The Chitlin Circuit

Released in the lead-up to Little Brother’s highly anticipated, highly ambitious, and highly controversial sophomore album The Minstrel Show, The Chittlin’ Citcuit is all about the fundamentals: soulful beats and sincere rhymes. “On the Way” tells you everything you need to know about the group. 9th Wonder melts an old soul record down to an essence of rich keyboards, guitar, and a backbeat, and before Big Pooh launches into a comparison of rap industry pettiness to NBA pettiness, Phonte lets loose a jaw-dropping string of rhymes, beginning with: “Now that we finally done reached a settlement / I rhyme at the crime scene and purposely leave the evidence.” Little Brother isn’t just about a belief in the basics, but a belief that the sharpest, strongest statements emerge from the simplest ingredients. While there is an attitude and a pedigree here that will please fans of Gang Starr, De La Soul, and A Tribe Called Quest, the complex flavors of “War,” “What You Do,” and “Take It There” transcend allegiance to any single trend or style.