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ThaFormula.Com - ( Be sure to check out some of Little Brother's audio up above).  You're comin' out of North Carolina which by most is considered the "South", but your music doesn't represent the typical "South" sound. Everyone I have played your music for and talked to about Little Brother have compared your music A Tribe Called Quest, where do you draw your influences from?

9th Wonder - I think you hit it on the head with Tribe, they were a big influence of ours. De La Soul was an influence, we take our sarcasm from De La Soul. As far as a group we take from Tribe and Outkast. Not because they're from the south, but because of their sound which is real diverse. There's a little of Digable Planets in there, but we're not as abstract as they were. Mostly from groups that are pre 1994, when the underground and commercial split came about. We just do rap music man, we don't try to preach to niggas, and we don't try to be in the club all the time, bur I would have to say that were influenced the most by Tribe.

ThaFormula.Com - Y'all met in college right?

Phonte - Me and 9th met each other one night, there was a lot of niggas at the dorm chillin' in the lobby. 9th was carrying a Source magazine and we just got to talkin' about music. I think I had said something about a JayDee remix or Soundbombing or something like that and he was like "Oh shit, you got that too?" From that point on we ended up talkin' for like 2 or 3 hours just talkin' about music. That was in like '98. I didn't even he find out he laid beats until like '99 when he brought a beat tape to my room with like 30 beats on it and we just hooked up from there. Me and Pooh, we met in like '98 too when he first came to college. I was a sophmore and he was a freshman. We were all just up in this guy Joe's room one night and we just started rhymin'.

ThaFormula.Com - Little Brother is actually part of a larger collective called the Justus League, what is the Justus League all about and who all is a part of it?

Phonte - It's a collective of MC's and producers who just kind of ran through the same circles out here in cypher's and battles, and who kept bumpin' into each other and we just started buildin' with each other. We all came together in about a 3 year period. It's a collection of four producers, 9thWonder, Yorel, Big Dho and Eccentric. Then there's eight MC's, myself, Big Pooh, Median, L.E.G.A.C.Y., Sean Boog, Cesar Comanche, Edgar Allan Floe and Chaundon. We're just a team, niggas ain't the next Wu-Tang, we're not like a group. I guess we're more like the Dungeon Family, like a collective that helps each other out however we can.

ThaFormula.Com - The track "Speed" is one of my favorite tracks on the album. That was the first track you ever recorded right?

Phonte - Yeah, we had been helping each other out with our individual projects, and we had been doing that for like a year or so. Then we got together to record "Speed" for a compilation for 9th called "Mr. Dream Merchant," and it was just gonna be a track that me and Pooh were gonna rock over. 9th laid the beat and we took the track out to my car and we wrote it in one night, then we recorded it the next night. We just played that shit like 30 times, just talkin' about it, and 9th threw out the idea, "What if we became group?," and we were like. "Let's try it, and if the shit is wack, than fuck it we just won't be no group, we'll just let this be our crowning achievement."

ThaFormula.Com - That track was pretty polished for your first track, how long had you been producing before that 9th?

9th Wonder - I have been producing for like 3 and a half years. Well, I have been makin' beats for that long, but as far as actually producing it's been like a year, because there's a lot more involved in that. I've been in music since like '86. I've been in orchestra/band and I played 7 instruments. Music has been in my bloodstream. At the same time when I am at school playin' Brahms, Chopin and Händel, I'm at home listening to Brand Nubian. There's a lot of producer's out there that's tone deaf, they don't know what a key means or what pitch means. All the musical terms that they think don't apply to hip-hop do. I think I learned that from studying the greats like Premier, Pete Rock, JayDee, Diamond D, D-Nice, Hi-Tek Marley Marl and the Alchemist.

ThaFormula.Com - Is it tough finding vinyl out there, what's your collection like?

9th Wonder - No, it's not hard to find it out here. We're in the so-called "Dirty South" so every body wants to be provisional and play their own music. It's not too many cats here that sample or understand that, because sampling is an art and their aren't a lot of cats that understand that aspect. So something I find down here, upstate might cost 60 dollars. As far as my vinyl collection goes, man I got more CD's than I got vinyl to tell you the truth. I've been told that I have ear different than a lot of other producers, even from the cats in the industry now so I just try and work with the little vinyl collection that I have.

ThaFormula.Com - What's the hip-hop scene like in North Carolina, and what kind of venues are out there for you?

9th Wonder - We are the state of the so-called "sheep." People here don't really know who to follow, whatever fad is out, they want to do it. There are like 10 colleges in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area. Three black colleges, three ACC schools, two state schools and two girl's college's so, with all those college student's, it's whatever fads out, everyone thinks is hot. As far as shows are concerned, there are shows available, especially in this area of Charlotte. To tell you the truth, this is probably the hottest place in the state for what we do, because at the same time there are a lot of followers, there are a lot of true hip-hoppers who just walk around like they don't have anyone to talk to, because they feel out of place. They come to one of our show though, and they feel at home. It's like a Jedi talkin' to another Jedi. You see a person and you can tell they're another Jedi and you can talk for days and days and days. There's a lot of people walkin' through the darkness lookin' for the same shit.

ThaFormula.Com - You've opened for the Alkaholiks and Defari before, how was that?

Pooh - It was a great experience. We go out and rock every show the same whether we're openin' up for somebody or we're the headliner or whatever. It was just a different experience, we got to actually open up for a major group.

ThaFormula.Com - I've been to some shows, and the opening acts that aren't really known really struggle up there, being a new group what's it like playing before a crowd that isn't familiar with your material?

Pooh - It's pretty easy for us man, because we give 110% at every show. If you're in the crowd it's easy to get into one of our shows, even if you're not that familiar with the material. We walk you through the hooks, you know, none of our hooks are too complex, they don't go over ya head. We just do a lot of crowd participation and try and keep em' involved. I've been on the other side of the gate, and if you're not keepin' me involved than I can go home and pop your CD on, chill at the crib and not get sweaty and dirty and havin' people bump all into me you know?

ThaFormula.Com - Speaking of the hooks, that's another aspect of your music that caught my attention and stood out. Is it one of you that comes up with them or is it a collaborative effort?

Pooh - I'd have to say we lean on Phonte a little more when it comes to hooks, because he's a more developed writer than I am, but we do everything as a team 'round here.

ThaFormula.Com - On a couple of the tracks the hook is being sung, who does the vocals on those?

Pooh - That would be the one and only "Pigallo," Phonte Coleman. (laughs)

ThaFormula.Com - Yeah, it sounded like he was having fun with it at the end of "Light it Up."

Phonte - (laughs) Yeah, at the end of that one I started wildin' out!

ThaFormula.Com - At the end of another one of your tracks, "Whatever You Say" you recreate a classic piece of one of Eric B. and Rakims songs where they are discussing finishing their album, how did that idea come about?

Phonte - It was basically something we felt would fit the song, something to make the older heads laugh and be like, "Oh, no them niggas didn't!" Me and Pooh had finished writing and I was like "Yo, you know what would sound dope?" And we just ran with it. Ironically, "Whatever You Say" was like, the third song we recorded so in actuality we were nowhere near finished with the album (laughs). We definitely wanted to pay homage to our forefathers and the ending was just a way of saying, "Yo, even though we're young cats, we remember you guys and we respect the blueprint you laid for us. We haven't forgotten our roots."

ThaFormula.Com - I know you get a lot of feedback from the Internet, and a lot of major artists seem to look down on the Internet and don't realize that it's really a tool, what are your thoughts on the Internet's influence?

Phonte - Man, I love it. I mean I can see how some artists might be mad, but it's like Bono said, "The Internet isn't gonna kill music, bad music is what's gonna kill music." I can tell you that with as much access that I have to a computer, and the ability to burn shit, every album that I wanted to buy, I bought it, you know what I'm sayin? Because there's nothin' like the feelin' of runnin' out to the record store, coppin' you're favorite artists CD, rippin' the plastic off, sittin' down and readin' the liner notes and puttin' the CD in. People talk about missing out on the profit and all that, but I mean nothin' can replace the human element behind buying music. It's just nothin' sexy about havin' a girl at ya crib, and turnin' your computer on and connectin' to the net. You can't get no ass like that? You know? If I pull my vinyl out and hear the crackle and shit, then I might be workin' with somethin'. But you know as far as the response we get from the Internet, I think it's a great thing. To me, I think the best thing about it is that you can expose your music to people that don't know you and don't know what you look like. You know people that don't have no personal stake and will tell you how they really feel, and that's worth its weight in gold. I think if a lot more niggas realized that, there would be a lot less bullshit in hip-hop. As far as bootlegging, I mean if you're bootlegging my whole album than I mean, alright, I might take issue. But if you heard our whole album and only liked two joints, then download them two joints and fuck it, keep it movin' and play them two joints for someone else who might like the whole album. I don't really have a problem with it.

ThaFormula.Com - So how's the album lookin'? I know it's about to drop...

Phonte - It's 19 tracks, but it's not like 19 full joints…

9thWonder- It's not a "War&Peace" type album! (laughs)

ThaFormula.Com - So it's not like a "Crystal Ball" Prince album then? (laughs)

Phonte - Nah, it's not a box set (laughs). They way we did it, we kind of wanted to create the feel good vibe of "Midnight Marauders," we kind of took a lot of elements from satire and comedy from "De La Soul Is Dead." Those are probably two of the albums that had the most influence on me comin' up. We're really proud of it and just can't wait to get it out. We just need to wrap up the artwork and finish mastering and stuff. We were hoping to get it out in May, but it looks like it's gonna be early June. If we can get it out by May, that's great, but it's lookin' like early June.

ThaFormula.Com - 9th, are you handlin' all the production on the album, or will there be production from other members of the Justus League?

9thWonder - Eccentric, another producer in the Justus League and a good friend of mine, he produced "The Get Up," and I produced and mixed the entire album.

ThaFormula.Com - Have you secured distribution, are you guys handling it all yourself or are you gonna sell it on-line?

Phonte - It'll definitely be easy to find, if you can't find it in your city, you'll definitely be able to order it on the Internet. We have a website in progress right now that's under construction (www.littlebrothermusic.com) and you'll be able to cop it there, or at www.cesarcomanche.com which is kind of the Justus League website which has all of us on it. We're gonna have it in stores and we're definitely gonna holla at you to get in your store at the ThaFormula.

ThaFormula.Com - As I mentioned earlier, I've been turnin' some people onto your music and the first question I always hear is why call yourselves "Little Brother?" It seems as of it may be difficult to market. How did you come up with that name?

9thWonder - You want the truth? I mean, it sounds good for number one. Number two, we spelled in phonetically because we didn't want it to be Little "Brotha" where you might confuse us with an R&B group. We wanted a name where you look at us and you don't know what we do, you don't know if we rap or if we sing or what we do. You won't know if we were at Woodstock in '69 or Smokin' Grooves in '96. I look at it this way, if we were on tour with the Spitkickers with De La Soul or Common, cats that have been doin' it for a while…we are the Little Brother of those, because we have been listenin' to them for a long time, and a lot of those cats are getting' old. Just like we had a big brother in them, they got Little Bother comin' up and following in their footsteps.

ThaFormula.Com - So after you've been around for a while, are you gonna switch it up and and call yourselve's Big Brother? (laughs)

9thWonder - (laughs) Nah Man, we are gonna stay Little Brother, I don't know what Lil' Bow Wow 'gon do when he turns 25, but we 'gon stay Little Brother, for real.

ThaFormula.Com - Little Brother recently signed an album deal with Abb Records and should be releasing their debut album "The Listening" early November.  Be sure to support one of the dopest indy groups to hit the scene in quite a while and pick up this future classic LP when it drops. 

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