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Some have claimed that Big Pooh is Phife to Phonte’s Q-Tip in Little Brother. But that compliment is slightly inaccurate, if Sleepers is any indication. Phife had a knack for punch lines such as “Bust a nut inside your eye,” but Big Pooh is strictly about beats and rhymes, churning out enough workmanlike lyrics to stack up sixteen bars. Filled with familiar tropes (the scary ghetto environment of “The Jungle,” the fuck-buddy anthem “Just Friends”) and a few blazing freestyles (particularly guest MC Median’s turn on “Scars”), Sleepers is a modest success, thanks to Big Pooh’s steady, dependable verses and fresh beats by 9th Wonder and other members of Little Brother’s clique. For Big Pooh, that’s enough. As he puts it on “Strongest Man,” “Don’t worry about giving, because I’m taking respect.”
