This month we delve into the latest release from Brother Ali, an artist that has become a mainstay on the pod over the last few years and is finally getting the love he deserves as we visit his new album Satisfied Soul.
Brother Ali has been a jewel in the indie hop hop scene for over 20 years. Although always on my radar, his music only started to become a big part of my world just over 10 years ago and to the pod a few years ago when we discussed his track Sensative on spin it or bin it. His back catalogue is impressive, and essential listening (for a quick intro you can find a playlist here).
Ali is a far cry from your stereo typical hip hop artist. Born a caucasian albino, Ali felt he was more excepted by his black classmates growing up. Influenced by hip hop since a young age, he discovered Islam through a conversation with KRS One in his teens and credits him largely for the journey that later lead him to converting (this is mentioned on the album). Someone once said to me that they thought Brother Ali was misunderstood which is polarising for his music. I completely disagree with that. I can’t think of an artist that is more certain and eloquently puts across his views on his spirituality, morals, politics and his love of hip hop better than Brother Ali. It’s because of that some find his music polarising. Following up on the largely ignored 2024 release Love & Service (Ali has stated it was blocked for it’s political messages), Ali is firmly in his purple patch. Partnering with longtime collaborator Ant, the two make their debut on the exceptional hip hop label Mellow Music.
Breaking the mould of what we often think is the perfect album length, Satisfied Soul almost doubles it with a hefty 17 tracks spanning over 57 minutes. Though this comment may haunt me, I think they’ve pulled it off. Ali and Ant’s navigation of wholesome, soul drenched hip hop is a pleasure.
This album is a mixed bag of emotions; it’s serious, it’s lighthearted, it’s reflective, it’s a prevision, it’s spiritually inclusive. Ali is a confident storyteller, a hip hop journeyman that emits a mature self confidence that is infectious. Ant has created a musical curation perfect for the 17 track journey. From pure hip hop gems like Deep Cuts and The Counts to the lighthearted stories shared in Two Dudes there is a lot to go at and enough variation to keep you hooked.
To be an artist that’s career spans over 20 years is tough. How do you stay relevant? How do you keep connected to your audience? Based on this collection, you could argue that personal evolution and honestly between yourself and your audience is the trick.
Satisfied Soul has lived up to the high expectations that were set after hearing the initial EP at the back end of 2024. I look forward to hearting your thoughts….
thisisnothappening.net 
Thanks for bringing Ali to the pod finally Nolan. I know you’ve been recommending tracks for ages.
First things first: you always said this was my kind of hip-hop and you were right! Conscious, soulful, spiritual, and all sorts more. I really enjoyed Love & Service last year, so I was interested to see what this served up after the early singles and your comprehensive playlist, which I loved.
First impressions were good. They usually are with me! All the stuff I liked about Ali – his gentle but insistent flow, his commitment to religion, spirituality, family and the culture, his lack of ego and materialism – were there, and underlaying all of it was some really good beats and hooks. The only think I balked at was the running time, but I don’t think this will surprise you.
As an album to listen to, it was something you could just let pass over you, but as with any hip-hop album (in fact any album), I needed to delve deeper. And it took me a while to do that. When I listened, there was great wordplay, but I needed time uninterrupted and that’s always the age-old challenge with hip-hop where I struggle to work with it and find hour-long slots to shut out the world and get into it. All the same, the ‘big singles’ of D.R.U.M., Head Heart Hands, Two Dudes and Deep Cuts really leapt out immediately. There’s some Dangermouse energy in there, and some jazzy, Tribe feels too, so tick to all of that.
But it did pay dividends when I spent the time. The opening track – and title track – is a real banger that was so scuzzy that it did feel a bit out of kilter with the rest of the album (and still does sometimes). The fact that Yasin Bey intros it is important: with Ali as one of a small but noteworthy group of artists in the game that are Muslim (counting Yasin, Q-Tip, Lupe Fiasco, Busta and Rakim among them) he makes it front and centre of his music – and his unique identity is such a massive part of who he is an artist – that i can’t think of another artist who has Islam written so openly into their flow. I found it fascinating as I read more and more about his backstory and also listened to interviews with him and learned just what a unique character he is. And with the little window I have into that world, it’s been quite enjoyable hearing something that makes me feel an unexpected affinity with him beyond just his records.
There’s a lot to love on the album, too. There’s not a song I would have down as below average. There’s some questions around some around the middle/second half that I don’t in any way dislike, but that I definitely could see sidelined without the album losing much of its intensity. In fact, after the opening few tracks, it does noticeably slow, and while the jazzy/soul hooks are really in fitting with his flow, it doesn’t have a big finish, something that actually feels more in character with Ali the more you listen. He’s lost many listeners and fans over it, but you can only respect him more for it.
So I’m really looking forward to talking about it. It’s always good to have some hip-hop on the pod.
So I don’t think I’ve ever written before where my response may well be hugely impacted by having moved streaming services in the past week. But here we are! What a time to be alive.
Quick expo: I fucking hate Spotify (don’t we all?) – it stiffs artists and stifles the industry, its CEO is one of the biggest pricks on Earth (and that’s saying something right now, huh?), and the actual audio quality of the service is really, really bad. What’s weird is, of course, it’s also become the standard streamer for almost everyone – if you want to share a new album, you share the Spotify link right?
I was reading an article by a music journalist recently where she had rediscovered all her old Minidisc player and had started listening to old Minidiscs – and was just astonished by how rich and full they sounded compared to what we listen to today on streamers like Spotify. The next day, a Tidal ad popped up and I thought, fuck it, let’s try a free couple of months and see. Tidal, btw, both pays its artists MUCH better than Spotify and it also streams in HQ Wav/FLAC formats.
Why is this relevant? Well, because Brother Ali’s new album was the one that I had started investing time in on Spotify before I made the switch. I was enjoying the record – as Joey and Guy have both pointed out, it’s a very likeable album that’s pretty hard to dislike. But it somehow hadn’t got its teeth into me.
And then I listened to on good quality living room soundsystem on Tidal. It was like someone had flicked a switch between black & white > technicolour. Deep bass. Sparkling beats, crisp production, gorgeously separated sample and vocals. WOAH. Was this even the same record? (Wait till you hear next month’s choice Saya Gray on Tidal vs Spotify? Fuck me!)
So I quite know how to review this, because the audio experience has completely informed it. But let me just play as it lays now I’m a Tidal convert. This is a cracking album, which, as Joey says, doesn’t outstay its welcome at all and doesn’t feel too long despite running nearly an hour. It has a heavyweight, classic feel that obviously leans heavily on vintage soul samples, and could easily be a minor 90s classic. Indeed, some of the samples are so cinematic (Ocean of Rage’s beats sound like the could a Lalo Schiffrin film score) that they almost sound like a music soundtrack. Hell, I could imagine one or two on an old Tarantino soundtrack from back in the day. It’s classy AF.
What I have neglected is spending enough time with the lyrics. I’m afraid a bout of bronchitis has shot my concentration and I’ve had to enjoy this on more of a vibes level than anything more granular. But I’m sure there’s an awful lot to get into at that level and I hope I can do that at some point.
I like this album quite a lot more than anything else you’ve ever shared of Brother Ali, Nolan. It’s very accomplished, it’s uplifting, it’s really coherent. Oh, and it sounds fucking amazing on Tidal.