Rhymesayers Entertainment artist Brother Ali has been spitting out albums since emerging out of Minneapolis with 2000's Rites of Passage. It was a brave introduction to the life of an albino rapper and a little insight into his heavily politically minded views. 2003's Shadows on the Sun, 2007's The Undisputed Truth, 2009's Us, and 2012's Mourning in America and Dreaming in Color continued Brother Ali's path of delivering content-driven, independent hip-hop. Currently on The War and Peace Tour with longtime friend Immortal Technique, Brother Ali is crisscrossing the country in hopes of spreading a message about mainstream music. There's a new business model in the rap game and Brother Ali is vocal about his stance on where things are going. He took a few minutes out of his hectic schedule (including all four Rock the Bells festivals) to talk about the tour and the independent music business model.
The War and Peace Tour seems to make a lot of sense considering you and Immortal Technique are both rather politically minded. How did this tour come to fruition?
Tech and I have been friends for a long time. We both put in a lot of initial groundwork in our own communities, me working in the Midwest and him on the East Coast. We both come from battle rap background. We make songs people care about. We make albums that people respond to and then you know, just doing our independent thing. But when we first started touring nationally, we started touring together. One of my first times headlining was his first national tour. One of the first times I headlined First Avenue up in Minneapolis, he was the support for that, too. That was a benefit show we did for an Iraqi man and the police had beat him up so we were raising legal funds for that. We've always had this long-standing friendship and partnership. We always wanted to go on tour together and this year it worked out because we are on all four of the Rock the Bells festivals. It's a combination of this being a friendship and a personal thing, but we wanted to make a statement about the current industry and the music climate, that there is an audience for music that also cares about the well being of people. People call it conscious rap, but really it's just music that cares about the well being of the people. It cares about justice. It created hip-hop.
You must learn a lot from each other. What's it like working together?
We both have very strong, loyal fan bases and for us to tour together, we're able to do business at a respectable level. It really makes the statement in the industry that this music is commercially viable; music with a message is commercially viable. That is not only for us, but it's also for the artists that are just coming out to realize that this is an option. This is a lane. You don't have to only talk about the four subjects that are approved by commercial rap. You can talk about other things and even in a challenging way.
I agree with you there.
There are people in the underground circle that talk about their own personal realities, but they don't challenge their fans because they are afraid they will lose their business. Part of what this tour shows is that we can challenge ourselves and challenge our fans to be more active and to examine things in a more meaningful way to help build power.
I love that. It's interesting because with all of the artists I've interviewed, just most recently Rah Digga and Big Daddy Kane, you guys are all saying the same thing about music. What do you think it's going to take to kind of make that switch? I feel, at this point, radio is out of control. There's no content in the music anymore. No one is talking about anything real and that's what kids are exposed to.
I think the fact that, I mean, you know, I'm doing what I think should be done. You know what I mean? So rather than preach about it, that's kind of part of what this tour is about to show that is a lane.
To lead by example?
Just doing what I think should be done. I was going to say there's a shift in the way business is done so the underground, independent model has become big. That's the model we have to usher in. Whether the people that get big with it are getting credit or not is a different matter. But the reality is we put a lot of bricks in that building. That's a good thing because it gives the kids that are coming along now an understanding that they have a lot more control over what they're saying or doing and how they do it. We show them that saying something and having content in their music, talking about what's healthy and good helps build power for people. They at least have more freedom to explore those things now that there's a lot more independents.
A lot of people are talking about Macklemore lately. He has a bit of a different message. He's addressing same-sex marriage and drug addiction, stuff like that. Do you think more artists like that need more exposure to maybe change the message that's getting out to the masses?
Um, I think that it's just really important that now that there is an opportunity for more independent business to be done. It's important for people to see that. Now people are making their decisions on what's best for them. They are asking the question, 'what's in my best interest?' It just shows there is that commercially viable lane to talk about something and that creates people that are inspired to do it.
You mentioned you're going to Rock the Bells. I'm going to the one in New York. Are you hoping to expand your fan base and get this message out there?
They invited me so you don't turn something like that down. The things with Rock the Bells is it's a little bit different today. Rock the Bells is about showing a more complete picture of the landscape of hip-hop. All of the branches of the tree are included. That's the beautiful thing about Rock the Bells. They're not only dealing with what's new and hot. They're also dealing with important parts of the culture. It changes all the time. Last weekend in L.A, the stage I was on was me, Earl Sweatshirt, Common, you know, and KRS-One.
Are you digging any of the new guys?
I love the Reminders. These guys aren't new, but I love Goodie Mob's new album.
Were you impressed by anybody you saw at Rock the Bells? I know Joey Bada$$ and Big K.R.I.T. were out there.
Those guys were pretty dope, but I didn't get to see as much of it as I wanted to.
By Kyle Eustice for RAPstation.com
Exclusive: Brother Ali - The RAPstation Interview
Rhymesayers Entertainment artist Brother Ali has been spitting out albums since emerging out of Minneapolis with 2000's Rites of Passage. It was a brave introduction to the life of an albino rapper and a little insight into his heavily politically minded views. 2003's Shadows on the Sun, 2007's The Undisputed Truth, 2009's Us, and 2012's Mourning in America and Dreaming in Color continued Brother Ali's path of delivering content-driven, independent hip-hop. Currently on The War and Peace Tour with longtime friend Immortal Technique, Brother Ali is crisscrossing the country in hopes of spreading a message about mainstream music. There's a new business model in the rap game and Brother Ali is vocal about his stance on where things are going. He took a few minutes out of his hectic schedule (including all four Rock the Bells festivals) to talk about the tour and the independent music business model.
The War and Peace Tour seems to make a lot of sense considering you and Immortal Technique are both rather politically minded. How did this tour come to fruition?
Tech and I have been friends for a long time. We both put in a lot of initial groundwork in our own communities, me working in the Midwest and him on the East Coast. We both come from battle rap background. We make songs people care about. We make albums that people respond to and then you know, just doing our independent thing. But when we first started touring nationally, we started touring together. One of my first times headlining was his first national tour. One of the first times I headlined First Avenue up in Minneapolis, he was the support for that, too. That was a benefit show we did for an Iraqi man and the police had beat him up so we were raising legal funds for that. We've always had this long-standing friendship and partnership. We always wanted to go on tour together and this year it worked out because we are on all four of the Rock the Bells festivals. It's a combination of this being a friendship and a personal thing, but we wanted to make a statement about the current industry and the music climate, that there is an audience for music that also cares about the well being of people. People call it conscious rap, but really it's just music that cares about the well being of the people. It cares about justice. It created hip-hop.
You must learn a lot from each other. What's it like working together?
We both have very strong, loyal fan bases and for us to tour together, we're able to do business at a respectable level. It really makes the statement in the industry that this music is commercially viable; music with a message is commercially viable. That is not only for us, but it's also for the artists that are just coming out to realize that this is an option. This is a lane. You don't have to only talk about the four subjects that are approved by commercial rap. You can talk about other things and even in a challenging way.
I agree with you there.
There are people in the underground circle that talk about their own personal realities, but they don't challenge their fans because they are afraid they will lose their business. Part of what this tour shows is that we can challenge ourselves and challenge our fans to be more active and to examine things in a more meaningful way to help build power.
I love that. It's interesting because with all of the artists I've interviewed, just most recently Rah Digga and Big Daddy Kane, you guys are all saying the same thing about music. What do you think it's going to take to kind of make that switch? I feel, at this point, radio is out of control. There's no content in the music anymore. No one is talking about anything real and that's what kids are exposed to.
I think the fact that, I mean, you know, I'm doing what I think should be done. You know what I mean? So rather than preach about it, that's kind of part of what this tour is about to show that is a lane.
To lead by example?
Just doing what I think should be done. I was going to say there's a shift in the way business is done so the underground, independent model has become big. That's the model we have to usher in. Whether the people that get big with it are getting credit or not is a different matter. But the reality is we put a lot of bricks in that building. That's a good thing because it gives the kids that are coming along now an understanding that they have a lot more control over what they're saying or doing and how they do it. We show them that saying something and having content in their music, talking about what's healthy and good helps build power for people. They at least have more freedom to explore those things now that there's a lot more independents.
A lot of people are talking about Macklemore lately. He has a bit of a different message. He's addressing same-sex marriage and drug addiction, stuff like that. Do you think more artists like that need more exposure to maybe change the message that's getting out to the masses?
Um, I think that it's just really important that now that there is an opportunity for more independent business to be done. It's important for people to see that. Now people are making their decisions on what's best for them. They are asking the question, 'what's in my best interest?' It just shows there is that commercially viable lane to talk about something and that creates people that are inspired to do it.
You mentioned you're going to Rock the Bells. I'm going to the one in New York. Are you hoping to expand your fan base and get this message out there?
They invited me so you don't turn something like that down. The things with Rock the Bells is it's a little bit different today. Rock the Bells is about showing a more complete picture of the landscape of hip-hop. All of the branches of the tree are included. That's the beautiful thing about Rock the Bells. They're not only dealing with what's new and hot. They're also dealing with important parts of the culture. It changes all the time. Last weekend in L.A, the stage I was on was me, Earl Sweatshirt, Common, you know, and KRS-One.
Are you digging any of the new guys?
I love the Reminders. These guys aren't new, but I love Goodie Mob's new album.
Were you impressed by anybody you saw at Rock the Bells? I know Joey Bada$$ and Big K.R.I.T. were out there.
Those guys were pretty dope, but I didn't get to see as much of it as I wanted to.
By Kyle Eustice for RAPstation.com
