Brother Ali - The Undisputed Truth

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I really enjoyed listening to this last night! I had never heard him before. I usually hold out no hope of enjoying any undieindie stuff that I get in the mail. Most of it is a snooze. I think I just get the wrong stuff. i was drunk when i listened to this though. i'll have to try it out sober. i am a sucker for albums that start off with that old school guns blazing show-them-who's-boss track too. and i'm old, so i like the moldy big beats too.

― scott seward, Saturday, 24 March 2007 16:51 (eighteen years ago)

couldn't find a thread for this album. sorry if there is one.

― scott seward, Saturday, 24 March 2007 16:52 (eighteen years ago)

I liked his earlier album and have high hopes for this'un.

re threads: There's an old thread (started by me, I think) that speculates on his ethnicity, but none other that I can recall.

― M.V., Saturday, 24 March 2007 17:27 (eighteen years ago)

Ali is the most talented guy on Rhymesayers and puts on great live shows, too boot; he tells great stories and his persona is interesting in ways that most undie guys' aren't.

― max, Saturday, 24 March 2007 17:34 (eighteen years ago)

I've heard and love "Uncle Sam Goddamn," I definitely need to pick this up.

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Sunday, 25 March 2007 05:41 (eighteen years ago)

Totally agree; I reviewed this one recently and had basically the exact same rxn as Scott: "I'm still awake after listening to that whole thing??!1"

― R.O.Q.U.E., Sunday, 25 March 2007 09:23 (eighteen years ago)

I'm especially fond of "Listen Up" on this one; he's got the right kind of barking flow to take on a spare-but-huge Run-D.M.C. type of beat like that. And yes, he's great live.

― Matos W.K., Sunday, 25 March 2007 10:28 (eighteen years ago)

yah, this album is a hit with me. even sober. i like the whole thing. the whole package.

― scott seward, Sunday, 25 March 2007 18:13 (eighteen years ago)

"Listen Up" is great!

― scott seward, Sunday, 25 March 2007 18:15 (eighteen years ago)

the last thing i got from these people was that p.o.s. album. i didn't like that one.

― scott seward, Sunday, 25 March 2007 18:21 (eighteen years ago)

i like brother ali, he raps his ass off

― deej, Monday, 26 March 2007 14:28 (eighteen years ago)

yes! i gotta check this out.

― artdamages, Monday, 26 March 2007 15:30 (eighteen years ago)

"the undie rapper we aren't ashamed to listen to"

― artdamages, Monday, 26 March 2007 15:33 (eighteen years ago)

ha ha ha ha the wayne brady of undie rap

― max, Monday, 26 March 2007 15:37 (eighteen years ago)

he actually just starts doig this preacher schtick at shows which is kinda weird since hes a big albino muslim. hes got a lot of stuff going on.

― artdamages, Monday, 26 March 2007 15:38 (eighteen years ago)

i really like that shit tho, considering how boring most indie rap shows are it stands out and engages you.

― max, Monday, 26 March 2007 15:39 (eighteen years ago)

is brother ali a mixed salad or a melting pot?

― artdamages, Monday, 26 March 2007 15:50 (eighteen years ago)

that makes no sense, but he is a great american thats for sure.

― artdamages, Monday, 26 March 2007 15:56 (eighteen years ago)

guys you can stop kneejerk-hating indie rap. lets just try to keep some perspective.

― deej, Monday, 26 March 2007 15:59 (eighteen years ago)

ok good, thanks. i don't always get the memo.

― artdamages, Monday, 26 March 2007 16:00 (eighteen years ago)

i haven't listened to brother ali or any undie rap really for a long time. i barely eve listen to regular rap anymore. im totally bullshiting.

― artdamages, Monday, 26 March 2007 16:02 (eighteen years ago)

any rap fan would like this album. i think. they should, anyway.

― scott seward, Monday, 26 March 2007 16:02 (eighteen years ago)

anybody have the cd handy? did ant do all the production?

― artdamages, Monday, 26 March 2007 16:03 (eighteen years ago)

my cd doesn't have any info. "The Puzzle"! that's another great song. i think king was the last rap album i liked as much as this one.

― scott seward, Monday, 26 March 2007 16:11 (eighteen years ago)

weird thats the last rap album i bought. i have become a tokenist.

― artdamages, Monday, 26 March 2007 16:13 (eighteen years ago)

fun fact; brother ali's foster brother used to go to my college

― artdamages, Monday, 26 March 2007 16:15 (eighteen years ago)

and it's a toss-up as far as which fuckyadubya song is better, "Letter From The Government" or "Uncle Sam Goddamn". they are both good.

― scott seward, Monday, 26 March 2007 16:29 (eighteen years ago)

i liked the EP he released last year, too, esp. "chain link fence" (that was the one with the awesome synths, right?)

― max, Monday, 26 March 2007 17:00 (eighteen years ago)

i would seriously rather listen to, like, lloyd banks

― and what, Monday, 26 March 2007 17:07 (eighteen years ago)

im also so hungry i could eat at arbys

― and what, Monday, 26 March 2007 17:07 (eighteen years ago)

http://www.businessweek.com/investing/insights/blog/archives/horsey2.jpg

― scott seward, Monday, 26 March 2007 17:08 (eighteen years ago)

http://www.cavalierdaily.com/.Archives/2003/02/26/fo-arbys-bd.gif

― scott seward, Monday, 26 March 2007 17:09 (eighteen years ago)

two weeks pass...

http://blogs.citypages.com/pscholtes/images/Brother%20Ali%20by%20Nick.jpg

City Pages: "Dark Star; Wrong image, wrong religion, wrong city: Meet Brother Ali, hip hop's unlikely savior"

Complicated Fun: "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother"

― Pete Scholtes, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 23:41 (eighteen years ago)

http://blogs.citypages.com/pscholtes/images/brotherali_cover.jpg

― Pete Scholtes, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 16:36 (eighteen years ago)

Bought it this morning.

― M.V., Wednesday, 11 April 2007 18:28 (eighteen years ago)

i hadn't thought about this for years, but i remember watching this clip, like, 20 times in a row with my friends on VHS.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=obZj6nEWdj8

― poortheatre, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 22:18 (eighteen years ago)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=k6JDCD8pHuE&mode=related&search=

yes! this one, too. unseen looks like he's going to faint haha

― poortheatre, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 22:19 (eighteen years ago)

Between "Truth Is," Stephen Marley, and Lily Allen, seems like reggae's making a braod comeback among non-reggae fans this years... Hope it brings more new Jamaican music into the spotlight.

― Pete Scholtes, Thursday, 12 April 2007 23:26 (eighteen years ago)

A colleague's review of the first show on the tour:

http://blogs.citypages.com/pscholtes/2007/04/brother_ali_sho.asp

― Pete Scholtes, Friday, 13 April 2007 21:15 (eighteen years ago)

one month passes...

i gave this the "i trust scott seward and if he likes an undie hip hop album i'll give it a try". it's pretty cool. i feel it's sorta got a jay z/freeway/casual thing going on - especially the first two because the soul samples & production sound a lot like Just Blaze's. his flow is kinda similar to jay's while his voice has that sorta weepy, heavy breathing thing of the latter two.

but the wife thinks he sounds like ice cube and hates it.

― jaxon, Wednesday, 30 May 2007 03:16 (eighteen years ago)

thinks he sounds like ice cube

wtf

― deej, Wednesday, 30 May 2007 14:18 (eighteen years ago)

i'm not really feeling this either tho, shadows on the sun was cool but yeah i don't really think i like him any more

― deej, Wednesday, 30 May 2007 14:18 (eighteen years ago)

Last half totally destroys first half.

― Whiney G. Weingarten, Wednesday, 30 May 2007 14:43 (eighteen years ago)

sometimes his voice reminds me of scarface, in a way.

― M@tt He1ges0n, Wednesday, 30 May 2007 15:44 (eighteen years ago)

His voice definitely has that trumpet-like quality of Cube's when he's shouting, but it goes velvety when he sings or half-sings.

― Pete Scholtes, Wednesday, 30 May 2007 18:59 (eighteen years ago)

It had never occurred to me to think of Cube's voice as "trumpet-y," but damn if that doesn't fit.

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Wednesday, 30 May 2007 19:10 (eighteen years ago)

ice HOOS aka the tromboner

― and what, Wednesday, 30 May 2007 19:13 (eighteen years ago)

his voice sounds like sage francis on high blood pressure. there's obv not consistently great lyrics here, bt is there 1 punchline on the record?? he keeps it positive or whatever-- at least he can discern good from bad trx, sort of. ..

― luriqua, Wednesday, 30 May 2007 20:11 (eighteen years ago)

i still love him for holding it down for rse though when there's a vacuum of this sort of talent, or they can't find it at least, and getting my trx opening stagetime, even if i can't get 1 as 90's-in-the-00's-style dope-with-terrible-basslines as he chooses them . ..

― luriqua, Wednesday, 30 May 2007 20:16 (eighteen years ago)

Last half totally destroys first half.

Truth.

― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Tuesday, 5 June 2007 19:01 (eighteen years ago)

i sort of think the opposite...i honestly just like his voice and his cadence, and end up digging the first half cuz it's just hardcore bragging writes shit...he's got a great delivery, but i guess i don't find his internal struggles/identity issues as fascinating as everyone who writes about him does.

but yeah damn i used to hate ant's production but some of the hyped tracks on the first half have a real awesome just-blaze-goes-backpacker vibe to them. spittin on organs.

― M@tt He1ges0n, Tuesday, 5 June 2007 19:19 (eighteen years ago)

two years pass...

New link for that City Pages story:

http://www.citypages.com/2007-04-11/news/dark-star/all

― Pete Scholtes, Friday, 2 October 2009 22:10 (sixteen years ago)

man when that jake one video came out i was pretty awed when i stepped back and thought about it, to see someone from rhymesayers doing a track with a member of the roc.

― Mewtwo-er if you want this encore, pikachu until your bulbasaur (M@tt He1ges0n), Friday, 2 October 2009 22:14 (sixteen years ago)

two years pass...

http://ceaselesssound.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/BrotherAliMourningInAmerica.jpg

Okay, kinda lol @ the liner notes for this thing folding out to prayer rug size with the flag printed on the back.

Probably the only ilxor left that will cop to listening to this guy in 2012 though.

― heated debate over derpy hooves (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 19 September 2012 04:03 (thirteen years ago)

Talking to myself but that record ^^^ is p dope. Probably my favorite of his yet. "Stop the Press" is fucking great.

― HAPPY BDAY TOOTS (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 27 September 2012 02:42 (thirteen years ago)

I like brother ali

― jalapeno kloppers (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 27 September 2012 03:03 (thirteen years ago)

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