Rapper Big Pooh: Pay It Forward

Big Pooh sat down with TheWellVersed at SXSW to talk about being a fresher to an veteran, collaborating with up and coming artists and the possibility of pursuing an AnR position.

Before Little Brother became the darlings of the internet back in the early 2000′s, The Roots drummer ?uestlove put the word out on the Okayplayer message boards that you must listen to the North Carolina trio. Because of his helpful cosign and respected ear for talent, the group was heard and has since become one of the most highly regarded (yet under-appreciated) hip hop acts in the new millennium. It’s been nearly a decade since those helpful cosigns by the likes of ?uestlove, Pete Rock, Big Daddy Kane and other legends helped launch their careers. Now it is time for them to pay it forward.

That’s exactly what Rapper Big Pooh has done since splitting from the group and pursuing a solo career. No longer is he the rookie in hip-hop. He is now considered a “legend” or an “OG” to up and coming artists.

“It feels weird. Even though I’ve been here for a decade it doesn’t feel like it,” Pooh says in a sit down with TheWellVersed and 2DopeBoyz. “Even now, with me starting back over as a solo artist, I’m new again but that’s just to me. I’m not new to a lot of these kids.”

Pooh cites artists like Pac Div calling his efforts with Little Brother an inspiration to start their own hip-hop career. Realizing that he’s respected in hip-hop as a trailblazer for the internet era of emcees, the former Little Brother member has made it a point to work with young and talented up-and-coming artists. If his name alongside theirs on a record will help people listen, he’s all for it.

“I just like working with talented dudes,” Pooh says. “I don’t care who you are or what your name is. If there’s talent there, I rock with you. It’s that simple.”

One of the “talents” that he rocked with before the world caught wind of their talent is the tandem of emcees over at Top Dawg Entertainment.

“I met Jay Rock first back in the Myspace days. (TDE President) Dave Free hit me up and wanted me and Phonte to do something back when Jay Rock was on Warner Records,” Pooh reflects. Although he had no idea who Jay Rock was, he did his research and learned that the TDE crew were fans of Little Brother. On a visit to California, Pooh and Big Dho decided to pay a visit to their studio. “That’s when I was first introduced to Ab Soul and Kendrick Lamar. ScHoolBoy wasn’t part of the group yet. They just let me hear their music.”

He became a fan of what Ab Soul, Kendrick Lamar (then known as K Dot) and Jay Rock were cooking well before the internet had any idea who they were. Knowing that working with them could help them be exposed to more people, he decided that a collaboration was in order.

“I ended up sending them a beat that Young RJ didn’t want to use anymore. I wanted Ab Soul on it. Dave Free sent it back and said ‘I hope you don’t mind but everybody jumped on this’ and Kendrick stole the show.” The relationship was established. Many were introduced to Kendrick Lamar thanks to the Rapper Big Pooh collaboration “Thanksgiving” and were thankful that they listened — even if it was solely based off of the fact that Pooh was on the song. Since then, Big Pooh has continued to work with the TDE tandem.

Considering his ear for music, the North Carolina by way of Virginia emcee could perhaps become a successful A&R for a record label once his career winds down.

“That’s something that I actually want to do. I think I have a great eye for talent and a great ear to pair up artists and producers. That’s something I will definitely look into,” Pooh says. However, with his solo career really just getting started, he isn’t ready to put his career on hold just yet. ”I just wouldn’t do it right now because I have a lot of love, energy and fight for trying to do records on my own. That takes an enormous amount of time so trying to nurture someone else while trying to grind it out yourself would be doing an artist a disservice.”

Ultimately, he doesn’t want to do the “Diddy” and suffocate an artists budding career because he is too selfish.

“I don’t want to be dancing all in the videos…”