Brother Ali
“Mourning in America”
Mourning in America, and Dreaming in Color (Rhymesayers, out 09/18)
For many years, I considered Minneapolis-MC not only one of my favorite rappers on the planet, but also one of my favorite overall musicians. While I still hold his trifecta — 2003’s Shadows on the Sun, 2004’s Champion EP, and 2007’s The Undisputed Truth — in ridiculously high esteem, nothing he’s released since has hit me that hard. At his best, Ali (né Jason Newman) is an incisive writer, blessed with incredible insight and a razor-sharp sense of humor. He can write about brutal, honest truths without having it feel like a history lesson, an ability lost on most of his backpack-toting brethren. That grace was conspicuously absent on 2009’s preachy, politically-obsessed Us, which ended up feeling like a hard slog. This — the leadoff single of his ominously titled fifth LP — finds Ali still in “fight the power”-mode. While I appreciate the importance of politically conscious music (especially in an election year), I hope it won’t be the only topic Ali touches on. He’s way too interesting to pigeonhole himself.
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