TOO SMART FOR BET?

This blog entry by Mako Crawford.

The story: "Little Brother's "Too Intelligent" Says BET, Network Responds To Allegation"

The analysis:

It's hard to believe that it's been over half a decade since I came accross the underground hip-hop soul group Little Brother one night in my dorm room online. I was hooked from the get go. I couldn't get enough of Ninth Wonder's magnificent instrumentals, Phonte's mic finesse was unbelievable, and Rapper Big Pooh had a young college freshman going nuts. As a fan of hip-hop I think it is degrading that Little Brother isn't getting the true respect and success that they have worked for and deserve. About two years ago BET television would not air any Little Brother music videos because execs felt that Little Brother is too intelligent for the BET audience.

It dawned on me then that the music business is only concerned with keeping their listeners in their so called place. What I mean by this is that the commercial interest in present mainstream hip-hop is content in flattering stupidity and branding ignorance. Little Brother's second album , The Minstrel Show, clearly conveys their feelings about the current state of hip-hop. It is almost as if Little Brother is trying to awake a degenerated pop generation to what the true nature of hip-hop is.

Last Monday a few friends and I ventured to the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles to catch Little Brother's only Los Angeles performance. It was sold out and packed from wall to wall with beautiful people digging deep into the strong rhythms that blared out of DJ Flash's set. I've been privileged enough to have seen Little Brother a few times before this El Rey show and I have to say they have only improved at rockin' it. They performed soul acts in between songs and Phonte even busted out on some M.J. Human Nature. They even had a big curtain call at the end with all the nights performers, Dilated Peoples, The Away Team, And Murs who was a special guest. They really gave the impression of a great show that people pay money to see and that's when I thought back to their reference of the greatest colored show on earth from The Minstrel Show album.

As I stood in the crowd I observed that there were a good number of white Little Brother fans out representing. I took this observation as a credit to Little Brother as perhaps in fact being able to have an influence on popular culture and the ability to bring all people of all colors together. With their third album, Get Back, out in stores now, I am only hoping that the industry will finally accept Little Brother for the true entertaining artists that they are.