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Liberator 3.4
Brother Ali
Champion EP

Following the highly successful full length "Shadows On The Sun," Brother Ali comes back swinging hard and quick with the "Champion" EP. After releasing the best Minnesota hip hop album of 2003, he continues in the Rhymesayer tradition of hard work by continuing to tour and releasing another good album in 2004. Brother Ali is full of emotion and his voice, while steady, still depicts his complexities. He is Muslim, a devoted father, and a dope MC. He reminds me of KRS-One. Although the Teacher's shoes are too big for anyone to actually fill, Brother Ali defiantly mixes intelligence and good thought processes with the regular ignorant shit we all see, deal with, and partake in. He talks a lot of shit, but he balances it out with humility, humor, and intelligence. The success of this EP is not all on his shoulders, as Ant comes hard on this record with some of his best production to date and continues to prove himself as a serious threat as his beats have a level of sophistication rarely found. He has managed to develop a relatively simple, but distinctive, sound. The album's best track is its last. "Rain Water" is a soulful cry for a better life: "it hurts daddy to no end/ to know when/ you’re crying at the hospital/ I’m out trying to rock a show." His hard work and sacrifice show and it will pay off as Brother Ali is on his way to becoming one of the better known emcees to come out of the Midwest period.

words: amahl grant