Little Brother have finally gotten a chance to tell their story in a new documentary called May the Lord Watch — check it out below.
The 1 hour and 40 minute film, which was co-produced by the group itself, touts itself as the definitive story of “the underground legends that bridged the gap between The Roots and Kendrick, Tribe and Cole, De La and Drake.”
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While the documentary chronicles how Little Brother formed, split up and ultimately reunited, it primarily focuses on the relationship between Phonte and Rapper Big Pooh, whose relationship is the core of the North Carolina group (which previously counted 9th Wonder as its third member and main producer).
“One of the things I’ve been hearing people talk about is how our music was either shared with them or they shared our music with someone else, sometimes even forming lifelong bonds,” Phonte said in a statement provided in a press release about the documentary.
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“YouTube is the perfect intersection where all demographics meet. Having the ability to release our documentary via YouTube felt like the perfect way to share our story with Little Brother fans while leaving open the possibility of introducing ourselves to an entirely new group of potential fans.”
Through archival footage, contemporary vérité scenes and interviews, fans can expect appearances from Questlove, DJ Drama, various industry executives, and more.
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Fans can make a donation to the film via the Southern Documentary Fund here.
Press play on May the Lord Watch below.
The documentary comes four years after Little Brother reunited to release May the Lord Watch, their fifth album and first since 2010’s LeftBack.
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Phonte and Big Pooh began quietly working on the album in 2018 after mending their relationship. 9th Wonder was initially supposed to return as well and contribute production, but it ended up being a two-man effort with outside producers.
“So much of our earlier work was driven by just trying to make it. We were just trying to figure out, ‘All right, let’s do this tour and do this record and the mixtape and album and tour and mixtape and tour.’ We were just really just grinding it out. It felt like we were just stuck in this thing together,” Phonte told DX after its release.
“But this album, it really felt like we chose to do it together and we really made it a point to really get to know each other […] I feel like this is the first time that I really got to know Pooh as a person and we really got to have that time together. And this is probably the closest experience I would say to the first album, because we recorded this in that security.”
While it remains to be seen whether another new project is in the works, Little Brother recently returned with a double dose of new music in “Wish Me Well” and “Glory Glory.”
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They also celebrated the 20th anniversary of their debut album The Listening with a block party in their hometown of Durham, North Carolina in September, which featured performances from Big K.R.I.T., The Cool Kids and, of course, Phonte and Big Pooh.
