Brother Ali

As a listener you don’t just hear Brother Ali, you feel him. His words hit like darts in the literal sense; sharp, gripping and precise. He is candid with his emotions, his glory and pain, hiding nothing from the listener. He shows his vulnerability through humility and his strength with a glowing confidence. Brother Ali is not a rap personality; he is a man with undeniable talent and respect for his craft.
    It’s been four years since his last full length project, Shadows On the Sun, but as Ali explained, the turmoil he endured during that time was the inspiration for his aptly titled follow-up, The Undisputed Truth. Produced entirely by Rhymesayers in-house maestro Ant, The Undisputed Truth is another nearly impeccable effort. Ali’s versatility shines over Ant’s equally diverse sound palette, which for 15 tracks makes for an extremely focused and enthralling album. From ferocious and intense to enlightening and peaceful it’s all there, but I suppose that is why he is The Undisputed Truth. Believe that. In between sets at the annual SXSW music conference in Austin, TX, Ali took the time to talk about his new release, having fun and staying ahead of the game.



How has your trip to Austin [for SXSW] been so far?
It’s been great. I had some complications at home. I forgot my wallet when I went to the airport so I had to go back and get it so I missed my plane. All the planes were overbooked so we flew standby to Houston and then rented a car to drive to Austin. Other than that it’s been great.

This lifestyle, it sounds fun but is it also wearing more often than not?
Nah, it’s just fun. Well, I mean…I think a lot of people never have jobs and then they get busy in music life and they’re like “this sucks.” Like I have so many friends who complain about it and stuff, but man…I’ve been on my own since I was 17, a married man working two jobs at a time, trying to go to school with mouths to feed, just struggling to survive. Compared to that this is a walk in the park.

And that’s why you say it’s fun.
Oh yeah, it’s a lot of fun. It’s a lot of work, but it’s fun. My only thing is that I like to be real thorough about the things I do. I don’t like when I don’t have the right amount of time to prepare for stuff. Sometimes I just need to say no, I’m not gonna do this other shit because I’m working on my thing right now. But other than that, it’s cool. Maybe I’ll feel different soon because I’m just starting to get busy, like I haven’t been this busy before.

But that’s a sign that things are going good. Speaking of, your new album The Undisputed Truth just came out and will be the first Rhymesayers release that will be distributed by Warner Brothers. That’s gotta feel good.
Yeah, hopefully that will just mean better availability. My first album didn’t have any distribution at all. It was all in house at Rhymesayers so the only places you could get it were online and small indie shops or at shows. We’re gonna keep all those same things, like we have an in-house person to keep those channels direct between us and the independents so they don’t get cut out, but we’re just adding that other piece so that we can get in at Best Buy and Target. A lot of places that we go to don’t have those indie shops. We don’t just tour the big cities, or the college cities, we hit little towns where there isn’t an independent music store so there aren’t places where they can get our music until we get there. By being in Target and Best Buy basically means that people have a way to get our music if they want to.

Are you excited or does it not really make much of a difference to you?
I mean I’m still with Rhymesayers, that’s what I value. I’m not too involved on that side of things. I’m involved in the way that I’m presented and stuff like that, but it’s gonna be hard for me to know if it will be a big difference until the album is out and I look at the numbers. I won’t know until then, but it seems like it will be a better thing. But like I said, Rhymesayers is a really important thing to me. I’m a Rhymesayers artist for life.

Talk about The Undisputed Truth and what was going on between this one and Shadows On The Sun.
Basically when Shadows On The Sun came out I tried to make music from the things that I really cared about. Like I wanted to make music that had feeling to it. So I made songs about the things that made me feel real strong. I really liked that part of it, like those songs felt right to me. But my whole life changed when I put that record out. Not only did I change from a workingman and just struggling, I still struggle, but it was going from that to doing music as a profession. I had problems at home, and I ended up divorcing my wife of 10 years. I got custody of my son, and was homeless for a while, like I didn’t have anything at all and had to rebuild my whole life. I wanted to make this album about that whole process; about completely gutting my life and rebuilding the whole thing, and that’s what it is. We have songs that capture all those different moments, and parts of that process. I feel really good about it.

What do you want the listeners to get from this?
I just hope people get a chance to check the album out, like really hear the real thing. People who have enjoyed what we have done in the past will love this album a lot more, and for anyone who hasn’t given me an honest listen when this record comes out, LISTEN TO IT. Even if you download it or whatever, just listen to it for yourself. Go into it open, just give me an open listen and if it’s not for you, that’s fine, but I really believe that if people give me an open listen they’ll hear that I’m being as sincere and genuine in this music.

Do you make your music as a way to help other people get through situations, or is it more for you to get it off your chest?
You know, I just think music should be passionate, otherwise it’s just math or science. I like music for feeling, for the heart and soul of it more than the brain part of it. I don’t get along with people who listen to music from their brain. There is a lot of music that isn’t “smart” or “intelligent” music but the feeling of it is so good it doesn’t matter. When you have both that is a great thing, but feel is more important than anything. I’ve always loved music that people make about the things that actually move them, so that’s all I do. I’ve had people say that it has helped them or whatever, but I’m not doing that on purpose. More so just trying to figure it out myself.

I noticed you have a pretty serious tour schedule for this album as well.
Yeah, the album comes out April 10th, and we leave that day. We’re doing two months straight, 60 days and over 50 shows.

Do you do a lot of writing on the road?
I haven’t in the past because there is very little alone time. There is a lot of down time, but you’re always in the middle of something. But I got a thing for my computer so that I can run a microphone through it. Me and Ant make all our stuff on his 4-track at home and then the songs we like we take to the studio. So I got a program that turns my computer to a 4-track. I got a bunch of Ant beats, and I’m gonna see if I can create a lot of new stuff while I’m on the road.

Is it because, like you said, your music is so personal and that you can’t really catch that vibe on the road?
Maybe, but I don’t know. I think I’m gonna start making music just to make music even though I don’t care for it just so that I can stay in that mode of recording. I don’t ever want to be this overdue again. It’s been three years between my last album and this one which is too long. I don’t want that to happen again. I want to be ahead of the game. 

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