Brother Ali has been a mainstay in the underground hip-hop scene since around 1998. Ali is signed to Rhymesayers Entertainment, home of Slug and Ant aka Atmosphere, after releasing his first project in 2000, which solidified his relationship with the independant record label. He has since followed suit with three more projects, plus his fourth one is on the way: Mourning in America, Dreaming in Color.
HNHH sat down with the Muslim rapper to speak on his longevity and strength in the rap game, as well as get some details on the new album, which is dropping on September 18th. Ali also spit an exclusive freestyle for us after the interview, on the spot, and it's dope so definitely check that out.
We wanted to find out about the title of his album, Mourning in America, Dreaming in Color, and what that means to him. Ali says it's wake up call for people to realize the state our world is in.
“This album is really a wake up call, and it's an invitation. “Mourning in America” talks about the terrible situation that we're in,” Ali continued. “This album is really a wake-up call for how bad things are, but then also an idea of what it could be, what we could have, if we seize this moment right now.”
When the video for the single “Mourning In America” was released, it was called controversial, and created buzz on the blogopshere. Ali says of the visuals, he was purposely making it challenging. “With the imagery on this album, I wanted it to be challenging and I wanted it to be a demand. In the past, I've always invited people to see the world through someone else's eyes, to step out of their comfort zone. It's been very inviting, you know what I mean, but it's not an easy thing, and people don't always accept the invitation. And so this one takes it a step further and it's a demand.”
As most Brother Ali fans know, his sounds is pretty unique and definitely inspired by soul and gospel sounds. Ali confirmed this will be direction of the sound for his fourth studio album as well,“In terms of the sound, my stuff is based a lot on soul music, gospel, and 80s rap,” he said.
Watch the full interview and exclusive freestyle below.