Shimon - 1000 Paper Cranes

Shimon is an incredibly talented unsigned cat who has worked with the likes of Brother Ali. He has a great repertoire of music that is straight golden. Here is one gem - the track "1000 Paper Cranes:"

1000 Paper Cranes by Shimonhiphop

Wale featuring Brother Ali - 2nd Time Around

Also, here is a live session of Brother Ali with rapper Evidence:

Hip Hop As Community Unifier

Have you been following Brother Ali on Facebook? You should. Ali is flipping the script on hip-hop, taking it from the voice of the angry and bitter forgotten and taking up the voice of unifier and pastor. Ali isn't an outsider cutting hip-hop into a shape more edible for mainstream audiences. He is from the hood (Minneapolis, to be exact) and knows poverty and hardship.

Ali's music and upbeat Facebook messages don't air a voice of persecution or hardship, even if he has all the reason to do so. On his latest album "Us," he took the community unifier (I avoided the term "organizer" because of its many political implications) approach on the title song:



Here's a taste of his statuses on Facebook as well, with this one from May 13:

Had a lot of great answers to the questions but I want to specifically thank Abdulaziz Dandan who commented eloquently, lovingly and truthfully on the question of Racism's existence in America. I don't know you, but I admire your courage and honesty.

Another from the same day:

I was born privileged, but nurtured by the love/wisdom of oppressed people. Left me with a fanatic fixation on universal Justice. I sincerely hope that if we privileged people take anything away from Hip Hop, it's a deep appreciation for the precious human souls who created it. I've asked these questions to see where our heads are in 2011. Truthfully, we can do better. Love you all very much.

Hearing and reading such things give you hope for hip-hop. The genre came out on a wave of reverberating cultural anger, culminating in the west coast/east coast beefs that took the lives of Biggie and Tupac, followed by the miniature beefs of Nas and Jay-Z and then Eminem and The Source. These beefs all represented, even if the actors didn't do it consciously, varying elements in society. They made it easy for the outsider to misjudge hip-hop, as well.

Maybe it's the recession, Obama or something in the water but the beef seems to have stopped and rappers from all different avenues are working together epically. Today I had the pleasure of being in the studio with my man Carl Roe, an upcoming rapper in the northwest who is recording an EP to be released on the internet.

While talking about the studio owners, etc., it somehow got to the subject of the owner handing eventual ownership to Randy, who obviously knew what he was doing behind the boards. Carl said, "That's great to see and not very common. People helping out one another."

That strand of thought carried over later, as Carl seemed really grateful for the press we've given him here and the cover of several mixtape and podcast covers. His visage is a permanent fixture on the right side of the website and we're going to tout his EP when it comes out. Carl told me that before he joined the military, he had gotten some newspaper coverage but never anything significant.

I'd reached out to him partly because he was in the area and because, after hearing him, I thought the sound would go over well with alot of people. As I've learned more about him, I'm tremendously excited about having him as the musical engine of the Blood Is One machine. We do need to help each other out, keep each other protected and generally look out for one another. That won't happen through supporting a politician or giving to a church but actually going out and helping one another. I look forward to doing it and I think hip-hop has a significantly untapped ability to help get there.

Donnie Walden Thinks You Best Believe

Brother Ali has been actively promoting this guitarist named Donnie Walden, who is planning to cover Ali's song "Tight Rope" for a future album. Walden allows you to download his music from his website for a price you set yourself:

Jack White's Favorite Song

Since we've been talking up Detroit legend Eminem quite a bit on this blog, why not delve into the work of another Detroit legend - Jack White. I wouldn't have found this if it had not been for rapper Brother Ali, who posted it to his raucous Facebook feed today along with several other blues artists.

Shimon - Oh No

By the way, if you haven't, please go follow Brother Ali on Twitter. He's approachable as hell, humble and confident. Pretty awesome guy.

Introducing Joel Perez

If I have this right, Joel Perez is from Providence, Rhode Island and have several mixtapes available for free download. They've been pushing their album on Brother Ali's Facebook page and I hope it's working for them.

Country Music + Rap = Secret Soulmates Part One

To anyone who is a connoisseur of both rap and country music, the similarities of rap and country should be no surprise. Both unapologetically portray worlds that hum below the mainstream of American society (but nevertheless make the force felt): one being the largely African American and Hispanic lower to middle class and the other America's rural and largely blue collar whites. Both are flat out honest in their music, one will show you the rough, money, sex and power pursuing world of the inner city and the other will show you the same in the country.

Both communities are conservative, God fearing and honest. Due to racial, cultural and geographical differences, the two communities don't cross over much. I mentioned this to a girl I dated years back (who was black, incidentally) and she said that, as much as they hate each other, they cross over in sporting events like Oakland Raiders games or professional wrestling events.

I'm not the first to recognize this similarity. Just about every white rapper has tapped in to the cultural similarities. Kid Rock merged rap with blue collar flag waving in order to deem himself an "American Bad Ass." Everlast took up the blues and helped make Fenders and Casios friends. Brother Ali echoes Everlast's gospel style in his songs, complete with guitar use. Eminem, in his more sentimental moods, frequently samples Ozzy Osbourne, Queen and Aerosmith, stalwarts of any suburban rock station. Meanwhile, Mos Def and Pharoahe Monch have brought gospel and blues beautifully into their work and Kid Cudi has sang acoustic ballads.

Yelawolf, an up and coming Alabama rapper of mixed white and Cherokee ancestry, showed working class unity in his video "Kickin." The song is not his best work (though it is good) but shows a great panorama of skateboarders, rednecks, police, Atlanta rappers and even a guy in a sombrero with none of it being awkward:

Now that's really multiculturalism.

Let's do a little compare and contrast. Here's Lightning Hopkins sing about that tried and true scenario: you make a good home for a woman, then they up and leave.

Now let's turn around and look at Mos Def, singing about a pretty ghetto gangsta woman:

Next comes Yelawolf, once again, with his song "Break the Chain," which samples Fleetwood Mac. The chorus, "Alabama dirt road, Dixie flags fly," is sung flawlessly over synthesizers, drums and chopped up Fleetwood Mac samples in one of the best steps at connecting the worlds of country and classic rock to the, at first glance, far different world of rap.



The similarities between the two genres, from gun loving to blues over women and a general embrace of masculinity, are so strong that this "Secret Soulmates" column will have to be a regular feature of the blog. I can already think of more than a few songs and artists that would work well in the next rendezvous.

Brother Ali, Rhymefest and Political Activism

Following is video of Brother Ali speaking on rapper Rhymefest's political activism. The video was put together by the website RubyHornet.com. Speaking on it for his Facebook profile, Ali said, "It was amazing to see Rhymefest's leadership in his community and the show was really fun."

Brother Ali - Real As Can Be

I finally went and out and bought Brother Ali's EP/DVD The Truth Is Here. He put the album Us afterward but The Truth Is Here has a full concert DVD included. I'm making the album available through the Amazon to the right.

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