Brother Ali- Us

I feel like I need to preface anything I write about Brother Ali by saying that I am a huge fan, and his music has meant a great deal to me personally. That said, I also pride myself on being able to objective and taking my heroes to task when the need calls for it. Which is great, because one of the things I love about Ali is that he takes criticism as a challenge and tries to rise up to it. I can’t tell you how refreshing it is to go to a hip hop show and to have the headliner tell the audience to stop misogyny and homophobia, that everyone needs to “grow the fuck up.” Now that I’ve got that out of the way, let’s talk about Us.

The album has a phrase written on it which sets the town for the whole album - “There’s no me and no you, it’s just US.” This sets the whole tone for the album, as Brother Ali tries to create a musical work that can speak to a collective heart and mind. It opens with a church choir and Chuck D introducing the album -- not bad. It then hits us with an upbeat, almost frantic horn and guitar driven State of the Union in “The Preacher.” Following that, we get the first gem with “The Jewel” (no pun intended), a laid-back horn riff that lets Ali lay down some reflections on life.

“House Keys” tells the story of moving down a floor in an apartment building and having some drug dealers move in. It’s a bit of strange slow song with a haunting choral sample. I’ve listened to this album a ton, and this song is the one I’m still not sure what I think about it.

“Fresh Air” is a great upbeat declaration of life, which causes me to tear up every time Ali talks about his ex-mother-in-law. “Tight Rope” might be the toughest song to listen to, though it’s one of the most important songs he’s ever written. The emotional exploration of kids dealing with divorce and homophobia is tough, but Ali explores the issues carefully, stressing the emotional stakes.

“The Travelers” was introduced by Ali in concert as his personal favorite, and I can’t fault him with his choice. Xylophones over pounding drums lay way to challenges that listeners involve themselves in the deeply embedded problems of race relations in our society. “Babygirl” takes a look at emotional and physical abuse against women, another tough issue, but Ali again does a great job of making the issue a personal one for the listener.

“Games” touches on personal responsibility and challenges us to do better as Hammond organs and bass and drums play against each other. On “Slippin’ Away,” Ali reflects on socioeconomic pressures as overdriven keyboards pulse. “Puppy Love” moves slowly over dreamy strings and jazzy guitar as Ali looks at the struggles of making a deep emotional connection with another person and all that entails.

“Bad Mufucker II” and “Best@IT” are all hip hop swagger, which is both good and bad. If I was going to trim any fat on the album, it might be these two.

As I go through this album track by track, I’m finding myself appreciating this album more than I already did. This album just really encapsulates everything I love about Brother Ali -- his deep concern and care for people and music and making the circle complete. A truly great album.