Last night Brother Ali came to Salt Lake City, Utah for his tour stop at the Complex on The Own Light Tour and performed songs of his new album All The Beauty in This Whole Life which dropped this past week. It’s been a little over ten years since Brother Ali dropped the Undisputed Truth and about five years since Brother Ali has dropped his last album Mourning in America and Dreaming in Color. Brother Ali who is a devout Muslim had been focusing on his spiritual path before returning back to music and he has returned with a message that he is spreading in his new album which is exactly what the world needs.
Its very few emcees like Brother Ali who can make you laugh, cry and just vibe out with him. During the show Brother Ali performed many songs off his new album the most memorable being tracks such as his opening song “Own Light” with the catchy chorus “they been trying to shut us down our whole life” and the most moving song entitled “Pray for Me” was his story of where he talks about the difficulties of being albino which includes being legally blind and how kids said he had AIDS when he was growing up because he looked different. Brother Ali also bought his opening act SA-ROC, a talented female emcee hailing from Washington, DC for a song they collaborated on and called her “the dopest emcee of our generation” and he isn’t far off.
Brother Ali also performed the politically charged “Uncle Sam” track where he talks about a lot of the political issues which are more relevant now then when he recorded the song about ten years ago, it’s eerily propehetic when he raps “Shit the Government’s an addict/with a billion dollar a week kill brown people habit”. Brother Ali spoke about doing over 200 shows a year but still not being wealthy, he describes himself as a blue collar rapper. The crazy thing about going to a Brother Ali show is a reminder of how many people in the world regardless of color or creed can relate to his universal messages of love, being present with the people you love and acceptance.
Music like this is what the world needs in such turbulent times and is at the highest vibration. I felt that this show was actually good for my soul and can’t wait to listen to the new Brother Ali album which is available on https://fifthelementonline.com/collections/rhymesayers/products/brother-ali-all-the-beauty and check out to see if Brother Ali is coming to your city, as he has upcoming dates this week in Portland, Vancouver, Seattle, Oakland, and Fresno. If you love hip hop this is a show that you have to check out.
Ryan Glover is a contributing writer for https://www.audiofuzz.com. Follow him on Twitter @RyanDavisGlover, “Like” him on Facebook and add him to your google network.