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4/3/2006 What's up 9th? I'm feeling pretty good. I'm just living life. Being a father, husband, and producer at the same time is a tough job. What made you want to go with Drama for the "Separate but Equal" tape? First off, Drama is a dope DJ. Sometimes videos aren't the only way to promote a record. What better way to do it than a mixtape series, and his is probably the top one out there. We're all from the South. That's who we are. We're all Southern, so we decided to go with him. How did you put the tape together? It just sort of came together. We did a lot of the tracks in Bassline Studios in New York. Everybody just joined in to support good music. That's what it was about. This made it a lot easier. That's how all music needs to be. We all just need to get together and do music. The game is messed up when you need to go through a bunch of people to do a song. How was it working with Mos Def? Mos Def is a funny dude. He's very insightful. He knows what's going on in the world. The conversations that we had were very enlightening. We were talking about regular stuff. That's how he is. He's a movie star, but you'd never get that from hanging around him. He's very down-to-earth and he's one of my favorite rappers. It was a joy working with him. How did the Bun-B collaboration happen? He stated in an interview that he was a fan of Little Brother and he understood what "The Minstrel Show" meant, but he wanted us to understand that people could misconstrue what we meant. People support more than you think. Musicians like other musicians' music. Hip Hop has lost its way with that, but us doing a track with Bun-B is trying to get it back. Will the mainstream finally catch on to Little Brother with the Drama co-sign? I think so. I think sometimes people need co-signs just to pick up on something. Sometimes people need a little boost. Sometimes people need to know that it's cool to like them now. That's how some people think, unfortunately. We got some big help from Drama, because now they say if Drama messes with them, I can mess with them. We were everybody's dirty secret, like they liked us but didn't talk about it because no one else did. Drama's helping to change that. Are you happy with the response to "Separate But Equal" so far? Yeah, definitely. From the hood of the hood to the suburbs of the suburbs, everybody likes the joint. There are a couple of cats saying that we're trying to sell out. We got kids to feed and we're talking about the same thing we talked about on "The Listening": our life. We're always talking about what we see everyday and what's going on in our lives. It's the same songs, but it changes from time to time, but it's still our life and we have to talk about it. Everybody likes it so far. Another album that's getting a lot of good response is "Murray's Revenge." Are you happy with how that turned out? Yeah, man. Me and Murs have a weird chemistry. We fight like brothers in the studio, but the end result is "3:16" and "Murray's Revenge." Some cats are saying "3:16" is better than "Murray's Revenge," and some cats are saying that "Murray's Revenge" is better than "3:16." That's what we want. We don't want one to be way over another. They both have different feels to them. I'm happy with the outcome of the album. Me and Murs have a weird chemistry, but we really work well together. He said in our interview last week that he leaves North Carolina hating your guts. He does! I'm a producer, and I hear things that some rappers don't. I'm telling him to trust me. You have to let your producer go by his ear. I have ideas behind the beats I make. He leaves hating the songs and then after awhile, he'll say, "We got a great record," and then we start getting the great reviews on it. Why do you usually go with the first take when recording songs? It's more natural. It's rap. Some people over-think rap too much. It works. On "Planet Rock," your boy goes, "zz z zzzz z zz zzzz z zz z" because he forgot his words and it worked. It's classic. The first take is the most natural take. It's rap music. We're having fun and getting paid for it. Is that how Little Brother's music is recorded as well? Yeah. Phonte and Pooh don't do it over and over and over. That's not our style. We don't get it like that. We make our own rules in North Carolina. That's how we make our music. Let the consumer be the judge. That's our ideology. Murs was also saying how you don't ever let him double his vocals. That's because his voice is very powerful. That dubbing your vocals is that late '90's stuff. He's got a real powerful voice with swing to it. I like that. Doubling takes away sometimes. People think they have to double their vocals in the industry. We don't have to do that. This is rap. It seems as though Murs has a lot of respect for you and lets you do what you do. He does. It's a fight to get it like that, but once we get it going, we come out with some good stuff. I can't wait to get in the studio with him again. I think the next time we do it, it's going to be me, him, and Jean Grae. That's going to be fun. Whatever happened to Jean Grae's "Jeanius" album? That got all over the net. That's how it goes sometimes. We're working on a new one called "The Phoenix." We haven't gotten a chance to finish that yet. We're always going to make new ones, so we're good. Does it frustrate you that it's not coming out? I don't know who actually leaked it, but there is still people that have never heard of Jean Grae, me, or Murs. There are still people picking up "The Chemistry" album. The internet is not the end of it. There is still a population of black Americans between the ages of 29 and 37 that grew up in the Golden Age and don't get on the internet looking for music. If you went to college in 1990 to 1994, you're probably not going to get on the internet looking for music. That's who cats forgot about, and I'm one of them. We still have to get the music to them. Do you think "Jeanius" will ever come out? I think it's over. I don't think it's ever going to come out. If it does come out, it will be for the cats I was just talking about. It won't be for the cats on the internet. How's your "Dream Merchant" compilation coming? It was supposed to come out before "The Minstrel Show." It's still hard to get some of the people I want on it because of money and "who are you?" and "go talk to my manager." People don't do music anymore. I look at what I got and it's an extension of me. I'm not just one way all the time. I'm just trying to get that out. I have just two more tracks and I think I'll be done. Can you tell us who you have so far? Mos Def, Jean Grae…Saigon is on there. Phonte and Pooh are on there. Joe Scudda's on there. My manager Big Dho is rhyming on there. Sean P is on there. There are a couple of new cats that I'm trying to get out there, and I'm still waiting on a couple more. When do you want to drop the album? Hopefully sometime between August and September. Are you happy with the response to "The Minstrel Show" so far? I am. It's not reaching who I'm thinking it needs to reach. It's not reaching my peers. I'm a black 31 year-old living in the South and it's not reaching enough of us down here. My peers are not always around music all the time because their lives have changed and their not 18 and in college, but they're married and living the family life. We've been on MTV and MTV2 at weird times in the morning…We're not put in our peers face enough. What Phonte and Pooh talk about is what people talk about after they get out of college. They talk about life, marriage, and kids. To an 18 year-old, that can be boring, but to me, to hear that in a rap song, that's exciting to me because that's what I'm living. The people who are living that life would love "The Minstrel Show." I think if you get it more to those people, then we'll have a different outcome. It is what it is and we're going to keep it moving. Have you started working on the next Little Brother album? No, not yet. Hopefully sometime this year we'll get started on that one. We're going to have a good time doing that one. We have a lot of good ideas and we'll keep it moving. How do you want your next album to be different from "The Minstrel Show"? I don't know. We're going to wait and see what Phonte wants to do. You'll all have to see what kind of diabolical plan Phonte comes up with. We follow his lead. That's what we do. I'm supplying the beats for it. What's your main focus right now? A number of things. I need to craft my beats better. I'm trying to do more R&B. We're at a point where there are two rap generations right now. There's the '80's to '97 and '97 to now. If a DJ is playing "The Humpty Dance" and only three people are dancing, then that's a problem. The times change. I take it as it is and instead of trying to change a 12 year-old's mind, I need to try to preserve my generation's music. That's what I'm going to do. What do you want to say to your fans? Thank you. Just keep supporting the music. This is our life, and keep checking us out.

By Brian Kayser

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