Champion EP by Brother Ali (Review)

When people hear the term “hip-hop,” they tend to think of the folks who call themselves rappers on the top of the field. Folks like 50 Cent, Lil’ Jon, Nelly… utter shite. Plain and simple, that is what commercial rap is. And it’s what makes people like Rakim, KRS One and Grandmaster Flash feel sick to their stomachs. If people ventured from their MTV or stopped listening to mainstream radio, they might find some new voices out there, trying to get their points across. Their message coming to the forefront. One such MC (I’ll use the term that is still widely used, but abused as well) is Brother Ali.

Brother Ali is hard to categorize. When I first heard his album Shadows on the Sun, it was a fresh of breath air. Not that I don’t hear many good rap albums out there. You just need to know where to look. But Brother Ali hit home. He spoke from a different level of consciousness. Weaving intricate stories of raising his son, to being a practicing Muslim, to being shortchanged by a hip-hop promoter, he doesn’t rap about bling bling. It’s more about the mind and real life, which is hard to come by today.

He just released an EP called Champion to tide people over until the new album, which he’s making as we speak. A 40-minute EP tends to be a little too much for some people, but not Brother Ali. From start to finish, it’s a solid undertaking by one of the premier MCs nobody knows about. The first track is a remix of one of the best songs on his last album, “Champion.” Not as good as the original, if you want my opinion, but a good solid opening track to get the ball rolling. With tracks like “Bad Ma Fucka” and “Heads Down (You Haven’t Done That Yet)” all the way to the last, emotionally-laced track “Rain Water,” hip-hop has a new king that should be crowned.

With all the garbage that pollutes the airwaves, is mass-produced and sells millions of copies, why don’t you try out a new artist that will truly change your life a little? Or if not change your life, give you a little understanding as to what hip-hop used to be like in the glory days.

Written by James McCormick.