Brother Ali

This crazy rapper is a giant albino guy.

Once regaled as the bastion of alternative rock machinations thanks to the output from such revered local scenesters as Prince, Husker Du, Soul Asylum, and The Replacements, Minneapolis has, over the course of the past several years, become the new hotbed for creative rap output.

Much of the city's sonic makeover is due to the brash, innovative, and seemingly never-ending output of the Rhymesayers crew. Consisting of brilliantly left-of-center emcees like Slug and Eydea and bugged out wax manipulators like Mr. Dibbs, The Rhymesayers have proven that you don't have to be from a New York borough or a Southern California 'hood in order to wield the microphone with finesse.

The latest exponent from the ever virile Rhymesayers outfit is a lad who goes by the moniker of Brother Ali. Harboring a deep love and appreciation for music ranging from the likes of Earth, Wind and Fire to KRS-ONE, Ali has gripped the mic tight on many a night, having performed with everyone from Guru to Mos Def, De La Soul, Souls of Mischief, Aceyalone, EL-P, and the Living Legends crew.

With the debut of his album Shadows of the Sun, Brother Ali will be bringing his verbal dexterity out of the studio and the clubs and into the homes of every self-respecting fan of the genre known as rap.

Ali graciously listened to our 11 Questions and what follows are his answers.

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1) Who is your favorite superhero or super villain?

Brother Ali: Elvis was a hero to most but he never meant SH@# to me. Yes he's straight out racist. The sucker was simple and plain. Mother f@#k him and John Wayne.

2) What is your favorite late night snack?

Brother Ali: Frankly, I'm a little offended by the question. For a dude like me that's like asking a man to choose between all the women he's loved in his life. They all have their own beautiful qualities that make them special and unique. To choose only left over fried chicken would be to neglect the splendor of a bowl of fruit loops. To select a grilled cheese samwich would mean depriving one's self of the joy of Haagen-Dazs Almond Amaretto Gelato. You can't choose just one. It's a sin.

3) Who or what are your non-musical influences?

Brother Ali: I always have new ones. Two things I saw recently inspired me to no end. Chris Rock was talking about his first big HBO special and he was saying that prior to that his biggest goal as a comedian was to tour and make a little money and not to have to struggle to get people to come to the shows. But he said that he hit a point where he wanted everything he does to be great. There was a time for me when I just wanted to put out a piece of vinyl. To me that was the biggest goal I could have. To just have a record of mine in existence and be a part of the legacy of hip-hop music. I've done that now.
I also saw Spike Lee (one of my heroes) on this award show getting a lifetime image award. He said that from day one he always wanted to not only make a good film but to have a great body of work. Spike is the man with his mean little a$$.

4) What is the motto you live by?

Brother Ali: "If the whole city gathered to help you, they could only help you with what God had provided. If the whole city gathered to harm you, they could only harm you with what G-d had prescribed. The pens have been lifted and the pages have dried." - Prophet Mohammed.
I've never believed in a "big break" or one specific opportunity that I could either hit or misses and changes my life's course. I've always believed that what's meant to come my way will come and what's not meant for me will never end up with me. I think that as long as I make the most out of what opportunities I do have I'll end up seeing what I've worked for.








 





 

 

5) Which do you prefer, performing music live or creating it in the studio?

Brother Ali: Up until about a year ago I hated the studio. I've always felt like live shows are the real test as to whether someone really has something special with 'em. If you can get on a stage in front of people without all the tricks and crutches of the studio and do that sh@#, then no one can take that away from you. It's really since I've worked with ANT that I've started to see the studio as an art.

6) What is your favorite film?

Brother Ali: Do The Right Thing is hands down my favorite movie of all time. Every character, every line and every scene is flawless. It's a perfect movie. I'm not saying it's objectively the best. I'm saying it's my favorite. It's probably due in part to the impact it had one me at the time it came out. I was like 13 and my boys talked me into skipping school and seeing it on the day it came out. The Public Enemy song that played all the way through at the beginning and during the film f@#ked me up. Rosie Perez became the first love of my little life and I skipped school or work to see almost every Spike Lee film since then. Me and ANT took our ladies to see 25th Hour and I got that feeling again.

7) What is your favorite book?


Brother Ali: The Qur'an has had the biggest influence on my life but I don't think that's what you're driving at. The Autobiography of Malcolm X by him and Alex Haley is my favorite book. A People's History of the US by Howard Zinn is up there. There's this book called Monster that's really fresh.

8) Name a musician that you've always wanted to work with but haven't yet.

Brother Ali: Most of my idols I can't really see in my head what I would do with them. But I'd love to work with Pharoahe Monch.

9) If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?

Brother Ali: I don't pretend to know a lot about the industry. I only know what I've seen. There's a lot of wack sh@# out there but it's not there because the industry likes to push wack sh@#. It's there because the majority of the public doesn't demand much from their music. The industry isn't the lone gunman. They provide what people are willing to buy. Stop buying wack sh@#!

10) What has been your most important professional accomplishment to date?

Brother Ali: My "career" is a chain of accomplishments. I try to treat every song I write, every show I do and every freestyle I do as a chance to be great. I'm honest with myself about where I'm really at but I'm not scared to try for greatness because I don't look at my drawbacks as permanent. I'm very much in touch with my shortcomings as an artist but I completely intend conquer them.

11) What has been your most memorable or most f@#ked-up gig?

Brother Ali: Two really bad ones come to mind. When I was first came out of my basement and started trying to get some shine as an emcee performing in Minneapolis, I pulled out my old Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince record. Will Smith had this crowd interaction thing where he said "All the homeboys who got AIDS be quiet" and everyone screamed. That was like '87. Well I tried a twist on that sh@# in about '98 and it backfired on me like a motherf@#ker. Everyone was like "What the hell?" Come to find out that the owner of the club had AIDS. I'm still feeling pretty terrible about that one.

Last fall we did 63 shows on the God Loves Ugly tour with Slug, Dibbs, Murs and Blueprint. Near the end of this ridiculously long tour we did Cincinnati, which is Dibbs' and Print's home. Everything about that night was f@#ked up. There were like 10 fights, some of which included members of the tour. The sound was all jacked up and if you stepped on this spot on the stage it would skip the records. So records were skipping and people are scrappin' and the soundman is wandering on and off stage acting like he's fixing sh@#. Print is sh@#-face drunk and he yells at the soundman for walking across that stage in the middle of his set. The soundman is like "Shut up", so Blueprint went the f@#k off on this dude on the mic in front of the whole crowd. "Don't tell me to shut up bitch." Then he drops the bomb on him. "Suck my black d@#k!!" Good thing Dibbs knew the sound dude or we'd had to whoop his a$$. On top of all that, the brothers from Jurassic 5 had been touring at the same time and were in Cinncy that night. They came up in the show and told me they wanted to check out what our tour was about. So I know Chali 2Na and Cut Chemist and them are thinking "Man, what are these fools out here doing?" Dibbs said that there were about eight separate sets of criminal charges based on fights from that show. Cinci-f@#kin-Natti.


The Bonus 12th Question:
What is your kindred spirit animal?

Brother Ali: I saw this special on birds. The male is responsible for building a nest before a female bird will even talk to him. So he searches his environment for sticks, old pieces of paper and random other sh@# he can find to build a nest. While he's doing this, the female bird comes along and blows on his nest. She jumps up and down on it and tries to smash it. It seems messed up but you got to realize that she's just trying to make sure that homie's nest is strong enough to endure while they raise their kids. If the nest isn't strong enough she keeps looking for a dude that has a good enough nest and she won't stop till she finds one that won't break.
Here I am in f@#king Minnesota and all I'm really good at is something that you use to have to be from NY or LA to do. So I've taken what I can find and I'm trying to build a nest with it. Here comes my lovely bride acting like she wants to crush what I'm building. That bird story helps me understand that she's just trying to make sure that what we're building is strong. Maybe that's why me and J Bird get along so well.