The first new song in four years, “Wish Me Well, Glory Glory,” was released by legendary North Carolina rap duo Little Brother. Phonte and Big Pooh set the tone with exquisite soul beats by Conductor Williams and Deonis Cook. They deliver brilliant rhymes centered around thought-provoking questions and clever one-liners in equal measure. Though most people think of rapping as a game for young people, Phonte and Pooh are more skilled than ever at the mini-EP, which is one of the reasons Little Brother returned from semi-hiatus in the first place. To demonstrate to our supporters that we are not dependent on nostalgia, Phonte clarified in a statement: “We wanted to bless our fans with new music.”
Even though the duo relies heavily on the catchy beats and profound lyrics that have elevated them to the status of one of rap’s most renowned acts for the past 20 years, progress and development are still top priorities. Big Pooh continued, “We notice and hear the requests for fresh music. We sensed that the moment had come. It’s time to demonstrate that our thoughts are still active and continue to grow. Though “Wish Me Well” and “Glory Glory,” the double a-side, might not hit as high as they did when the group was a trio with producer 9th Wonder, the two beats Little Brother chose from Cook and Conductor are more than enough. The song “Wish Me Well” opens with a distorted vocal chop and a bassline that is reminiscent of funk, highlighting the drums’ snapping snare beats and splashing cymbals. Phonte gets things going by dropping a ton of witty asides, cultural allusions, and references early in the song. “Wish me luck or call me Ishmael,” he screams out. “Crochets and grits, nigga, this is that fish scale. This is that dispelled rumor that we are not active.
My man said, ‘Te, come and get your plaque.'” We’ve already heard references to Moby Dick, Ghostface Killah, and Little Brother legend in the first ten seconds. Taking things a step further, Pooh raps, “Two sets of footprints laid out at the beach,” drawing the two into Christian doctrine. Let us hope that I am bestowed with bars from Pooh and Phonte when I reach paradise. Studying “Glory Glory,” in which the two once more decide to spit over a devilishly blunted soul beat created by the Griselda affiliate, is similarly worthwhile. “Glory glory, standing on the shoulders of giants/ Robert Horry, a bit of history/ Bitter niggas bore me, all praises due/ I was rocking to Kane, my brother rocked ‘caine too,” is how Pooh starts off track two. Big Shot Bob hasn’t been mentioned in a long time, but leave it to Little Brother to maintain the cultural relevance of NBA role players from the early 2000s. We can only hope that these two new joints are really an appetizer and not dessert because everything Little Brother touches remains fresh.
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