Little Brother Attends Hip-Hop Summit at North Carolina Central

The North Carolina trio of Phonte, Big Pooh, and producer 9th Wonder, collectively known as Little Brother, recently participated in a Hip-Hop Summit at their Alma Mater, North Carolina Central University, on Wednesday (Feb. 8). The one-day summit was established to address social issues within the Hip-Hop community and allow aspiring Hip-Hop enthusiasts to display […]

The North Carolina

trio of Phonte, Big Pooh, and producer 9th Wonder, collectively known as Little

Brother, recently participated in a Hip-Hop Summit at their Alma Mater, North

Carolina Central University, on Wednesday (Feb. 8).

The one-day summit

was established to address social issues within the Hip-Hop community and allow

aspiring Hip-Hop enthusiasts to display their skills and talents. The Hip-Hop

Summit also gave students a chance to network with industry professionals.

Producer 9th Wonder

said the group was elated to help with the first annual event at NCCU, where

they met as students in the ’90s.

"Education

is where it starts and we need to start educating our youth about [where] we

came [from], not necessarily the Civil Rights Movement," 9th Wonder told

AllHipHop.com. "We need to start educating about Hip-Hop music. Once we

do that, it’ll be better for the future."

During the event,

Little Brother also spoke to attendees about the influence Hip-Hop has had on

the community.

"You don’t

necessarily have to have all the money or the jewelry or the women or the drugs,"

said Rapper Big Pooh. "That’s not a prerequisite for being Hip-Hop. That’s

not a prerequisite for being a rapper.

"[Rap came]

from the community, speaking about the community, speaking for the people in

it," he continued. "It was music that was uplifting communities. It

was something positive. Now music is used to destroy."

9th Wonder also

weighed in on the state of Hip-Hop in one panel discussion.

"Greed is

behind Hip-Hop’s current emphasis on violence and sexual exploitation,"

9th Wonder said. "The current generation of Hip-Hop fans should remember

its beginning in the 1970’s, when early artists sought a way to give inner-city

kids a form of cultural expression."

Another facet

of Little Brother’s return to NCCU, a traditionally African-American university,

included talking to a group of area kids. Phonte said the conversations were

surprisingly candid.

"Some of

the kids had better questions than the adults. It was a bunch of Girl’s and

Boys Club kids, from 8th grade to 11th grade. He ended up taking them all to

Burger King. It was like 30 or 40 kids up in Burger King. It was pandemonium,"

Phonte said. "We had a good time."

Dr. James H. Ammons,

the chancellor of NCCU, made a groundbreaking announcement during his closing

remarks at the summit, which was sponsored by Atlantic Records and organized

by Sherise Malachi, an Atlantic employee and NCCU grad.

"I’d like

to let you know that we have plans for an annual Hip-Hop Summit that has intellectual

discussions on the campus of North Carolina Central University," Ammons

said.

In related news,

Little Brother recently embarked on a long-awaited North American tour with

rap group Fort Minor to support their critically-acclaimed 2005 major label

debut, The Minstrel Show.

The tour, which

began in Minneapolis, ended last night (Feb. 10) in Washington, DC.