Brother Ali has announced the upcoming release of his fourth full-length album Mourning in America and Dreaming in Color, dropping August 21st.
For the project, the Rhymesayers Entertainment recording artist teamed up with producer Jake One, who helmed the entirety of the LP. Guests on the LP include Dr. Cornel West (“Letter to My Countrymen”), Bun B (“Need a Knot”) and Def Poetry Jam poet Amir Sulaiman (“Gather Round”).
In a press release, Brother Ali explained of the album, “This is not just a new album, but a new chapter. There’s a kind of democratic reawakening in people at this point in time. I was really looking to take these topics and really hit them hard. To try to open ears and hearts and invite people to take some action and feel empowered. To be engaged and take some agency and responsibility for what’s going on in the world.”
Check the artwork below, and pre-order the album over at Rhymesayers.
(June 19)
UPDATE: According to UGHH.com, the tracklist for Brother Ali’s Mourning In America And Dreaming In Color is as follows:
1. Letter To My Countrymen
2. Only Life I Know
3. Stop The Press
4. Mourning In America
5. Gather Round
6. Work Everyday
7. Need a Knot
8. Won More Hit
9. Say Amen
10. Fajr
11. Namesake
12. All You Need
13. My Beloved
14. Singing This Song
[June 30]
UPDATE #2: Brother Ali has released the full stream of the standard edition of his new album Mourning in America and Dreaming in Color. Listen to the LP below (via HHNM).
RELATED: Brother Ali Explains “Mourning In America And Dreaming In Color,” Remembers Eyedea
that’s what’s up
Sweet, dropping on my birthday.
Do I smell Hip-Hop. I can’t tell,this was buried among so much trash
::::::::::::::::ATTENTION:::::::::::::::: Yessir & so icey boy are the same person, if u want their ridiculous trollish bullshit post to come to a end, JUST IGNORE THEM!!! Eventually he will stop!!!!
add this though they are not actual persons ! they are HHDX made charactares
You have a typo in your secondary headline. You ahve “entirely” and it should be “entirety,” as it appears in the body of the article.
Nice. Gonna cop this when it drops.
is this mus lim rap?
Imma little bitch troll too
This will be amazing as always. Brother Ali never makes a bad song or album. RSE all day and night!
Really… come on dude… ur a white dude trying to be muslim.. praying on an american flag…. this guy is soooooo wack.
This cover went way over your head
Actually no bro…. this cover is a dude trying to be important…
He’s not white dumb fuck
1. He is not white, albino.
2. He is not trying to be a muslim, he is. Just because Islam mainly worshipped by people from arab roots, it doesn’t mean you have to be one to believe in it.
3. He’s american, but even if he wouldn’t – what is wrong using the flag to improve the album’s symbolism?
Give it up, Boring Ali. Nobody will cop this sad, mourning crybaby shit.
Don’t support this terrorist sympathizer. He claims to not care about money…don’t give him yours. YMCMB is all about the paper. Support artists who perfect their craft for your money.
ha you’re fucking stupid if you think thats what makes a good artist
hopefully its not too much “fuck America, Im a liberal” type shit
No, it’s a “I Love America, Let’s Make It a Better Place” shit.
Brother Ali the real….unlike that no good mutherfucker Hulk Hogan
Listening to Brother Ali’s music is about as interesting/fun as watching clouds move.
Well “watching clouds move” is about as interesting as your life gets.
BOOOOOOOOOOORING
Brother Ali is so fucking wack.
Yawn @ this bullshit
Yeah depression does lead to bouts of tiredness, but then if you had a life you wouldn’t be depressed all the fucking time.
ya’ll a bunch of dumb motherfuckers…
I really hope all those comments are one sad troll. Ali is one of the few emcees out there I thought most everyone respected. Bars are sick, flows are sick, doesn’t sell out, has tons of topics ranging from bangers to political shit, co-signs from Freeway, Chuck D, Joell Ortiz and many others, helps people from getting their homes foreclosed on in Minneapolis, etc. etc. etc. And people are really gonna hate? Get the fuck out of here.
I really hope all those comments are one sad troll. Ali is one of the few emcees out there I thought most everyone respected. Bars are sick, flows are sick, doesn’t sell out, has tons of topics ranging from bangers to political shit, co-signs from Freeway, Chuck D, Joell Ortiz and many others, and still helps people from getting their homes foreclosed on in Minneapolis. And people are really gonna hate? Get the fuck out of here.
I really hope all those posts are one sad troll. Ali is one of the few emcees out there I thought most everyone respected. Bars are sick, flows are sick, doesn’t sell out, has tons of topics ranging from bangers to political shit, co-signs from Freeway, Chuck D, Joell Ortiz and many others, and still helps people from getting their homes foreclosed on in Minneapolis. And people are really gonna hate? Get the fuck out of here.
Stupid Negus
I really hope all those posts are one sad troll. Ali is one of the few emcees out there I thought most everyone respected. Bars are sick, flows are sick, doesn’t sell out, has tons of topics ranging from bangers to political shit, co-signs from tons of rappers, and still helps people from getting their homes foreclosed on in Minneapolis. And people are really gonna hate? Get the fuck out of here.
Brother Ali is my favorite rapper. Nobody else can spit rhymes like he does. PEACE TO ALL THE HATERS TOO! RSE FOR LIFE!
I smell pussy… Oh, it’s just this washed up albino trying to rap.
LOL the only pussy your going to get close enough to smell is your Mother’s.
More like “Mourning in America Because I Can’t Rap”
and who can lil wayne?
If you truly believe Brother Ali can’t rap, you don’t know shit about Hip Hop.
Man people are so stupid these days just because he’s not talking about the destruction of people then he can’t rap. So then Waka Flocka is the greatest rapper alive right, because he has no bar at all! Everybodies not fooled by YMCMB like the rest of the world there is alot better music than that brainwashed closed minded fools.
lmao if you guys dont know who brother Ali is kill yo self “they ask me if I’m black or white, I’m neither/ race is a made up thing; I don’t believe in it”
I like Ali’s first two albums but wow that’s a bad quote to pick. corny as fuck
Brother Ali puts me to sleep.
real talk! anyone hating on this dude just ain’t ready for a real emcee to spit it like it is. if you younger folks “just dont identify” with these topics. i promise, you will one day. when your older & wiser. and done with partying. and ready to live in reality with the rest of us.
until then, go ahead. keep your eyes blinded with this wack bullshit these corporations got you believing is hiphop.
Gonna be one of the best albums of the year. Easily.
um who cares about this no-name?
bun b and brotha ali…wow, can’t wait..this guy has one of the best flows in hiphop, in my opinion
I’m not a fan of his, but he does well. Far from a no name, and his label does just about as well as some of those pop labels everyone is always talking about on here. Probably better because they don’t buy publicity and are too busy playing sold out shows all over the US.
before reading these posts, i had no idea there was such thing as a brotha ali hater…i dont get it…this website is filled with info about waka, soulja boy, lil wayne, 50 cent, wiz, and all of these overrated rappers, and they choose to go on here and talk shit about this guy..wow
Im embarrassed for him! Poor guy just tries way to hard
And don’t try at all in life that’s why your in the situation your in…
Sometimes soul searching finds you. Inspired by his life-changing first trip to Mecca, the 2011 uprisings in the Middle East and the worldwide Occupy movements, Brother Ali has returned with a rejuvenated purpose and voice on his new album Mourning In America and Dreaming In Color.
Brother Ali’s pilgrimage to Mecca came amidst the deepest and most difficult struggles of the Rhymesayers flowmaster’s life; between the death of his father and that of his beloved friend Michael “Eyedea” Larsen, as well as the boiling point of unrest around the world last year and the flourishing uprising of the worldwide Occupy movements, Ali found himself at an unexpected crossroads that saw his most trusted connections either away on commitments or gone for good. As such a moment in time is bound to do, the man turned inward, exploring the deeper voice linking the dissonance to a larger condition in our civilization. Then he pressed record.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6g-hB2dAbE&feature=plcp
Ali’s fifth full-length offering Mourning in America and Dreaming in Color was concocted during a two-month self-imposed exile in Seattle, alongside mega-producer Jake One (50 Cent, T.I., Wiz Khalifa). A departure from the soulful anthems and philosophical butter of his previous album Us, Mourning is a fire in the heart of darkness, an incendiary critique of America’s corrosive consumerism culture and apathetic sociopolitical designs – but not without a hand on the lifeline of redemption. It’s not enough to rage against the machine in 2012; people need a way out, a light at the end of these impossible corridors, this labyrinth of complication and information overload. Through the album’s brightest peaks and darkest narrative valleys, Ali never loses sight of the horizon, of the dawn waiting to break on a civilization drowning in its own delusion – and he reminds us that the only way to get there is to run towards it together.
Aided by the legendary author/ professor Dr. Cornel West, Southern rap icon Bun B and Def Poetry Jam poet Amir Sulaiman, Ali enters not with a roar of bomb-dropping arrival but a bright instrumentation appeal that rings an optimistic tone in line with that of the true patriotism laid out in verse, a whole-hearted devotion to rising above, “no matter how many times my heart’s been smothered.” Rather than the “never forget” rhetoric and regurgitated flag-wrapped sloganeering, however, Ali asks directly through “Letter To My Countrymen” whether it makes any sense to call ourselves the greatest nation in the world, a post-racial bliss point that takes care of its own and lifts up the struggling, when the evidence to the contrary is obliterating. But don’t mistake that for damnation – it’s a soft-spoken reminder of reality from a place of love. To leap forward from any place, one must know the reality of their footing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqfHrITgOSQ&feature=plcp
What does it mean to be American?” he asks. “I think the struggle to be free is our inheritance/ And if we say it how it really is, we know our lily skin still give us privilege/ advantages given to the few that are built into the roots of our biggest institutions…. do I fight in the movement, or think I’m entitled to it?
The track ends with a reaffirmation from Dr. Cornel West, who diagnoses Americana 2012 with an individual optimist slant: You dont wanna be just well adjusted to injustice and well adapted to indifference. You wanna be a person with integrity who leaves a mark on the world.
Poverty is laid raw on “Only Life I Know,” and with 46.2 million Americans falling below the line of the impoverished in the most recent numbers, this one should hit home across the board. The horn-punch thrust and snare snap frames the devastating urgency present in the lyrical desperation of struggling Americana – one reminder among many that Jake One provides the inimitable ride in which our narrator flows.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HwATJMeOYU&feature=plcp
Ali then turns the focus inward in the autobiographical “Stop The Press,” a moving relay of the past few years in the man’s struggles. It brings us up to date on his fight for balance in life, and even slights 2009’s remarkably powerful Us album as he confesses to being off his game a bit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7HQEJ4fQv0&feature=plcp
The album title’s first half the Mourning half is a callback to Ronald Reagan’s famous “Morning in America” campaign ad (“That’s the one that started this whole neo-con thing we got going on”), and it’s a dose of synchronicity at a time when the red half the nation’s political trumpeters lionize Reagan as the embodiment of their modern ideas of leadership and conservatism – to which the late president would’ve seemed like a hard progressive leftist.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKHsGh-y8d8&feature=plcp
Nevertheless, the title track is a dark shift indicator, aggression taking the front seat as frustration and anguish are laid out with lyrical bombs and bloodshed. Is this the same man who flowed like a zen prophet of love just two years ago? Yes, it is. And this dynamic is precisely what makes Brother Ali among Hip-Hop’s most valuable treasures; his street-preacher wisdom both embraces and transcends the feel-good flow as well as the doom & gloom, a full spectrum of reality in the narrated struggles of our existence.
Electric guitar and compressed claps deliver the furious “Gather Round,” a Pharoahe Monch edge as the Bible and Quran’s higher callings are held high above those who trumpet their authority but practice so little of the text they wave. By contrast, the magnetic “Work Everyday” outlines -with a slight Sean Carter flare to the flow – the modern struggle on the slippery slope of stagnant wages and skyrocketing living costs in a corporatist outsourcing business paradigm.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA-EL9Nfxio&feature=plcp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vT3h93J28uM&feature=plcp
Named for the sunrise Islamic prayer, “Fajr” takes the tale of righteousness and piously serving a greater good and spins it into the era of spiritual disconnect and Constitution-stripping authoritative grip we exist in, reminding of the essential importance of keeping “the wolves off the sheep”. Regardless of personal perspective on Islam, imagine for a moment what kind of consciousness American society would be rooted in if all of us took time, five times a day, to stop and spend a moment in silent thought/energy focus, reminding ourselves what our purpose is, what our greater goals and values are. Do you think reality TV culture would rule the day? Do you truly believe that our collective culture could embrace apathetic individualism as we currently do while our friends, neighbors and loved ones suffer in floundering decline? In the Land Of The Free, it takes those truly brave to not only remind themselves – and others – daily of the responsibility we have to lift each other up, but to live it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ijYbgijo3U&feature=plcp
So many on both sides of the consumer aisle, both artist and fan alike are short-sighted in their examination of what it means to rise above cynical shit talking and actually plant seeds of inspiration, information and educated conversational architecture to help create the world most only gripe that we’re not living in. With Mourning in America and Dreaming in Color, Brother Ali stands tall with a smoke-free mirror, reflecting the cancerous lesions on the collective herd mind and offering substantive ideas on compassion, love and community support through sometimes searing and often endearing observations on race, the catalyst for the Occupy movement, the hypocrisy of war and general social oppression in America.
Welcome to the Mourning. Don’t mistake this for an obituary of hope. A naked assessment of abandonment of ideals and potential, these 14 tracks provide a foothold for progress in a world of blinding distraction and injustice.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIwyoZsXQJc&feature=plcp
…………..
I cant wait for the day when he stops complaining about things. Past, present, and future.
Isn’t there a Lil Wayne post you can be trolling?
its just always so negative
Are you taking the piss? Peep the album title “Mourning In America And Dreaming In Color” he’s rapping about real shit that’s happening (Not contempt with sticking his damn head in the mud and ignoring shit) and also saying things can get better and that’s theirs a bright side to shit. Brother Ali, negative? Dude was born Albino & Legally Blind if he was negative he’d be in the position your dirty trolling ass is.
Clueless fool blabbering about pointless and dated issues. No way this album gon go gold like “God Forgives I Don’t”
And that’s America’s fault, fuck man go troll an Officer Ricky post.
Ricky is not gold dick head. He doesn’t have ONE gold plaque…
Everybody arguing about what record label is on top GOOD Music, MMG, Shady 2.0 or YMCMB. If it’s a popularity contest then pick whichever one of them you like but in terms or quality music being put out none of them are doing what Rhymesayers Entertainment are doing.
I swear man Brother Ali has one of the best discography’s in Hip Hop, dude is so consistent.
Best album of 2012, Yes Rhymesayers has done it again. Ali and Jake Uno are incredible together! Brother Ali is the greatest of all time! His flows give me the chills because I can feel the realness in his voice.
dope album..dude goes hard on some real topics
Only nerds listen to Brother Ali anyway.
LOL being called a “nerd” ain’t really an insult nowadays, unless of course you’re really narrow minded.
Anything is nerdy when you listed to special ed students turned rappers like Meek Millz and Gunplay. Keep dickridin MMG and you gon end up in the welfare line…if you aint already theres.
Nothing but unyielding Respect and appreciation to Brother Ali and TheRealRhymesayers Word Up Bless! Infinite P.E.A.C.E
I have been waiting for this album for a long time now. Brother Ali I have been looking forward to this thanks! Keep it up Brother!! Underground Hip Hop 🙂 Stand Up !!
RESPECT to all the Rhymesayers Crew
Special Thanks to Ali for keeping everything in perspective
WE FEEL YOU
Saw him on day two of his tour in Santa Ana if you have a chance to see him don’t miss it. Homeboy Sandman was a pleasant surprise I hadn’t heard him before and I was impressed. Also amazing to hear Brother Ali with a live band
smartest white boy I’ve heard in a while. Uncle Toms and white folks don’t get it though. too bad they’d rather jerk off to dumb sh*t
So far, I am not a fan of the majority of these beats. I am a huge fan of Brother Ali’s and will always buy his albums out of respect. I really don’t like his political views (at all), but his lyrics and delivery are dope as fuck. It’s too early to give a full review of this album because his albums grow on you as you listen to them, but I already miss ant’s production
In my high school in S.F. there really was an albino negro (he had blond hair and very white skin with all the black features. You do not look like an albino to me.