A classic 9th Wonder beat over a classic flow from Phonte and Rapper Big Pooh. Still one of the illest cuts off of Little Brother’s epic album The Listening.

In an interview with Complex, 9th told the story of how “Speed” was the first song LB recorded as a group. He also explained how another rapper Median was actually supposed to be on the track before they got a hold of Big Pooh:

We asked Median to be on it. He said he was down to do it, but on the weekend we wanted to record it, we couldn’t find Median. Pooh, who was originally from Virginia, was in town at the time with his friends in Charlotte, North Carolina. Matter of fact, I think around March or April of 2001, Pooh asked Phonte to be a group, and Phonte said, ‘No.’

But Median wasn’t around, so we were like, ‘Let’s just ask Pooh, he’s in town.’ So Pooh came in, and recorded the song, and we listened to the song like 18 times, and I looked at Phonte afterward and said, ‘Let’s try to be a group, man. Let’s see what it sounds like.’ Median could have been a member of Little Brother. ‘Speed’ was the first song we recorded as a group, because Median didn’t show up. But we thought it sounded good, so we just said, ‘Let’s be a group.’ And that’s the first song in Little Brother’s existence.