North Carolina hip-hop duo Phonte Coleman and Big Pooh, better known as, Little Brother is asking their fans to not buy the re-releasee of their 2005 studio album, The Minstrel Show. The group claims they are not being paid for album sales, as they do not own the masters to the project.
On Tuesday (September 2), Big Pooh announced that ABB Records re-issued the album without the group’s permission. He also claimed that the label is not properly compensating them for the album as well as never being paid for their 2003 debut, The Listening.
Pig Pooh publicly called out ABB records via a tweet accusing the label of 16 years of neglect and mistreatment. “I see ABB Records has decided to put up a repress of The Minstrel Show on vinyl instead of answering for 16 years of non payment on TMS or answering for 18 years of non payment for The Listening,” he wrote. “Humbly asking that you not support bad business practices. Thank you for listening.
I see ABB Records has decided to put up a repress of The Minstrel Show on vinyl instead of answering for 16 years of non payment on TMS or answering for 18 years of non payment for The Listening. Humbly asking that you not support bad business practices. Thank you for listening.
— Rapper Big Pooh (@RapperBigPooh) September 21, 2021
Phonte echoed Pooh’s sentiments, posting to his Instagram account, “I have no smoke with @fatbeats, but @abbrecords can get the entire fuck outta here,” he wrote in the caption. “Either way, my brother @rapperbigpooh and I are asking that you don’t support any LB vinyl represses and stop running The Listening on all streaming platforms until Ben Nickleberry Jr., aka Beni B. of @abbrecords, honors his fucking word and pays us what we’re owed. Thank you for listening. #LBbizness.”
Hopefully, the North Carolina emcees will settle things with their label and finally get the masters to the iconic, The Minstrel Show. Could we see another De La Soul outcome? Stay tuned to find out.