Sometimes a good strategy can be to go back to the drawing board, and recreate things that worked for you in the past. Obviously the North Carolina duo of Little Brother agrees with that line of reasoning, because they’ve re-released their 2006 mixtape Separate But Equal, which was hosted by DJ Drama, with Separate But Equal (Drama Free Edition).

One of the biggest changes is the fact that DJ Drama is no longer ranting throughout the album, and there are three new songs that accompany it. The previously unreleased tracks ‘Deeper’ featuring Dynas and ‘Passionflower’ are both produced by their former crew colleague 9th Wonder, while ‘Playin To Lose’ is handled by The Kreators.

Other than that, Little Brother deletes a handful of outdated skits, but basically sticks to the script and once again includes songs like ‘Let It Go’ featuring Mos Def, ‘Can’t Let Her,’ ‘Speed Racin’ featuring Skyzoo and Chaundon, ‘Macaroni,’ and ‘Candy’ featuring Bun B and Darien Brockington.

For those who didn’t get an opportunity to hear this album two years ago, this is a perfect to chance to get a little more familiar with Little Brother’s catalog. But for the ones who do have this album in their collection, make sure to check out the newer tracks if you haven’t already through message boards and such.

Little Brother is the epitome of the “blue-collared MC,” with lyrics that can relate to virtually everyone whether your bank statement reads well into the six figures, or negative thirty dollars. In the crusade to preserve quality Hip-Hop, Big Pooh and Phonte rank amongst those who can be considered as Hip-Hop’s top activists in the cause.