Today, Come Hear North Carolina, shared Homecoming, the second installment of director Holland Randolph Gallagher’s documentary series on North Carolina hip hop pioneers Little Brother. Homecoming picks up with the legendary trio - 9th Wonder, Big Pooh, and Phonte – after their initial split in 2010, charting the path that led to their surprise last-minute reunion at the 2018 Art of Cool Festival in their hometown Durham, N.C.
HipHop DX premiered Homecoming here.
Holland Randolph Gallagher traverses sensitive subject matter in the film, including years when the members of Little Brother were not speaking. He explains: “creating an interview setting where everyone felt comfortable was important to this documentary, especially when we start getting into the more personal parts of the story. How we accomplished that for these interviews were by keeping the crew small, two people, and by using almost exclusively natural lighting.”
Homecoming later delves into Little Brother’s triumphant return, their first performance together in a decade – and how it came together in a matter of hours. Thanks in part to some sage advice from Questlove (who appears in the doc) and a last-minute opening at their beloved hometown Durham Bulls Athletic Park (the site where they took their first press photos together in the early 2000s) for the 2018 Art of Cool Festival.
Homecoming: The Story Beind LIttle Brother's Surprise Reunion at The 2018 Art of Cool
Over the course of their illustrious careers, Little Brother’s three members have worked with the biggest names in music: Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, Drake, Lil Wayne, Jay-Z and many more. The group’s first performance since Art of Cool 2018 is scheduled for next month (September 5-7) at Raleigh’s Hopscotch Festival supported by Come Hear NC. The band has also announced plans to release new music in the near future.
Homecoming follows the release of Gallagher’s first Little Brother film, The Listening, which chronicled the group’s formation at North Carolina Central University in 2001 and their landmark debut album (also called “The Listening”) two years later. The Listening documentary was released last month and received wide acclaim from fans and music sites alike.
>Watch Holland Randolph Gallagher and Phonte Coleman reflect on their connection to North Carolina
Homecoming is the latest in a long line of projects commissioned by the North Carolina Arts Council as part of their Come Hear NC initiative with the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. This Friday through Sunday, Come Hear NC will host a Nina Simone Weekend at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh (August 16-18) in partnership with the National Trust and the North Carolina African American Heritage Commission. Funds raised from the weekend’s programming, which will include a performance by Lisa Simone, daughter of Nina Simone, will be used to restore the childhood home of Nina Simone in Tryon, NC.
Come Hear NC also just unveiled the first episode of their In The Water video series, featuring performances by N.C. musicians filmed in iconic North Carolina locations. The debut episode features the avant-garde harpist Mary Lattimore performing at the historic Chapel of Rest in Historic Happy Valley near Lenoir, N.C.
This year, The First Lady of North Carolina Kristin Cooper and Come Hear NC launched Music at the Mansion, an unprecedented concert series filmed at the North Carolina Executive Mansion. Come Hear NC is also sponsoring programming with Americana Music Association, Yep Roc Records, Merge Records, MerleFest, Hopscotch Music Festival, the Wide Open Bluegrass Festival held in conjunction with the International Bluegrass Associations annual vent in Raleigh, N.C. and more.