Back in 2019, the plan was simple: Little Brother would reunite, tour, drop a documentary, and close their last chapter with intention.

The pandemic derailed that plan, but now, five years later, Pooh and Phonte are finally finishing that mission on their own terms.

I spoke with Rapper Big Pooh about Little Brother’s final tour and the reality of hitting the road in 2025.

This decision is not about burnout.

It’s about a system that no longer works for most artists—especially those who’ve built something real:

“Touring used to be where you knew that’s where your money was coming from. Now, most of us are just hoping to break even,” Pooh said by phone. “Touring feels like a 360 deal. Venues want a piece of everything—door, merch, and anything else you touch—and they’re not even helping you get people in the building.”

“Promoters used to know your audience,” Pooh continued. “They knew who you were, who listened to your music, and how to get them in the room. Now it’s venues booking shows blindly and blasting the same email for bluegrass, rap, or rock.”

Artists are now expected to do it all—marketing, promo, booking openers—while venues take more than ever.

“You start doing the math, and it’s like, this isn’t making financial sense anymore. We’re talking thousands to open [their] doors, then they want 20 percent of your merch on top,” Pooh said.

And those venue costs?

“One spot quoted us $25,000 just to rent the venue. I’m like, you’re not making that just opening your doors on a regular night—so why are we being charged that?” Pooh said.

That’s why every tour starts with a spreadsheet:

“Every show is a math problem: What’s the venue capacity? What can we charge for tickets? What’s our travel cost? And what does that leave for us?”

“If you want to make $30K from a show, but the venue only holds 250 people—do you know how much you’d have to charge fans for that to work? It’s unrealistic,” Pooh explained.

Little Brother tours with 7 people who make the shows happen—Pooh, Phonte, their DJ, a soundman, a merch manager, a backup vocalist, and a road manager.

“If a show loses money, it’s not a label covering it. It’s coming out of mine and Phonte’s pocket. That’s a personal loss,” he explained.

The artist is always the last to get paid:

“We have to make sure everyone else is taken care of before we are. And if there’s nothing left, that’s just what it is. We’re not leaving our homes, at 45 years old, to sit in a 15-passenger van for 12 hours just to come home broke.”

So when people ask why their city didn’t make the tour?

“Some venues passed. Some didn’t respond. And some deals just didn’t make sense. If we’re not in your city, it’s not because we didn’t try.”

“Sometimes fans get upset with the artist, but it’s really the venues you need to talk to,” Pooh said when I asked who deserves the blame. “If [venues] understood who the people wanted to see, maybe they’d move differently.”

If Little Brother’s Curtain Call Tour comes to a city near you—don’t miss it.

“This is a celebration, not a sad day,” Pooh said. “We’re giving people one more chance to cheer for Little Brother while we’re still here—not when we’re gone.”