A lot has happened with Brother Ali since his last album, Us, came out in 2009. After two years of exhaustive touring, his long time deejay BK-One decided to quit the touring life to start a family, and Ali himself decided to take some time off the road to spend time with his own family and regroup. He lost some dear people, including Eyedea and his own father. He also went on a Hajj to Mecca. After spending his whole career recording with Ant, they finally couldn’t make their schedules align, so Ali was forced to find a new producer, which he found in Seattle’s Jake One. It’s funny how when you’ve been following an artist for so long, you begin to just assume this stability in their lives and careers. Well, however great an artist is, they are still human, and life happens to all of us. While this is a lot for anyone to go through, it didn’t change who he is fundamentally as a person or an artist, and Mourning in America and Dreaming in Color is just as strong and moving as anything he’s recorded, if not his best record to date.

I had the slightest bit of worry when I heard that Ali was going to be recording with Jake One, if only because Ali and Ant had been the winning formula behind some of my favorite hip hop of the last decade. It’s not like Jake One isn’t a very talented producer in his on right, and they have worked together before, recording “The Truth” with Freeway on Jake One’s album, White Van Music. I also knew that while Ali might challenge himself and try something different, he’s very sure of who he is, and he wouldn’t be putting out an album if the chemistry with the producer was off. Jake One’s production isn’t that far away from Ant’s, either. At least not to the point that anybody is going to listen and have a reaction like, “This is a Brother Ali album?” Jake One and Ant are like two lines that mostly run parallel to each other, with Jake’s line jutting occasionally towards a more “pop” territory. That said, if you’ve been following Ali’s career closely over the years, you probably didn’t worry at all, if only because few artists have pushed themselves to sustain as a high level as Ali has, making sure that his fans are always getting the best possible album they can get out of him. From the opening track, “Letter To My Countrymen,” any trepidation you might have will be put to rest, as Jake One lays down some really effective minimal instrumentation, with a sweet, fuzzed-out bass line that leads us through the track as vibraphones lay out the chord progression and gospel-inspired background vocals sing a refrain of “Sooner or later.” Ali then drops some really moving lyrics about his hopes and fears for the country that he loves. It sets the tone for the album, which is a strong reflection of the strange times in which we live in. Ali is a practicing Muslim, and while this influences his music and his politics, it’s not fair to paint Ali into a corner with labels like “political rapper” or “religious rapper.” As he states in the opening track, he’s not a “Democrat or Republican, but one among you - that’s why you call me brother. I ain’t scared to tell you we’re in trouble, because I love you.” It’s that deep love and concern for people in general that comes across in his music that makes Ali so special, and why his fans are so devoted. His music will discuss the bad in life, and he doesn’t let himself off the hook, but it’s all done in the practice of spreading love and challenging everyone to rise up and make it better. “Mourning in America” is by far the darkest the song on the album, with a chorus that finds Ali shouting “Murder! Murder! Murder! Kill! Kill! Kill!” This is done to grab your attention as a listener, for sure, but Ali makes sure to flesh out the song with lyrics that force you to not only think analytically about crime and war in relation to America, but to also connect on an emotional level that each life that is taken has value, and that we really need to take stock about how our governmental policies are effecting everyone, not just in America. And while some rappers are still be stuck in some sort of mid to late ‘90s era, where wealth and fame are to be aspired to at all costs, Ali is giving us hope through recession blues, as highlighted by the one-two punch of “Work Everyday” and “Need a Knot.” The majority of us are struggling, working as hard as we can to find a decent job, and it’s very therapeutic to hear these songs, which serve a similar function as great blues and country songs did way back when. I don’t want escapism about wealth and fame and women in my hip hop, I want songs that give me hope things will not only get better for myself, but for all of us. Ali gives us that. And that’s why Mourning in America and Dreaming in Color is one of the most important albums of the year.

Few artists are as talented as Brother Ali, and even fewer care not only about their music and their fans, but people in general. Ali makes music that goes right through your ears and reaches straight to your core, giving you not only a sense of hope, but also responsibility. This album was born in a dark place both from a personal standpoint and from a reflection of society at large, but as it was made, the light shone through. We might be mourning right now, but as long as Ali is making records like this, we can continue dreaming in bright and vivid colors of a better tomorrow.