Brother Ali released his latest album on Mello Music Group on February 14th this year. It’s fully produced by Ant with some additional instrumentation from G Koop. It’s 17 tracks long with no features, clocking in at 57 minutes. I’ve never really written about Brother Ali before, but I would consider myself a fan. My favorite album is of course Shadows on the Sun, but I like almost every album he’s released. The only one I didn’t care for at all was Mourning in America & Dreaming in Color, mainly because Jake One’s production felt totally soulless to me. I liked All the Beauty in This Whole Life and Secrets & Escapes, but it wasn’t until last year that he returned to his former level of greatness with Love & Service. That’s a top 3 album in his discography for me, so I was really looking forward to seeing how he would follow it up. Thankfully, this latest album is equally as great in my opinion.

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The first highlight I wanna talk about is called Ocean of Rage. I had a feeling this would be one of my favorite tracks on the album just from the cool title, and I wasn’t wrong. Ant’s production here is pretty awesome. It’s one of the darker, more contemplative-sounding instrumentals on the album. It makes me think of the labyrinth from Soul Calibur 2. The verse from Brother Ali is excellent too. The way he rhymes and flows here is pretty amazing to me honestly. He killed this shit.

Unspoken ancestor cries in my throat choking
My eyes overflowing, whole body rocking and moaning
Wide open ocean with no coast or shore
And its unbridled power to destroy if it’s ever unfrozen
The mystery encrypted in the hard drives
History unlisted in the archives
Calligraphy scripted in my scars scribed by hard times
Crossed lines false signs hard hearts and lost minds

This song might actually have my favorite verse on the whole album. This shit is fantastic just from a technical perspective. The record scratches at the end were a nice touch as well. I think the song’s dope as hell, and it’s only grown on me since I first heard it.

It’s followed by another highlight called Under the Stars. I think this is my favorite song on the album. It definitely has my favorite beat from Ant here. Speaking of Ant, this album has the best production I’ve heard from him in over half a decade. It feels like a nice return to form. Anyway, this track is only 2 minutes exactly, so there’s only time for one verse followed by a hook/outro. Lyrically, I had no idea what this song was about on my first listen. However, as I returned to it, I realized that he seems to be rapping from the perspective of a vagabond, which I think is really cool. The only other rapper I’ve heard do that before was Ransom back in 2013 on his The Alternative mixtape. I thought that song was fire, but this one is even better to be honest.

You ain’t have to rush the kids away from me
I just want to warn 'em about what the voices are saying to me
They may want to listen
Act like you ain’t never got caught pissin’
And had to go to court and war with the system
Anywho, guess they’re just giving badges to any fool
Bang a gravel if you take a quick bath in a swimming pool
I know not everyone does it but plenty do
I saw Jesus once and I don’t act like I’m better than you
Take good care
I used to shower at the shelter, but they’re crazy there

I don’t know how I’m gonna choose between this and the preceding track for my favorite song. This track is awesome.

The penultimate track is called Handwriting, and it’s another one of my favorite songs here. Ant’s production is very melodic and moody, and Brother Ali’s writing is beautiful.

My soul is a song that rose out of the cages
My story a poem that glows out of the pages
I feel it in my bones down through the ages
Maybe the universe knows what my name is
They say I long for illogical things
But I’ve seen all my impossible dreams come to being
Every time the unseen becomes seen
I want to drop tears on it 'til it run clean

This song has a more traditional structure than the two other tracks I’ve mentioned so far. The vocals that come in for the hook sound pretty good, and the second verse is arguably better than the first.

Ocean in a drop, the unspoken thought
The sperm and the egg form a clot to the burial plot
Hero's journey character arc
The heart of the author that holds the whole saga
The twists in the plot and the drama
Before he blotted the first dot
And scribed the first comma
Unfold the whole road map to nirvana

Again, I don’t know how I’m gonna choose a favorite track from this album because this is another excellent song. I love it.

The closing track is called Sing Myself Whole. As the title kind of indicates, Brother Ali is singing throughout this entire song instead of rapping, and it goes over surprisingly well. The production from Ant is pretty amazing, and Brother Ali’s crooning sounds really nice. I love how emotional the lyricism is too.

On the night my mother died, I couldn’t even cry
I held it all inside until I climbed up on the stage
And let the music play, and sang the pain away

The acoustic guitar solo from G Koop is the cherry on top. It’s a really pretty song. I think it’s a really great way to wrap the album up. It’s dope as hell.

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_{This album is great. I think it’s one of the best albums Brother Ali has made. It’s definitely a top 4 album from him, and maybe top 3 depending on my mood. There’s not a single track here that I don’t like. Brother Ali is one of those artists on whom I can count to kill every verse, so a lot of times the quality of his music is made or broken by the production. Thankfully, Ant came through with some of his best beats ever here. As I said in the body of this write-up, I haven’t heard Ant instrumentals this good in years. I really don’t have any consistent gripes with this project. It honestly left me wanting more despite the nearly hour long runtime. I plan on copping a cassette once I get my money up. Anyway, give this album a listen and let me know what you think of it in the comment section below. I think it’s really dope personally.}

Favorite Song: Handwriting
Least Favorite Song: Immortalized

Watch the video below for more thoughts on this album.