In praise of Brother Ali
Who is probably the single rapper who has had the most direct and profound impact upon my own music.
The latter two photos here are photos of myself with Brother Ali, alongside our friends Shad and Measuring Man (in the first photo) and Ultra Magnus (in the second!)
It’s well past time that I wrote a tribute to Brother Ali, the albino Muslim rapper from Minneapolis who has more directly influenced my music than any other artist! Mr. Newman is one of my favourite artists in the history of popular music, and, as I’ve said, there is no single artist who's exerted more of an influence upon my own work, with Shad being the only possible exception. I once ranked him as my fifth man in an all-time top 50 emcees list – up there with Rakim, Ghostface, Scarface, and Nas. There's good reason for that – Ali is one of the best pure songwriters hip-hop has ever seen, as masterpieces like “Baby Come Home”, “You Say (Puppy Love)”, “Rain Water”, “My Beloved”, “The Truth”, and “Baby Don't Go” prove beyond a shadow of a doubt. He's also a master shit-talker – the joint that's literally called “Talkin' My Shit” is a great example, but so are “The Preacher” and his utterly masterful verse on “So Wrong” by his great friend Joell Ortiz, on which he also sings a stellar chorus and which would be one of the most perfect of all rap songs if not for the presence of the execrable Talib Kweli.
Perhaps most influential upon me is the way in which, along with artists like Curtis Mayfield and Witchdoctor, Ali’s fervent spirituality fuelled my own nascent quest after God, informing it both before and after I found the Bahá'í Faith. The way Ali engages with Islam provides an outstanding model for what I hope to accomplish in my relationship to my own Faith – he's as outstanding a spokesman for a humane, LGBTQ-affirming, compassionate Islam as you're gonna find, with deep-rooted connections to great and legendary scholars such as Umar Faruq Abd-Allah and Warith Deen Muhammad, and if I can ever become half as good of a Bahá'í as he is a Muslim, it'll be hard to overstate the spiritual ecstasy I'll experience.
Over the years, Ali has embarked on a project of self-conscious maturation, almost as though he were becoming something of a Muslim bodhisattva – he makes more references to love, the soul and the Divine than virtually any other rapper, and perpetually and genuinely seeks after beauty and the good and the truth. It's beautiful to watch his sustained growth, and he remains a true inspiration.
I feel so blessed to have opened for him, all the moreso that he once called me his friend, a casual throwaway moment that I will cherish and hold close to my heart for as long as I live. All hail rap's mighty albino, the invincible, unfuckwithable Brother Ali!
Hes soooooooo underrated man!