Brother Ali – Us
Rating: 
Review Date: November 10, 2009
Website: Brother Ali Website
Label: Rhymesayers
Brother Ali “Us” Album Review
This is probably the best album of the year. And that’s saying a lot – because a couple classic hip-hop albums have dropped in 2009. I’ve been listening to Brother Ali’s “Us” consistently for over a month now, and it is almost flawless from beginning to end. I believe this could be the definitive album of Ali’s hip-hop career. It appears to be the accumulation of years of hard work, sacrifice and growth. If you haven’t picked up a copy of Brother Ali’s “Us” yet, now is the time.
Why I Like This Album?
1. Shit makes me happy – More so than any of his previous albums, which rested more on a battle rapper’s mentality combined sociopolitical conscious topics, “Us” is a happier and more fulfilled album. Ali has clearly found happiness and enlightenment in his personal and professional life, and it shines throughout this album. The album starts out with tracks like The Preacher, Crown Jewel and Fresh Air, which have a celebratory or victorious feel. The following verse from Fresh Air illustrates this feeling:
I’m the luckiest son of a bitch that ever lived/
I spend life doing shit I love/
Got the world’s most beautiful kids/
And don’t nobody do it like us/
Sunday morning play Al Green/
Make pancakes and watch cartoons/
Sometimes get to change that scene/
Catch a plane and see somewhere new/
Just got married last year/
Treat her so good that it ain’t even fair/
Already got a boy, now the baby girl’s here/
Bought us a house like the Bernstein Bears/
Not two years ago I was homeless/
I mean crashing on the couch of my homies/
Now I’m crashing on the couch with Conan/
Signed the mortgage and bought my own shit/
Should’ve seen when they handed me the keys/
I still couldn’t believe that it was mine/
Like ‘Baby, hurry up let’s leave/
For these damn people change their mind/
What can I say?/
I would’ve made these damn songs anyway/
Some of y’all still listen to ‘em every day/
Beautiful thing, I bow my head and pray/
2. It has a gospel feel – While Brother Ali has always drawn comparisons to some sort of rap preacher, due mainly to the cadence and tone of his voice, the production and lyrics on “Us” pushes this comparison even further. Tracks like Breakin’ Dawn, ‘Round Here, and Us feature gospel-flavored rhymes and choruses. And with this spiritual feel comes a theme of universality and oneness. This can best be seen in the album’s title track, in which Ali talks about Us:
To me all y’all look exactly the same/
Fear, faith compassion and pain/
And try as we may to mask it with names/
Such as your religion or your past or your race/
The same color blood just passed through our veins/
And tears taste the same when they splash on your face/
The world’s getting too small to stand in one place/
It’s like we’re roommates just sharing the space/
Can’t separate and still carry the weight/
Gotta heal, get away from the fear and the hate/
Gotta shake free from them chains/
You see what remains, just a human being end of the day/
Don’t matter to me what name you gave your spiritual plane/
Close your eyes and you’ll see what I’m saying/
I started rhyming just to be somebody/
And found out that I already was/
‘Cause can’t nobody be free unless we’re all free/
There’s no me or no you, there’s just us/
3. The lyrics are crazy dope – Brother Ali covers a wide range of topics in “Us” from a wide range of perspectives. Tracks like House Keys, Slippin’ Away and Puppy Love all tell stories from a first person perspective. In Puppy Love, Ali drops the following verse as a man encouraging a woman to learn to love herself:
The sky all alone is glorious/
We behold it but we can’t hold it up/
When God says that’s it and hits the switch/
It’ll all come tumbling down when it’s bored with us/
Sweet you and all your radiance/
I can please you but I can’t save you sis/
I adore you and might even open up/
But even I can’t love you enough for both of us/
Can’t hold you close enough/
Can’t enter the holes you boarded up/
Close your eyes, concentrate on my voice/
Wanna make your love for me pure? Make it a choice/
Other tracks, like Tight Rope, The Travelers and former HHL quotable of the week Babygirl, speak from a storyteller’s perspective, demonstrating Ali’s ability to view the world from the eyes of others. In Tight Rope, Ali drops the following verse protesting the treatment of homosexuals, a topic that is taboo to say the least in hip-hop today:
Daddy was a preacher/
Mama was a Sunday school teacher/
Big brother football squad leader/
Now far be it for you to disappoint or displease ‘em/
You’re just being what you feel you see in/
The mirror every time you peer in/
Swallow the tears inside that empty feeling/
Her boy terrified to let the world in/
He has girl friends but doesn’t want a girlfriend/
He retreats inside himself where he lives life itself in secret/
Daddy says people go to hell for being/
What he is and he certainly believes him/
‘Cause their ain’t no flame that can blaze enough/
To trump being hated for the way you love/
And cry yourself to sleep and hate waking up/
It’s a cold world y’all shame on us/
Overall: Brother Ali’s “Us” is definitely in the running for best hip-hop album of the year. Pick it up if you haven’t already. Favorite tracks include Us, Tight Rope, Crown Jewel, House Keys, Breakin’ Dawn, The Travelers, and Bad Mufucker Pt. II. Peace.
Album Track Listing:
- Brothers And Sisters
- The Preacher
- Crown Jewel
- House Keys
- Fresh Air
- Tight Rope
- Breakin’ Dawn
- The Travelers
- Babygirl
- ‘Round Here
- Bad Mufucker Pt. II
- Best@it
- Games
- Slippin’ Away
- You Say (Puppy Love)
- Us
Jay-Izzle wrote:
Agreed 100%. Album of the year.
Posted on 11-Nov-09 at 10:38 am | Permalink
BeatRoot wrote:
This album is a game changer with crazy tight lyrics, beats which are crazy nice.
Does anyone know if Breakin Dawn is meant to be allegorical? As I sure get that vibe from it, if so it might be one of the best written tracks I’ve ever heard.
Posted on 11-Nov-09 at 11:50 am | Permalink
Nathaniel wrote:
Damn Beat – allegorical? Any body know what that word means?
I’m glad you brought that up, because Breakin’ Dawn was one of my favorite tracks of the album, which I unfortunately didn’t get into in the review – mainly because it is less straight-forward and more symbolic and would take a review in itself to break down. But yes, I think the track is definitely allegorical.
Ali’s story about the boy and his experience with both the slaves and the masters is probably a symbolic representation of something bigger, especially when you consider that they boy’s perceptions of the masters went from wonder, to admiration, to sadness. After experiencing life in the master’s house and looking out at the slaves, the boy actually feels pity for the masters … or, as Ali states in the 3rd verse:
I used to look at this old house in awe/
Imagining what it must be like and all/
And this the finest bread these eyes ever saw/
But I don’t mind saying I feel sorry for y’all/
All that getting, so little giving/
Led a lot of y’all to forget what’s missing/
Built you a big pretty prison to sit in/
Strut around here convinced that that’s livin’/
This characterization is probably just as true in modern day times as it was during slavery …
Posted on 11-Nov-09 at 12:59 pm | Permalink
PeteTan wrote:
I disagree 100%. I love brother Ali’s Records, but this album was boring. There were a few gems, but for the most part, the beats were uninteresting. Brother Ali also stretches way to far in rhyming some words. A voice that used to convey unbridled soul has been “refined” to being preachy. Joel Ortiz’s verse is offensively bad on “Best@it.”
Tight Rope, Baby Girl, Bad Mufucker Pt. II, and You Say (Puppy Love) are worth downloading, but I’m used to Brother Ali’s albums being great from end to end.
Posted on 11-Nov-09 at 1:10 pm | Permalink
BeatRoot wrote:
Sorry man I know it’s a pretty obscure word to be using. Allegorical for those who don’t know is when something is intended other than what has been literally stated…
I took Breakin’ Dawn as Ali looking at how he sees himself within the Music industry. That he is the leper (albino) cast side by his own kind who finds solace with the slaves (black community) and he learns their music (hip-hop) then the master (the major labels) invites him to their table (money/wealth/fame) when they think he’s worth something to them, but he then looks at the people he’s found solace with standing outside of the house still struggling (underground hip-hop) and that he’d prefer to sit with them than eat at the masters table….
I think that you can read it in so many ways so’s how well written a track it is..
Posted on 11-Nov-09 at 1:43 pm | Permalink
Anatomy Beat wrote:
This album is flawless. The production is tight and his flow is dope.
Posted on 11-Nov-09 at 2:26 pm | Permalink
Kats wrote:
I really like this album, but there was something about it I didn’t enjoy as much as I expected to love a Brother Ali record…I think PeteTan got it right with this: “A voice that used to convey unbridled soul has been “refined” to being preachy”… dope album, but I think I also like his previous couple better. Maybe I just got used to how awesome Ali is …
Posted on 11-Nov-09 at 5:37 pm | Permalink
Jacob Broesder wrote:
I wouldn’t say best of the year, I’d say in the top…umm 5, no less than 5 though. I listen to this album everyday and it is truly amazing stuff (no buts)
Posted on 11-Nov-09 at 5:46 pm | Permalink
Jeppe wrote:
I don’t look at “Us” as a classic either. The lyrics are pretty much untouchable, but the production just didn’t do it for me overall – sure there are some gems, as said earlier, but in my opinion, it isn’t a from start-to-end classic. “Boy Meets World” reaches spot #1 on my ‘album-of-the-year’ list
Posted on 11-Nov-09 at 5:49 pm | Permalink
Eyeless Vagabond wrote:
Great lyrics, good beats in my opinion and Ali is always smooth but… Albums a little too God heavy/preachy in my opinion idk, prefer the Brother before his victory songs.
Posted on 12-Nov-09 at 9:50 am | Permalink
Jonesy wrote:
Brother Ali, Usually comes out with really classic material… but this album wasn’t for me… 3/5
Jonesy
Posted on 12-Nov-09 at 8:08 pm | Permalink
sebriz wrote:
i agree with kats it is a good album but def preachy not that raw soul like his older albums. my fav is shadows on the sun
Posted on 16-Nov-09 at 2:22 am | Permalink
A-hed wrote:
shadows was the illest he’ll ever be and personally hes a better freestyler when hes not trying to preach instead of Emcee
maybe the good life made him a soft skinned preacher…hip hop is modern folk and its made to tell stories of life and success as well as the down and outs.. so i give him cred for the ish he coalesce but its not my bag
again…shadows…raw
Posted on 10-Dec-09 at 3:40 am | Permalink
Macedelic wrote:
I agree – excellent album!
Posted on 16-Dec-09 at 11:54 am | Permalink