Last year, Little Brother fans were first teased with a trailer for the group’s new documentary May The Lord Watch: The Little Brother Story. Over the past two weeks, LB co-founders Phonte and Rapper Big Pooh hosted intimate screenings of the film for fans in Washington, DC, Atlanta, Georgia, Los Angeles, California, and New York, New York. Today (11/20/2023), the duo announced that they will release the film to fans worldwide via their YouTube channel at 8PM ET on Black Friday (11/24/2023).
“Little Brother entered this business independently and based on the current landscape, we see no need to change course. This film is a love letter to our fans, a celebration of the people who made us, and a testament to our core values of authenticity, ownership, and craftsmanship. It took us five years to complete this, and it finally feels right.” – Phonte
“One of the things I’ve been hearing people talk about is how our music was either shared with them or they shared our music with someone else, sometimes even forming life long bonds. YouTube is the perfect intersection where all demographics meet. Having the ability to release our documentary via YouTube felt like the perfect way to share our story with Little Brother fans while leaving open the possibility of introducing ourselves to an entirely new group of potential fans.” – Rapper Big Pooh
Subscribe to the Little Brother YouTube channel and get notified of the world premiere here.
Fans can make a donation to the film via the Southern Documentary Fund here.
May The Lord Watch: The Little Brother Story follows the rise, breakup, and reunion of Little Brother, the critically acclaimed and widely influential Hip-Hop group from Durham, North Carolina. A music documentary in the tradition of films like Beats Rhymes & Life, Zappa, or 20 Feet From Stardom, May the Lord Watch details the vast impact of the preeminent 2000s group, composed of rappers Phonte, Big Pooh and (formerly) producer 9th Wonder.
The heart of the documentary lies in the unraveling and reconciliation between members Phonte and Big Pooh. Their relationship begins in the wake of their challenging upbringings in the South, strains while coming of age together in the music industry, and resolves with an enduring friendship, as the two men reunite and record their 2019 album May the Lord Watch. Told through never before seen archival footage, contemporary vérité scenes, and interviews from the group’s members, peers, and family, the film’s story unfolds in intimate detail under the framework of a ‘UBN Made-for-TV Documentary’, riffing on the fictional UBN Network created through comedy sketches on Little Brother albums.
Directed by filmmaker Holland ‘vacay’ Gallagher and written by ‘Yoh’ Phillips (of Rap documentary studio ‘Rap Portraits’), the film includes a notable list of Hip-Hop’s most influential people – from Questlove and DJ Drama, to cultural critics, industry execs, and more.
“When you meet someone at the Uber line at LAX rarely does it coalesce into a years-long, soul-searching and feature-length-documentary-
Little Brother is a critically acclaimed hip-hop group from Durham, North Carolina. Credited as one of the first buzzing rap acts in the pre-streaming era of online message boards, Little Brother emerged during the new millennium renaissance of alternative rap in the early 2000s. Ranked among Rolling Stone’s “200 Greatest Hip-Hop Albums Of All Time“, Little Brother’s 2003 debut album The Listening helped pioneer “grown man” or “every man” rap, relating to the working-class and everyday person. The group’s members– rappers Phonte and Rapper Big Pooh –formed as college students at North Carolina Central University in 1998.
Over the course of their illustrious careers, Little Brother has worked with some of the biggest names in music: Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, Drake, Lil’ Wayne, and many more. He also co-hosts the Questlove Supreme podcast alongside Questlove of The Roots. Pooh currently manages Dreamville artist Lute, and DJ’s under the moniker RPM. Outside of his work under Grammy-nominated soul outfit The Foreign Exchange, Phonte has written music for Sesame Street, AMC’s Sherman’s Showcase, and VH1’s The Breaks. Now recognized as one of Billboard’s “Greatest Rap Groups Of All Time“, Little Brother has helped bridge the gap between The Roots and Kendrick Lamar, A Tribe Called Quest and J. Cole, De La Soul and Drake.
In 2023, Little Brother celebrated the 20th anniversary of their debut album The Listening, starting with a sold out, four-city tour in March. The year-long celebration was eventua brought back to its roots with “Made In Durham: A Little Brother Block Party“.
© 2023, Seth "Digital Crates" Barmash. All rights reserved.
