Brother Ali

Like I said: the only way to show you this article, is to put it here. The Citizen won't let me link it online. 

That being said, this was one of the coolest interviews I ever had. Brother Ali was humble, dedicated and genuine. 

Albino, dropout rapper Ali has lyrical touch  Kelly Lewis  Kelly Lewis

calendarplus@tucsoncitizen.com

Don't call Brother Ali a "white rapper."

To be precise, he's an albino, a Muslim and a recently divorced single father who is climbing the underground hip-hop ladder.

Too diverse to be lumped into one category, Ali has channeled his unique traits to make lyrical music that speaks volumes of his insight and spirit on his newest release, "The Undisputed Truth," (Rhymesayers Entertainment).

"I think that the best music comes from the things that you feel passionate about and the things that really move you," Ali says in a phone interview while traveling.

"For me to have the couple of years that I had, it didn't really make sense for me to make music about anything else because I was going through these life-changing events."

Ali's album is at times highly political and speaks as much about the world as it does about his personal life.

"The songs that I consider political on there are just from my frustration with a lot of things that are going on," says Ali, an emcee and high school dropout who comes from humble beginnings in Madison, Wis. "A lot of the people who built this country don't have access to a lot of the resources of this country and they are in such a situation that their education system is a joke and the opportunities around them for jobs aren't realistic and they are not able to support themselves."

With lyrics such as "Welcome to the United Snakes, land of the thief, home of the slaves," on the song "Uncle Sam Goddamn," Ali shares his controversial views.

"I try to every day make my music really personal," Ali says. "Rather than tell you what I think you should do, or what I think you should think, or try to come off like the teacher, I tell you how I feel about it."

At the beginning of his career, Ali poured his energy into becoming a rapper, with little success. Now he gets to call the shots. Ali says he is proud and excited to have different performers with him on a tour that he crafted of his own accord.

"This was the first time since I've been on tour that me and my DJ got to choose the shows that we wanted to see," he says.

"So, it's an entire performance from the time it starts. It's not like there is a band playing a set and a CD playing in between. We wanted to kind of give a basement party kind of vibe."

With shows lined up across the country and a new marriage planned, Ali has a lot to look forward to in the coming months.

"I feel really fortunate and lucky to be in the position that I'm in," he says. "I've wanted to do this tour for a long time and now we're doing it and the people that we have with it are great and the responses have been really cool. There's nothing to complain about."