Little Brother have revealed their ‘secret’ to developing such a great stage show, and it stems from the fact they’ve never had a major hit record.
Talking with Torae for an interview on Hip Hop Nation published on Friday (December 22), Phonte and Rapper Big Pooh opened up about how they became so comfortable on stage – which all started with their first time on the road.
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“You know, our first tour was with Hieroglyphics. That really was our bootcamp,” Phonte began. “It was like 45 cities in 50 days or something crazy like that. So it was 10 days and then you had a break and then it’s like fucking 30 shows straight after that. It was crazy, but we had to learn you can’t just go out and just give it all up the first night. You gotta pace yourself!
“I think the thing for us as well too that we saw… We weren’t that band that had just like the monster hit record that you could just [have the crowd sing for you]. We had to perform all our songs like they were hit records. And that really gave us a leg up on a lot of other artists. To the point where a lot of dudes didn’t really want to tour with us because we were putting them on their ass every night.”
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He continued: “Because we had to actually perform and even though there might have been people with bigger hits, bigger records, bigger whatever – they just didn’t have that showmanship that we had to develop. So I think just the Hiero tour and just always having to find a way to stand out, that was what really contributed to us polishing our live show and making it the best it could be,” they concluded.
You can watch the clip below.
Earlier this year, Busta Rhymes addressed the performance skills of new artists and expressed that he felt the younger generation has lost the art of live performance.
“We come from a time where there was no additives. No unnecessary mixing, and diluting, and tampering with the holy, sacred, and pure,” he told the crowd at the Lovers & Friends festival in May. “We [are] the holy, sacred and pure.”
This year has also seen conversations start up about whether the new generation’s inability to perform is beginning to impact their touring ability, especially with some big artists failing to sell out venues despite their online popularity .
Moneybagg Yo had to cancel a string of shows allegedly due to low ticket sales over the summer, shortly after Lil Baby cancelled a slew of dates for his It’s Only Us Tour. Identical to Moneybagg’s email, Ticketmaster said in a statement: “Unfortunately, the Event Organizer has had to cancel your event.”
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“From what I’ve noticed.. Classic HipHop is selling out Arenas world wide! NAS, WuTang, 50cent, LL, Snoop, IceCube,” he wrote on Twitter/X. “Our fans are showing up and having a blast!! It’s a great feeling. Respect to the OGs! We’re not done… [four explosion emojis].”
