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^9th Wonder

Little Brother – The Minstrel Show (2005)

June 7, 2010
*Atlantic Records, Chaundon, Chris Hardwick, Darien Brockington, Elzhi, Joe Scudda, Little Brother, Phonte, Rapper Big Pooh, Yahzarah, ^9th Wonder, ^DJ Jazzy Jeff, ^Khrysis, ^Nicolay, ^Piano Reeves
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No matter how you feel about LB’s most recent offerings you would be crazy to deny the talent of their early work.  ‘The Listening’ and ‘The Minstrel Show’ are both gems in their own right.  Back in the day I was volunteering for the underground radio station at my college and we had to go hand out flyers but our reward at the end was getting to go to the bomb ass record store to pick up some goods at the end of the day.  I remembered seeing some comment about this new album out called ‘The Minstrel Show’ and at this point not only had I never heard of LB but I also had no idea what a Minstrel Show was.  For some reason I felt a need to cop this album and oh what a good choice that was.  Love at first listen for sure.  Didn’t leave my stereo for a good 4 months after I got it which lead me to explore their other work such as ‘The Listening’.  Little Brother was my favorite group for a minute!  To the point where I almost played them out and had to take a break lol.  And even though I’m not the biggest fan of the direction they decided to take later on, their early work will always hold a soft spot in my hip hop heart.

Production:  9th Wonder, Khrysis, Nicolay, Piano Reeves

Features:  Chaundon, Chris Hardwick, Darien Brockington, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Elzhi, Joe Scudda, YahZarah

Label:  Atlantic Records

Full Preview: The Minstrel Show

Website:  http://www.myspace.com/littlebrother

Little Brother – ‘ Hiding Place (ft. Elzhi)’

The Foreign Exchange – Connected (2004)

May 6, 2010
*BBE Records, Critically Acclaimed, Frank Ford, Joe Scudda, Kenn Starr, Median, Oddisee, Phonte, Rapper Big Pooh, Sean Boog, The Foreign Exchange, Von Pea, Yahzarah, ^9th Wonder, ^Nicolay
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I swear the beats on this album just kinda let you float through the world.  So light, smooth & tight.  Nicolay knows how to put you in a good place.  And to be honest I love Little Brother but I always preferred Phonte to Big Pooh so an entire album w/just Phonte rapping is all sorts of good.

Production: 9th Wonder, Nicolay

Features: Critically Acclaimed, Darian Brockington, Frank Ford, Joe Scudda, Kenn Starr, Median, Oddisee, Phonte, Rapper Big Pooh, Sean Boog, Von Pea, Yahzarah

Label: BBE

Full Preview: Connected

The Foreign Exchange – ‘All That You Are (ft. Median)’

 

Murs – 3:16: The 9th Edition (2004)

April 30, 2010
*Definitive Jux Records, Murs, ^9th Wonder
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Whenever people ask me what underground hip hop sounds like I always tell them to listen to this album.  This is the epitome of the underground sound and I think I could literally listen to this album over and over again and be just as happy as the first time I heard this magic to begin with.  To me this reaches classic status.

Full Preview: 3:16: The 9th Edition

Murs – ‘And This is For’

Murs – ‘H-U-S-T-L-E”

Murs & 9th Wonder – Fornever (2010)

April 8, 2010
Living Legends, Murs, ^9th Wonder
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Okay this album hasn’t ‘technically’ been released yet but you know how things go in the Internet world.  Anywho Murs is gonna have to change his name because he is no longer ‘Making Underground Raw Shit’.  3:16 Part 2 this is NOT. Basically it lacks substance. It sounds like something Murs would have done at the beginning of his career when he was younger & less seasoned.  But I’m not interested in writing a long drawn out post bashing what Murs has going on now.  All I’m sayin is if your about old Murs, you probably won’t be about this.  My only hope at this point is that Murs remembers his roots and goes back to the Legends to make some more hip hop magic.  And as for production, some of 9th beats are pretty good but it doesn’t have that same spark that previous Murs/9th collabs have had.

This is one track from the album that I actually liked though: Murs & 9th Wonder – ‘I Used to Love H.E.R. (Again)’

But I miss these days: Murs & 9th Wonder – The Pain

Jean Grae – This Week (2004)

November 27, 2009
*Babygrande Records, Jean Grae, ^9th Wonder, ^Adam Deitch, ^Belief, ^Bruce Waynne, ^Dirty Swift, ^J. Cardim, ^Joey Chavez, ^Lt. Moe, ^Shan Boogie, ^Sid Roams, ^Will Tell
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Jean Grae is an enigma to me.  I follow her on twitter and she is always ALWAYS joking around.  A serious word rarely if ever is uttered from her mouth err fingers??  But then you listen to her albums and its like you are dealing with a different person.  A case of split personalities I guess.  The depth of her thought and experience of life is mind-blowing.  I’ve never heard a Jean Grae album I didn’t like but I just love the diversity on the album ‘This Week’.  Its dark & introspective yet has dabs of youthful innocence.  Its somber & deep yet humorous.  Basically its her, and its life, and its amazing.  Its one of those albums you almost feel guilty listening to, it’s like you are secretly reading someones diary or something.  I would say aside from Miss Lauryn Hill, Jean Grae is the quintessence of a brilliant femcee.  I can’t wait for her to drop another release because her level of creativity far surpasses those of her peers.

Production:  9th Wonder, Adam Deitch, Belief, Bruce Waynne, Dirty Swift, J. Cardim, Joey Chavez, Lt. Moe, Shan Boogie, Sid Romes, Will Tell

Features:  Block McCloud

Label:  Babygrande Records

Full Preview:  This Week

Website:  http://www.myspace.com/jeangrae

Jean Grae – ‘Supa Luv’

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