Little Brother and Mick Boogie – And Justus For All
Mixtapes are undergoing an identity crisis – kind of like your teenage daughter waging daily war with the bathroom mirror. Are they legal? Illegal? Is it even legal for them to be legal? It's a self-esteem killer, sure, but it's the ugly truth. And Justus For All (with Mick Boogie) is the cracked mirror for the mixtape circuit. Little Brother can empathize having lost their Achilles heel, spine, and (holy shit!) not to mention their producer 9th Wonder. Misery broods misery and quaint cooler-talk on this internet-only event. Of course, the reason for all of this is mixtape martyr DJ Drama who wisely checks in on the intro for a nice S.O.S moment. Phonte understands the urgency, "pretty soon your own thoughts gonna be contraband†he theorizes on "Can't Stop Usâ€. In the end, this is a populist message stuffed in an Aspirin bottle –easy to take, hard to swallow; employment becomes modern-day prostitution on "Last Dayâ€, gotta meet quota / but I don't know how / when all these broke motherfuckers tell me ‘they just browsing'. Mixtapes could very well be on permanent menopause: like anything else in life that flows at an erratic, prolific rate. But, that's not Little Brother's fault. - Rodney Dugue
Songs Mentioned
Little Brother - "Can't Stop Us" feat. Chaundon
Little Brother - "Last Day" feat. Phonte