Photos: Little Brother LIVE at Peter’s Room in Portland
North Carolina’s own duo of MC’s Phonte and Rapper Big Pooh, better known collectively as Little Brother, have built a cult following over the last 15 years and have achieved underground legend status in the process. They just might be your favorite rapper’s favorite rappers…literally, if you don’t believe me, just ask Drake. They’ve been on somewhat of a hiatus since their split with famed producer 9th Wonder, but this fall they returned with a bangin’ full length album May The Lord Watch, and they’ve been on the road for the last few months promoting it. We were lucky enough to catch their stop at the intimate Peter’s Room, directly underneath the famous Roseland Theater in Portland.
From the looks of the packed room, you wouldn’t know it was a Sunday night. A refreshingly diverse crowd of long time LB fans showed love to both openers, BLANKBLANKBLANK and PDX’s own Donte Thomas. Both acts definitely did their thing, and by the time Little Brother’s DJ Flash took the stage everyone was ready. Flash set the mood, party rocking through a quick set of grimey east coast classics before finally introducing Phonte and Big Pooh, who took the stage with veteran confidence. With a rarely seen level of chemistry, both emcees play off one another seamlessly with impressive annunciation of every lyric. Phonte came through with excellent stage presence, improvising some hilarious commentary between songs and roasting himself, Pooh, and even a few fans in the process, but all in good fun. Their performance boasted a nice blend of music that consisted of mostly of the new album but still touched on all of the classics, with the highlight of the night of course being their fan favorite single “Lovin’ It,” off their popular 2005 album The Minstrel Show. After almost two decades in the game, Little Brother was as sharp as ever. Our friend Sam Slater captured the performance, check out the photo recap below!