Little Brother Interview: http://www.blastro.com/audio/LittleBrother.mp3
Little Brother Video: http://www.blastro.com/player/littlebrotherlovinit.html
Blastro: You guys are from Durham, North Carolina, right?
Little Brother: Correct
B: Your new album is the "Minstrel Show" and it came out on September 13th. How would you describe that album and your sound?
LB: Its actually, it's actually our second album, our first was "Amazing Lady". And I would describe our sound as you know it's a combination, its old skool, its um, I really don't like using that word but for the sake of, for the people who may have never heard of the Little Brother. It's a combination of old skool meets new skool. Our sound is like bridgin' the gap for all those listeners who may have never heard of The Tribe Called Quest or may have never heard of.
B: You guys have a bunch of dates in the South right now but I know you had a show opening up for The Roots at The Fillmore in San Francisco. I'm sure that show was unreal for you guys. How would you compare the crowds in the West to the crowds you are seein' in the South?
LB: Um for us, the crowds in the South, they haven't really been that exposed to Little Brother, so it was a little different, you know what I'm sayin', than in the South. Where as in the West coast, that's where our first independent label was based, out in the bay area and the East coast. Like our biggest markets are New York, L.A., and Chicago. So, of course, on the West coast, we get a lot of love on the West Coast. In the South, they haven't really been that exposed to us. Even though we're from North Carolina, we don't, it's not like your typical Southern artist. So, I mean, the reception was warm, ya know, but people still gettin' used to hearin' Little Brother in the South. You know what I'm sayin'.
B: So how did you guys first get into the music business and what was the, I guess, tipping point for you guys getting' started with the success?
LB: Well you know., he always, he's known all his life music was what he wanted to do...he's been doin' music since he was small. And myself, I've always been, you know, stayin' around music and enjoyin' music. As far as the group, we started together in 2001, and it was like the chemistry was there, ya know what Im sayin'. We had known each other for a while, and we'd been workin' with each other but the chemistry just seemed to really, really started takin' shape in 2001. And we went from there, just decided that try out, ya know what I'm sayin'. Tried workin' together, makin' a couple of songs together, and see where that take us. It took us into makin' our first album. And that, probably, I guess you could say, that was our tipping point when we made that first album.
B: So Blastro is a music video website. So I wanna ask you guys about your music video "Lovin It". Where did you shoot that and what was the concept behind the video?
LB: We shot that in New York, in Brooklyn, NY at this club called South Park. The whole concept behind the video was to show, basically, the breakdown of all the different stereotypes that people, you know, have; or misconceptions that people have with Little Brother. Everybody tried to label our music like always conscious, always this, always that. When, we just want everyone to know that its just good music, you know what I'm sayin', good music. You don't have to put a label or box on good music and so we had like all different stereotypes that people try to label us: the underground, the earthy. Then we had the other stereotypes like the icy or the gangsta' rapper or whatever. We kind of put 'em all in the club together. And the basic concept was showing everybody havin' a good time together. And showin' that you don't have to be a certain type of individual to enjoy Little Brother's music. Then show us havin' a good time, ya know, havin' in the club. Because a lot of people see us in the club and be like "Aww, Little Brother's in the club..aww what's goin' on?" I go to the club too, you know what I'm sayin. It showed all that. It accomplished all that in the video.
B: So you guys are on ABB Records with Dilated Peoples,., and Liquid Junkies. Do you know any of those guys, have relationships with them?
LB: Yeah, I know all of them. We did a show with Dilated before. Talked to Rocker and Baboo. Just saw Defari, actually, when he was out in L.A. a little while ago. We tryin' to see if we can get a Little Brother Dilated, a couple of shows poppin' off in 2006. ..I also talked to him for a little while. We talked when I was out there. You know, Ive had conversations with all of them, talked to all of them when I get a chance.
B: So I hear that you've been ending your show with an Al Green song. How do you think the crowd is responding to that?
LB: We don't end our shows with that song anymore. That was the past couple of years, we used to do that. But when we did, there was tremendous response from the crowd. Everybody enjoyed it, ya know. We just get everybody singin' along, man, havin' a good time.
B: Alright, this is almost the end. Is there anything else that you want people to know, you want me to tell people?
LB: You know, just thank you for supporting Little Brother, supportin' the movement, and continue to support the movement. And thank everybody.