Brother Ali Is The Definition Of Hip Hop

.@BrotherAli still got it. happy to see a full house at @elreytheatre 🙏🏽🙏🏽 pic.twitter.com/EjAko24FLr

— Shirley Ju (@shirju) May 17, 2017

Thank God for real Hip Hop. Especially after a day. I swear, I was in my feels right before this show. Something happened that really had me in a negative mindset. I hate when that happens :(. But Brother Ali helped a lot. This was the last stop on the #OwnLightTour. He’s the definition of old school Hip Hop. Huge thanks to Trevor for getting me on the list. I actually had the opportunity to bring a squad tonight, which made me really happy. I told them all to meet me at 10:15pm at El Rey, and they all showed up at the same damn time. It was actually kind of epic lmao.

.@BrotherAli out here spreading love 🙏🏽🙏🏽 #OwnLightTour pic.twitter.com/sTzWOrD9tB

— HipHopDX (@HipHopDX) May 17, 2017

Minus Corey. He was a straggler. Jk Corey lmao. We were actually the only two brave souls who drove, while everyone else Uber/Lyft’ed. I’m too broke for that lmao. I walk in and notice right away how packed the venue was. That brought me joy. Brother Ali’s set time was from 10:30pm-12am, and halfway through, I couldn’t help but think: damn. He’s got a shit load to memorize. I mean, that goes for any rapper. But especially being a lyricist, you spit SO much. And you have to remember every word to every fucking song you put out.

.@BrotherAli performing "Palm the Joker" 🔥🔥 #OwnLightTour pic.twitter.com/zJ35mujfdt

— HipHopDX (@HipHopDX) May 17, 2017

Highlights of the evening: “Truth Is,” “Palm The Joker,” “Tight Rope,” and “Pray For Me.” Most were from his recent project All The Beauty In This Whole Life,” which is actually his first album in five years. That’s huge. His intro to “Work Everyday” was the best. He asked the crowd who out there hated working for someone. . . and then still came back broke. We all looked at each other lmao. Damn corporate life. Damn rent.

“Uncle Sam Goddam” is Ali’s biggest song, in my eyes. Just listen to this chorus: “Welcome to the United Snakes/Land of the thief, home of the slave/Grand imperial guard where the dollar is sacred and power is God.” Yeezus. He nailed it.

Dear Black Son 🙏🏽 @BrotherAli pic.twitter.com/cbPSnAomor

— HipHopDX (@HipHopDX) May 17, 2017

I actually recorded “Dear Black Son” for my girl Noor, and of course, my phone runs out of storage again (I give up). But she’s actually the one who told me about his record today and I listened to it on my way home from work. Shouts out to her <3. After this Brother Ali brought out this female MC by the name of Sa-Roc. Holy shit you guys. She was so dope, spitting straight fire into that mic. Salute. Pretty sure she left an imprint on everyone in attendance tonight.

Shout out to my babygirl Alex for coming through. None of us stayed til the very end because we all had work early. Another highlight is when Ali name drops all the GOAT rappers and their OG nicknames when they were coming up in the game. He reminded everyone that they (Kendrick, Jay Z, Nas) once opened for other MCs. Salute to him for putting on a great show for the people.