Today’s Sounds: Brother Ali

Record:

Brother Ali, Dreaming in America and Mourning in Color (Rhymesayers)

 
First off, I gotta come clean and say that I’m just about the biggest Brother Ali fan around. He is my favourite contemporary rapper and has been since the first time I dropped the needle on his debut, Shadows on the Sun. If the Brotha’ decided to record himself singing in the shower, I would pre-order the autographed limited edition soap-shaped vinyl.

So it is not hard to recommend this album, by any stretch. But the reason I think you’ll like it is not because he’s in the global top two percentile of beyond-skilled rhyming, but because he’s human — a characteristic lacking in a lotta modern hip hop, even the best shit that surfaces. Whenever people who don’t necessarily listen to much rap ask me who they should check out, it’s this man right here.

I think we can get over his race and religion now, but ironically, his fourth LP is by far his most political. His earlier material told his own life stories and his perceptions of the world around him, but here we find Ali on a different page. As we heard on 2009’s Us, he has shifted further toward a storytelling style, less about himself and more about the average citizen — the worker, the parent, the victim, the assailant.

Nothing interrupts Ali’s sixth sense for painting pictures with words. If this is your first excursion with the Brother, a) welcome to the team, and b) do yourself a favour and get immersed in his back catalogue to get the sharper image.

If, however, you’re already deep in the cut with his life’s work, you’ll be curious to hear the full departure from Ant’s production, a mainstay over three full-lengths, an EP-and-a-half and numerous one-offs and b-sides.

Keeping it all in the RSE fam, the Atmosphere producer is relieved on Dreaming by one of my favourite beatmakers in the game, Seattle’s Jake One, a frequent collaborator with Ali and the rest of the ’sayers crew. It is definitely, definitely different, refreshingly so. Their rapport is perhaps not as fluid as Ali and Ant’s, immediately, but the interweave of flow-to-beat texture quickly stitches itself into high-end quality.

Not that Ali needed a reboot, but the rapper has long held high that to grow, we gotta change, and he is not afraid to prove it time and again, even if it means leaving behind something he loves. Listen to the man.
 

Track:

The Belle Game, “Wait Up for You”

Hear a preview of Ritual Tradition Habit, the forthcoming LP by this Vancouver band, out Oct. 9, Boompa. Stark, sweet rock ’n’ roll with a sour cherry on top.

 The Belle Game – “Wait Up For You” by thebellegame
 

Video:

Dirty Projectors, “About to Die”

Feeling a little death-beddy two days into Pop Montreal? This flurry of odd references (2001? Breaking Bad? Extreme Cribs?) is all entertainment, despite the dark subject matter, so sit back and see. But don’t die, dudes. ■