Featured In
ALBUMWorthy - SingleBrother Ali & UnJust
Albums by Brother Ali
ALBUMBrother Minutester, Vol. 1Brother Ali
ALBUMSecrets & EscapesBrother Ali
ALBUMAll the Beauty In This Whole LifeBrother Ali
ALBUMMourning In America and Dreaming In Color (Deluxe Version)Brother Ali
ALBUMMourning In America and Dreaming In Color (Instrumental Version)Brother Ali
ALBUMThe Bite Marked HeartBrother Ali
ALBUMUsBrother Ali
ALBUMThe Undisputed TruthBrother Ali
ALBUMThe Truth Is HereBrother Ali
ALBUMTruth Is Here (Instrumental Version)Brother Ali
Brother Ali's Popular Music Videos
Own Light (What Hearts Are For)
Brother Ali
Not a Day Goes By
Brother Ali
Mourning In America
Brother Ali
Sensitive
Brother Ali
Take Me Home
Brother Ali
Breakin' Dawn
Brother Ali
Only Life I Know
Brother Ali
Shine On (feat. Nikki Jean)
Brother Ali
Never Learn
Brother Ali
Writer's Block
Brother Ali
Artist Playlists
Brother Ali Essentials
Heavy mental messages from this hip-hop truth seeker.
Artist Biography
Social activist and rapper Brother Ali’s lyrics are deeply rooted in the human condition. Born Jason Newman in Minneapolis in 1977, he grew up feeling—as a white kid with albinism—a kinship with Black culture, perhaps due to shared outsider experience. He fell in love with hip-hop during childhood, starting out as a breakdancer before deciding on rapping a few years later. After converting to Islam as a teenager, Newman adopted a moniker inspired by Muhammad Ali. Since his 2000 debut album, Rites of Passage, (the first of many released through indie label Rhymesayers), Brother Ali has had a sharp eye for societal ills—his Nina Simone-referencing single “Uncle Sam Goddamn,” from 2007’s The Undisputed Truth, is a scathing critique of corporate America’s dehumanizing practices. He’s equally effective when he turns the mirror to himself on tracks like “Forest Whitiker,” a song from 2003’s Shadows on the Sun that details his experience of living with albinism. Throughout his catalog, Brother Ali educates, uplifts, and critiques with an authoritative delivery complemented by the grit and soulfulness of the boom-bap production he favors.
Hometown
Madison, WI, United States
Genre
Hip-Hop/Rap