Little Brother: The Minstrel Show : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

At its best, the major-label debut from these North Carolina-bred rhymers is like a De La Soul record with trickier rhymes and Dave Chappelle as creative consultant. The group calls rappers such as A Tribe Called Quest "older brothers," but as many of the acts that followed Tribe and their ilk found out, good intentions don't always make for good music. Cuts such as "5th and Fashion" bank on the same kind of cushy beats and foggy preachifying that sometimes make Mos Def albums feel like a grad-school seminar. But when "taxin' niggas like no dependents," Phonte, Big Pooh and erstwhile Jay-Z producer 9th Wonder show plenty of matter-of-fact intelligence and a wry sense of humor, especially on raucous, guest-laden skits such as "Notepad of a Mad Black Daddy." (At this point, doing rap skits that don't suck is an achievement.) And when 9th Wonder augments his sturdy boom-bap with jazzy soundscapes and appealing soul samples as his mates go after big-name rappers on "Not Enough," Little Brother's quirky warmth makes playa-hating sound like good clean fun.