TLOBF Interview // Brother Ali

There’s nothing quite like seeing the eyes of two young fans light up as their hero brushes past them. They’ve been waiting in the cold, far earlier than necessary, for the chance to get to the front row. They never let their gaze drift from the rapper who smiles at them sweetly and knowingly as he makes his way inside. Some bands, you watch live. There’s a stage and there’s an audience and a clear line between the two. With others, there is no fourth wall. Brother Ali belongs to the latter group of performers. It’s only shows like this that can find multiple meanings in the phrase “Are you here to party?” Whilst he might be a first class performer to watch, there is no way to experience this but to be a part of it. It’s a celebration of life, love and music, but most of all it’s a reminder that there are very few things more enjoyable than being surrounded by a group of people with a mutual appreciation – adoration – of an artist, and absolutely no reservations when it comes to showing it.

When you tour in America, you’re usually with the same group of people for a long time. How do you pass the time when you’re only in a small group?
I listen to music constantly. I listen to music all day long, perform, get back, listen to more music. I listen to things that I know I like and I know deserve proper attention but that I don’t have time for at home. New music too, but I had to stop listening to Sade’s new album because it kept making me cry in front of my friends.

Do you write when you’re touring?
I have to listen to the music over and over and over again to just get that feeling inside me and every line I say it with the music and I say it over and over again. It’s nuts. I don’t want to subject other people to hearing that.

Do you see a difference between those that appreciate mainstream hip hop and underground?
Our music really appeals to people who think they don’t like rap. If you don’t pay attention to hip hop then the only hip hop you’re ever exposed to is the stuff that’s forced on you. That’s never the best. It’s the same with, you know, Islamophobia, in the West. I’m a hip hop person and I’m a Muslim so I’ve experienced both of those things and they’re really similar to each other. If you don’t know anything about Islam, the only thing you’re ever going to hear is when a Muslim does something crazy. So, of course, you’re gonna think you hate those people. Fuck those people, always causing trouble. I think a lot of it has to do with image too. My image isn’t threatening. Part of the reason certain people don’t listen to hip hop is because they’re afraid of it. They don’t feel it’s for them, they don’t feel accepted by it. When they see me and other people in underground rap, they say “This is for me. I can be comfortable in this.”

Everyone like me, who was listening before that split happened in hip hop in the late ’90s, we still listen to everything that’s good, whether it’s mainstream, underground, whatever. People that came after that point tend to listen to only one or the other, which is unfortunate. For them, the art- it’s unfortunate for artists. There’s parts of hip hop that don’t even know each other any more. Most of my fans, they’re from after ’97.

It seems like it’s one of the only styles of music where that happens.
I wonder about jazz cats that may have been inspired by gospel music. I know everyone that sang soul started out in church but a lot of soul fans listened to soul music and it was considered the devil’s music by the church people. I don’t know if it’s a new thing or not but it’s definitely true and it’s sad to me, it really is.

How were you introduced to hip hop?
The kids that lived up the street from me and my little brother were b-boys, they were older kids than us. They had mixtapes and you also could buy hip hop compilations at that time, I had one called ‘Kings of Rap’. I didn’t know who to look for so I would go to the rap section, way in the back of the store. A tiiiny little section. I would buy compilations and I’d say “I really like this Whodini song” so then I would save up my money and I would go buy the Whodini tape. Same with Slick Rick. There were guys in the Midwest that would go to New York and buy tapes and records and come back and we’d copy them from each other.

Is the sense of community different now?
We’re trying to be another golden age of hip hop, these last few years. Definitely for underground, independent shit. I think people will look back at this time and say that Atmosphere and Murs and Sage Francis, Aesop Rock, El-P, Mr. Lif… and me… and Cage, Eyedea & Abilities, Blueprint, Cannibal Ox, that this was a golden age for certain people. For people that listen to this kind of music.

When did you turn from breakdancing to rapping?
I did my first show when I was 8, at my Grandmother’s funeral. After that, I did everything I could. I performed at church, I performed at talent shows, at anything that I could turn into a show. I got a little older and they started having dances at school and I performed at the dances, in the lunch room, everywhere that I could. Always got a good reception. Never been booed.

Your show depends a lot on audience participation, even if that only constitutes acceptance. How do you make sure the audience is into it?
You’re telling a story- that’s what it is when you perform for somebody- and you’re telling them this is who I am and this is how I got this way and this is what I’m about. The way you present that story is different depending on who you’re talking to. You don’t tell it the exact same way to everybody. If you’re talking to a room full of kids, you start with something that they would care about, that would make them go “WOWWW” then if you’re talking to a group of 50-year-olds, you start with something different that makes them go “wow”.

How does your son feel about your music?
It’s funny, my son was a baby when my first wife and I got our first car, he’s 9 now. I didn’t think he could understand what he was hearing when we were listening to 50 Cent’s ‘Get Rich or Die Tryin”, but he totally did. He used to say “go shawwwtttyyy, it’s ya burfday.” It was so hard for us to agree on music that we would listen to in the car. I mean, she wanted to listen to this horrible music. She never liked any of my shit. So we agreed on the first 50 Cent album. He likes the fact that I do this, he thinks I’m good at it. I think it’s so close to him that it’s impossible for him to judge it. He does like hip hop though, and rock, and pop. That’s the only thing he listens to that I can’t stand, he likes pop. I make him CDs with mixes and then he can listen to the jazz station and he can listen to the independent station, which has a mix of everything, mainly rock. Those are the only two he’s allowed to listen to. Pop music is, literally, bad for kids. It really promotes sex and violence and it’s just stupid musically.

Yeah, it certainly promotes mediocrity.
That music is also made for a certain environment. If you don’t go dancing in a club, that music has nothing to do with you. Certain music, I never understood it- rap music, even. Down South music. I like OutKast, I like Ludacris, I like UGK and Scarface, but the true South music, I didn’t think I liked it until I saw it in Atlanta in a strip club. Then it made sense. I understood it. I feel like a lot of pop music is like that too. If you don’t go to the club on Friday or Saturday night, that music has no relevance to your life at all. You need a context for it. Music that I discover now that I’m 30, I can really like it but I’m never going to love it the way that I did when I was 15. It’s just not the same. The music that you love when you’re 15, that’s the music you really love.