Sleepers: The Narcoleptic Outtakes

Back in the early '00s, the North Carolina crew Little Brother was the toast of the hip-hop underground, jocked by ?uestlove, Pete Rock, and countless heads around the planet. Backed by 9th Wonder's potent, jazz-seeped production, emcees Big Pooh and Phonte let loose quotable verses about the trials and tribulations of everyday existence. 9th would go onto mainstream success, eventually leaving the group to work with Jay-Z, Destiny's Child, and Mary J. Blige. Phonte got more shine on his much-loved cross-continental collaboration with Dutch beatmaker Nicolay. Meanwhile, Big Pooh kind of fell into the MC Ren role: a top-notch rapper who never really got his props as a solo artist. To date, he's released four solid albums (plus two mixtapes) on his own, but his overlooked debut, 2005's Sleepers, is an aptly titled near-classic. This album mines the vaults from those sessions and hooks us up with nine great tracks that were left off the original mix, featuring Hall of Justus cohorts like Chaundon, Big Dho, and O-Dash. Standouts include the Extra Prolific–channeling "Harpoon," an alternate version of "Just Friends," and the hard-hitting closer "Hate B*tches."