Brother Ali

The Undisputed Truth (Rhymesayers)

So many years removed from the genesis of hip-hop culture in the Boogie Down Bronx, it’s a wonder that anyone still tries to rationalize its explosion as some sort of deliberate advancement of a stringently defined discipline. It’s not that a current MC like Minneapolis’ Brother Ali should be slighted for taking hip-hop as such a literal set of rules and regulations. It’s that those confines leave little room for anything we haven’t already heard a million times before. Brother Ali obviously sports an adept vocal instrument, and he’s got songs such as “Lookin’ at Me Sideways” to prove it. Yet all too often, his voice/accent/rhyming patterns suffer from too much rehashed facsimile of past rap glories. As Ant’s production more or less keeps things interesting over the course of The Undisputed Truth, Brother Ali barely avoids credit as a Frisbee manufacturer. (Friday, March 16, Emo’s Main Room, 10:15pm)

**

This article appears in March 16 • 2007.

A note to readers: Bold and uncensored, The Austin Chronicle has been Austin’s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community’s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands.

SUPPORT US