at the time when we stopped speaking. I think I was just I was so pissed, and I think we were so just frustrated at just a bunch of things and turn each other. That it was more like, fuck that ship, I'm gonna show this nigga. And later on I started to really sink in, like, yo, I think we fucked up, but it's too late to turn back now. Yeah, it was down this path.

Yeah it was.

I didn't realize that, I think. You know, at the time when when we you know, just said fuck it, I was just tired, you know what I mean. And I just you know, we had spent so many years just kind of in a pressure cooker together, just album mixtape tour, mixtape, album tour, and I was just fucking exhausted, man.

We improved twenty ten.

At that time, that was when we were seeing some of our best shows. So you know, after Get Back, that was when we got a really big black audience. So our shows were still going up, Like, you know, we were doing really good business on the road, and you know, we could have kept.

You know, going out there and getting that money.

But I think it was a combination of just exhaustion and then just it wasn't fun, Like we just weren't enjoying each other, We weren't enjoying the experience. We were literally just coming on stage, just rap rap, rap, and then we would go off in two separate directions. And for me, you know, I mean, you know, you gotta make money. Money is important. But the minute this shit started feeling like a job, nigga, I'm gone. I didn't get in this shit because I wanted to.

Work a job. I could have kept my job, you know.

I got in this to, you know, make a living and be around people I love and us build something together.

And once this shit became work, it was like, man, fuck this.

And for me it was, like I said, it was just I think for me it was just hard just looking at the scene at the time and it was like, Yo, this shit is wide open. This is what we fought all them fucking years for is to get to this point, and we got here. We're the man in the cave that all we had to do was hit that take that pitchfork and hit that dirt one more.

Time and the diamond all the diamond.

Yeah, but we turned around and walked away where that where that guy, Like, that's that's how I felt, just how everything turned around, and I was just like, damn, we missed an opportunity there. But like you said, man, we just exhausted, man, just with each other, with the situation, with just everything. It was just like, man, I just need time to go be free over here by myself or doing some other ship and yeah, get back.

But that was our last album, We Owe ABB And after that that was like freedom. I felt freedom in a way that I hadn't felt in a long time. And that was when I met I was like, nigga, fuck a label, Like fuck we out this deal. We're free of Atlantic abb Man, fuck this ship. And that was when me and Nick form e fie music after that.

Okay, all right, so everyone that listens to the show knows Fonte's disdain for me holding on tightly to politically correct non gotcha questions. Go in something we talk about whatever. We're in the age of the Roman, Nick, the.

Age of the Roman, so.

Should I will publicly into the future a reunion of the original unit of this group. Well, I can tell you this, damn you already started. Okay, you can, you can, you can.

You can say out loud and put into the air as much as you want, Brother Amir, I can tell you what ain't gonna Happensten.

Listen, listen, wait, listen, hear me.

I know my ass already, but I listen because I believe.

Okay, for those that never heard the salone episode, I went on Twitter, I think in I was at least at fallon at the time. It's like twenty twelve thirteen. It nah, this was later than that. This was this is about twenty.

This yeah, oh yeah, that was about twelve thirteen is I decided.

You know what I'm gonna will. I'm a publicly will a Little Brother reunion for the greater good, you know, the rof the hell's paid with great intentions. Facts I put it. I put a tweet out there. I was like, I want little I forget the exact wording, but it's like, I'm willing a Little Brother reunion because damn it, I need it. And you know, Fante kind of did the you when Chappelle man, I was like, nah, man, chill, don't do that.

Chill.

I tried, I tried. I tried to defuse the bomb and you did it like yo man, my wife and my wife is here like like what are you doing? Like that sort of thing. He gave an example of like yo, man, this is like me putting out there like you and salons and da da da da da. And then Salon saw our name says wait wait me and a mirror what and then it caused what a time?

I saw all that. That's all the fireworks.

Yeah.

Yeah, we weren't even talking at that time. We were talking at that time, but that ship went off.

That was crazy. My whole point was that this still happened, and you said it would never happen. So that's it. It never happened. Is it possibility? What were you saying?

Oh, back back to my answer. That was a nice story, like this is the thing, this is this, yeah, this

Good when when's the last time you guys have spoken to ninth twenty eighteen, the twenty. For me, it was more than you it bro it was twenty eighteen.

You was twenty eighteen. For me, it was twenty nineteen. It was March twenty nineteen.

Yeah, because it was right time Nip died and yeah, yeah, yeah, Marsh, Yeah, it was March sween nineteen.

Yeah for me at twenty eighteen.

The last the last time we actually saw each other, like saw saw each other was yah yeah come back Articicol Festival. Yeah, so August twenty eighteen, that was the last time we saw each other.

And that performance was just someone saying, hey, who was missing? Who was supposed to Royce? Yeah, Royce Man. Who's the person that was the point person who reached out to him?

It was so's my man, Suleyman Massi. He's a promoter and he runs now he owns the ARTICLEP Festival with the music festival that goes on down here in Durham and Royce Msster's flight and me and Suleiman, you know,

So I ended up making the calls.

I called reached out to Flash it was my two DJ first he didn't get answer for him, so then I reached out to Knife and me and Knife had been hanging in Durham that previous night, so I hit him. I was like, hey, man, Suley Min hit me by wanting to do this this show, you know, would you would you DJ for me?

He was like, yeah, I'll DJ for you. And I said, man, you know it'd be crazy, man, what if we get Pool involved in this shit? And he was like, oh hell, I mean he was.

He was super reluctant about it, but you know, I you know, kind of twisted his arm and he was like, all right, cool, you know, I'll do it. And I called Pooh and hit SULEI mine back and we got everything sorted out and so that all came together within the matter of three four hours. I mean, it was super super fast, and that was it. I mean that was kind of what started it. And that was the last time the end. And at the end, it wasn't like yeah, I enjoyed that. It was absolutely yeah.

I mean the funny, the funny part about it was foreshadowing in life. I didn't see him when it was over, Me and Tate, no, no lie, no bullshit. Like me and Tate walked back up to the to the to the r VS, which were our trailers, and he didn't because he went down there to the stage before we did, and he didn't go back up when we went up, and I ain't seen him since we walked off that stage.

Not a cat, not a cap at all, No cap, no fedora, no none of that shit, because a man he couk twenty twenty two. I'm getting you all life, coach.

We don't need one man.

Were good.

Not for this.

I mean, if you want to coaches talk about childhood trauma and ship like that, we talking about that.

That's something totally different. We're good on this. You don't work this out.

We don't go all the way out. Okay, all right, I feel you, man, you know, no, no, no, no, I'll take that. Look, this is this is a little this official Little Brother reunion. I'll take it. The album is banging. You're happy to have been a part of it. So what happens?

Uh?

Okay, So obviously we're in the edge of the rona now where all the breaks have suddenly halted on our professional lives. And you know what happens now is this time for a new album?

Is it making it through the rona?

Man?

That's all that's all you can do right now, one day at a time.

Yeah, one day.

You know people always asks about another album. Man, it's one for us. It's just one of them things.

Where it's like, let's be like you're lucky you got the one you got.

Not only that, but like we both have just a lot of other things that we have going on, and you know, like I manage full time. So luckily Big Dough, my partner so he was able to pick up a lot of that slack and.

And what is that into now? Who being a manager being a suit Listen.

Man, let me tell you something, bro. This ship is this ship well you can't see him in the camera, but I got a lot of grades down here, now, man, got a lot of grades. Man, it's you know, it's for me. It's just one of them things. Man. I just love music, and I love the guys that I have, and I believe in them full force, and I just want to see them accomplish some of the things that they want to accomplish, if not everything. So I'm I'm here,

But you're using you're using the wisdom all of it that you all right, but that you have. But this is the thing.

How old are the thirty thirty thirty thirty one and twenty four.

Young.

Yeah, and this is this is the thing I tell people I have. I have a lot of wisdom, right, I have a lot of wisdom, but this is their careers, so I don't I don't rule with the iron fists. I'm more of a let's have a conversation about whatever the situation is. That's way to pros the cars. I'll give you my advice, I'll give you some you know,

Shit exactly.

We were always kind of on some when it came to us dealing with other acts whatever. We always kind of on some tigos to the runner shit, just in the sense of, you know, like he said, as like, I can have my thoughts about it, but if it's a song you believe in, you the one that's gotta walk out here on this shit, not me.

It's it's your name that's attached to it. So I could hate the fucking song.

But if you love it and this is what you believe in, then I'll stand behind you on it, cause it's you the one that's gotta sell.

It, and it's gonna follow you.

It's gonna follow you, right. I think the best thing for me, the best thing for me and my position is I have a legacy that's cemented. Whether I stopped today and just go back to being Thomas Jones and go work at the airport or some shit, like, my legacy is cemented already, so I don't have that fear of the fuck up. And it's just like, Yo, let's let's let's go, Let's go fast, let's go hard, and if we suck up along the way, it's gonna happen.

Yeah, yeah, I was. I was thinking that.

We had Jimmy jam on you know the other day, and you know, he was talking about how his wife, you know, how he got involved in the Grammys and stuff, and it was his wife that was telling him like, Yo, this is what you're supposed.

To be doing. Now, you know what I mean?

And that really resonated with me because it kind of reminded me. I think that was a lot of what me and Pool would have conversations with about. Made The Lord Watch one of the earliest conversations we had. After we finished the record. The first thing we thought about was, Okay, how can who can we help, Like, now that we've done this, how can we use this new platform we have to you know, jump somebody the l fall so

I mean, we always put our best foot forward.

But we made a little Watch that was just a draining process because we did everything ourselves, you know.

What I mean.

We cleared our samples, we were budget label studio, the.

Whole nine, you know what I'm saying.

So it just took so much out of us both and I think in terms of us doing another record, For me, it really just came down to I just wanted us to do something, So where now the errors out of the room. So now if I just want to jump on a song for his album, well he jumped on song on my album. We can just do a fucking song and that be the end of it. It's no more discussion of oh, well what does this mean?

And nigga just mean we did the song together, you know what I mean. So we have the freedom to do that now.

And if another record comes, if we feel like we got something else to say, you know, we can do that. But as of right now, speaking for me, I'm just kind of enjoying the peace of just having you know, my brother back in my life again and us being able to use our influence to help other people.

Like that's the most that's the most joy the joyous part of it for me.

And we still got cities we ain't touch yet because of the role No man, straight up, we ain't been to New York, Houston, Detroit, to roder Boston. We ain't did a show at the crib sits the festival, like man, y'all ain't getting no album to that happen.

Five Hey, man, burden hand a burden in hand, beast two in the bush. I mean I wanted a new Little Brother record. You got it, I got I got a Christmas gift. I'm not being greedy. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you for this, man.

Yeah, man, And and I always wanted to thank you, Amir for I don't know if you remember, but we did a show at the t l A. This is this is around, this is the listening time, and you came to the show, and I.

Know what you're talking about.

I remember you said, Yo, I want to buy some CDs from y'all, and we said, okay, how many you want. You paid for thirty c ds. You left them CDs there, I did so we were able to resell them CDs money in the half, and we needed that money.

So I.

Thank you for that.

That's that's a very mere thing to do. But I think I also did it on Donald's Got Niggas Back Down ninety five show it all right? Well, look I'm wrapping up the show, man, Yo, I want to thank you all for doing this show under under these circumstances. I never thought i'd get the Little Brother episode, but.

You know what though, man on some Brittain, this is just my mind working post edible. How poetic is it that we all met on the internet and now we're doing our show. My god, can't do do it?

It's only right Well on behalf of Big Pooh, Fanticicolo, Boss Bill, the rest of the team Supreme. Yeah Sugar, Steve, unpaid Bill and oh my god, I was about to see you out getting cigarettes anyway, I'm back now all are you good? All right? This is a quest Love and thank you for tuning in and we will see you on the next go round of Quest Love Supreme. Thank yous. What's Love Supreme is a production of iHeart Radio.