DX: I don’t want to take the magic away. But is the new material on And Justus For All created with this album in mind, or was it sitting in the vaults and archives?
Rapper Big Pooh: That was material that we had. People don’t understand, niggas stay recordin’. When it was time to put this version of the tape together, when we had to take songs off, of course we had to add songs on it. What myself and Phonte did was, we just went into the vault and found some joints that we could put up that nobody’s heard before. That’s what we did. We both picked out tracks and decided to give them to the world.

DX: The song from Getback that really struck me was “After The Party” [click to read]. Was that billed as sequel to “Life Of The Party” [click to read] ? Is that bitter reality that sets in after?
Phonte: Yeah, that’s exactly what it was. [Laughs] When I came up with the concept for the record, it was basically meant to be the coming down off of a high. If “Life Of The Party” represents somebody being high off of drugs or whatever, then “After The Party” represents somebody comin’ down off that drug. When you’re in a club or at a party, everything seems so good and so dope, but once the party’s over, you’re back dealin’ with whatever problems you were dealin’ with before the party. That was the concept of that. I got that from years of going to clubs and going, “Damn, I lost $75 at this bitch.” [Laughs]

DX: I’m not even sure if this is true it happened so fast. But after that album, people were blogging and writing news in all sorts of ways. Was there a point after Getback where you guys were considering hanging it up?
Rapper Big Pooh: The media had it all wrong, man. Most of that stemmed from an interview I did where people took what I said out of context. People took it as if I said, “We don’t know if Little Brother gonna continue.” What I really was saying, was after we grind out our solo endeavors, then we’re gonna come together and talk about another Little Brother album. That’s what I was saying. I was trying to explain to people that we was taking time, instead of jumping straight back into another Little Brother album, to do some shit that we wanted to do. We was attached at the hip for four years straight. It was time for a breather. That’s what we’re takin’ at this time. Phonte got two projects that he’s working on; I got a couple projects that I’m workin’ on. We’re still doin’ shows. Of course you have your frustrations with the game, frustrations with label situations or whatever, but it was never a time where we like, “I don’t know if this Little Brother shit gonna continue.” It wasn’t one of them issues.

DX: When I first interviewed you guys in 2003, you were so excited to be here, so exuberant, so in love with Hip Hop. The industry can be tough. Do you guys still get the same excitement five years later, whether performing or recording, or is it something that you really have to work for nowadays?
Phonte: For me personally, it’s not really the same. When you first get into it, you come into it with eyes wide open, and everything’s so new to you, and you just can’t believe that it’s all happening. After a while, man, just speaking for myself, things just kinda went another way for me. I just find excitement from different [sources] now. The touring and stuff and getting in front of different crowds, that’s cool and stuff; I still enjoy performing. For me though, it’s mostly about being in the studio and comin’ up with a new song. I find more of my excitement in the studio. Being able to make the money and provide for my family, that’s where my excitement comes from. Knowing that, “Okay, I’m gonna do this, this and this and that’s gonna take care of bill, this daycare and this health insurance bill.” For me, man, the inspiration is still there, I guess it just comes from different places.
Rapper Big Pooh: My inspiration comes from…I still enjoy recording and creating; I love performing. Now, I’m a traveler. I like to go out and meet with other artists and producers and build with them. That’s where I really get into a zone at now. I’ve been spending some time out on the west coast and I’m about to go spend some time down in Atlanta – just starting to build with people outside of the same group, the same clique, and spreading your wings a lil’ bit. I still love it, but over time, as you grow as a person and as an artist, things start to change. Me, I just started seeing things a lil’ differently. I just take that and try to work with it.

DX: I can remember being angry with Ja Rule releasing two albums in a year, expecting his fans to spend $32 to support him. Then again, MF DOOM did that and we all seemed to appreciate it. I’m so excited for the solo projects you guys have mentioned in passing. But with two each, plus this And Justus For All project, do you ever worry about over-saturation?
Phonte: I think most people look at over-saturation, and they look at it from the standpoint of people on the outside, the standpoint of the casualness of it. When I think of releasing records, I’m only really thinking about my core fan-base. For every mothafucka talkin’ shit about Ja Rule [click to read] releasing two albums in the span of 10 months or whatever, over a million people were buyin’ both of them shits. So I think, for me, I focus on our devoted fans. As long as we keep it quality, our devoted fans will take some new shit from us every week if we want to put it out. If the music is dope, and it can stand on its own legs, it can grow its own legs and do what it’s supposed to do.
Rapper Big Pooh: Nowadays, if you ain’t puttin’ at least two albums a year out, people tend to forget about you. There’s so much music, the market is saturated, period. It ain’t saturated with multiple albums, it’s saturated with niggas tryin’ to rap now. Continued on page 3 »