iHipHop AdminFormer Little Brother producer 9th Wonder just released his new album, “Dream Merchant Vol. 2,” a couple of months ago and now he’s gearing up to drop another. On January 29, 2008 he will drop, “The Wonder Years,” an album that will feature appearances from Erykah Badu, Talib Kweli, Q-Tip, Teedra Moses, Mos Def, Little Brother and others.
"Sonically people can expect bigger sounding beats, more expansion of my sound," 9th said. "There will be an element of classic, throwback R&B, but with a current twist. With this album I’m not only defining myself, but I’m defining people in my age group. It’s not necessarily an underground or overground thing, you just want to find the music that fits you and where you are in your life right about now. That’s what The Wonder Years is for me."
9th said the purpose for this album is to make music for people in his age group that want something a bit more positive and not the everyday stuff you get on the radio.
“My calling is soul music – just good for the soul and good to listen to,” 9th said. “As regular, uneventful and boring as that may sound, once you get a taste of some soul music it’s like, ‘Finally something I can listen to around my kids, something I can listen to at cookouts.’ It’s more reminiscent of the great pantheon of Black music, and I want to be mentioned in that somewhere. Somebody has to come along and join what Common and all of these other great MCs started, we really have to start looking at the situation of how we affect young Black men and women. In the past music has been used for good, music has always had a message in it, and I just want to be a part of that legacy.”
Click here for his interview