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Label : ABB/Atlantic (2005)
Production : 9th Wonder

1. Welcome to the Minstrel Show
2. Beautiful Morning (3,5)
3. Becoming 83,5)
4. Not Enough (3)
5. Cheatin' (3)
6. Hiding Place (feat Elzhi) (3)
7. Slow It Down (2,75)
8. Say It Again (3)
9. 5th And Fashion (skit)
10. Lovin' It feat Joe Scudda (4)
11. Notepad of a Mad Black Daddy (skit)
12. All For You (2,5)
13. Watch Me (3)
14. Sincerely Yours (2,5)
15. Still Lives Through (3)
16. Minstrel Closing Theme (skit)
17. We Got Now (3)

Production:
I loved "The Listening"!!! Let's just make that absolutely clear. I thought that was an amazingly fresh album and in my oppinion "Gods Stepson" was a lot better than the actual album,

I liked "3:16 The 9th edition" as well. Sure the beats weren't as good as the other tow but 9th & Murs was a great combination.

It's always nice to see the underdog make it so when JayZ enlisted 9th Wonder for The Black Album I was happy to see an underground producer make it and I truely enjoyed the beats he did for De La Soul, Masta Ace and Jean Grae.

So in between releasing two Chitlin Circuit mixtapes, a collabo album with Buckshot, doing beats for the entire Justus League plus various other semi talented emcees 9th apparently found the time to produce another real LB album.

Unfortunately it's not any good

This has to be the most boring production ever. It doesn't come as a surprise though becasue that has been the case with most his beats for the last year but this is still extremely weak. I've listened to this non-stop for 3 days now hoping that it would grow on me but I'm still having problems telling the tracks apart.

The 1st single ("Lovin' it") is great no doubt but that is the only above average track.

The MCs
The only thing keeping this album from total disaster is Pooh & Phonte. Sure, none of them will ever get a quatoble in The Source but who cares. They may not have a million witty punchlines or super clever lyrics but they are down to earth and have a great chemistry (unlike 9th and Buck....). Unfortunately the weak beats hold them back and you're left thinking how much better they would sound over some better beats (unfortunately both their solo albums were almost as boring as this...)

Overall : 2,75 / 5

Once again, Little Brother proves that they're fully capable of constructing technically sound hiphop, they just fail to be engaging and, even worse, memorable. Everything about the album is frustratingly middle of the road, and their obvious attempts to conjure up the ghosts of Native Tongues fall embarrassingly flat. All that considered, it's not atrocious. Still listenable, just monotonous.

Zzz / Zzzzz

It's not especially bad, it just sounds like everything else released by them since 'The Listening'. Disappointing album, 2.5/5

2.85678 out of 5

3/5....nothing that unexpected

4/5

And I don't like The Listening.

wtf!!

I cannot get into these dudes music..9th's production is well..wack..phonte and pooh are BORING!! I would advise that no one listen to this album at night for it will put u to sleep........

Umm...now I'm really worried...I really gotta check the album before buying it, that's for sure. I mean, Lovin It is a great song IMO but if the rest are far from that quality........I did like "Chemistry" though :O

Little Brother - The Minstrel Show
Label: ABB/Atlantic Records
Production: 9th Wonder & Khrysis

1.) Welcome To The Minstrel Show f/ Yahzarah (Intro)
2.) Beautiful Morning (4)
3.) The Becoming (3.5)
4.) Not Enough f/ Darien Brockington (3.5)
5.) Cheatin’ (3)
6.) Hiding Place f/ Elzhi (3.5)
7.) Slow It Down f/ Darien Brockington (3.5)
8.) Say It Again (3)
9.) 5th And Fashion (Skit)
10.) Lovin’ It f/ Joe Scudda (4.5)
11.) Diary Of A Mad Black Daddy (Skit)
12.) All For You f/ Darien Brockington (4)
13.) Watch Me (4)
14.) Sincerely Yours (3.5)
15.) Still Lives Through (3)
16.) Minstrel Show Closing Theme f/ Yahzarah (Skit)
17.) We Got Now f/ Chaundon (4)

Rating: 3.5 mics

I find Darien Brockington annoying throughout the songs he's featured in for some reason. The production was rather, well, I expected more from 9th, but it was aight. Lyrically, it was average, although not very surprising, cause they're not the most lyrical cats out there, but their combination and chemistry works well together. I prefer "The Listening" more. Don't really find myself giving this album any replay value, aside for some tracks. Standout tracks include "Beautiful Morning", "Not Enough", "Lovin' It", "All For You" and "Watch Me." (and yes, I notice Darien is in 2 of the tracks I mentioned). Overall, it was decent.

Thanks for the review, looking good...I like Darien Brockington. I guess I'll buy it since some of my friends have praised it a lot...

I actually loved the album. It was for the most part a definite step-up from "The Listening." Right now, "The Minstrel Show" is the 2nd best album of 2005.

step up? this doesn't even compare to the listening.. oh and i saw the "lovin it" video, it was pretty cool.

the listening shits on this album

Now that I've actually listened through the album a few times, I really have to say it's a lot better than I expected from the comments over here...to me, it's a 4 or 4,5, on par with the Listening I find Minstrel Show an extremely good album, one of the best albums of the year...but then again, that's just me :wink: Gotta get my hands on that Big Shug album, just heard it on the weekend...