Brother Ali (photo: Corey Dewald)
Interview by Jason Schreurs
Imagine our excitement over here at Rice and Bread when we found out that Minnesota rapper Brother Ali is a huge food lover! The smooth rhymer, best known for his hard-hitting raps on tracks like “Uncle Sam Goddamn” and “Mourning in America,” started rhyming when he just a young boy and has made a name for himself on the music festival circuit, but it was in the clubs that he started his career. His current tour, the Home Away from Home Tour, has him back in those smaller venues and back on the road, where he tries to find time to cook like he does at home. We chatted with Brother Ali about starting rap young and his love for food and home cooking.
Is your upcoming club tour about looking for some inspiration to write your next album?
No, I wouldn’t say that. I just miss it. I just genuinely miss that connection with my listeners. It’s cool to do festivals; they pay you a lot of money and they treat you like a star. There’s a certain level when you do a festival; it’s a big stage and you get to perform for a lot of people. I just headlined at the Minnesota State Fair with, like, 20,000 people, and we did Soundcheck and it was 30,000 people. Rock the Bells was like that, too, you know what I mean? But there’s something about just being with my listeners, and I do feel that would be a good inspiration to start working on my new album, but it’s not like I can’t do it without that. It’s not like I’m stuck, I just haven’t started yet.
I read somewhere that you first got into rapping when you were quite young. I think it said seven or eight years old. I’ve got a seven-year-old son and I’m trying to picture him rapping. What was it like being that young and getting into it?
It was a calling for me and I would be on stage and perform for people, and it was really about performing. It’s interesting; touring’s just been an extension of that. When I was young, I moved all of the time. I was always in new schools and new cities, and so I would perform. The first day I would find wherever people liked hip-hop or liked rap and I would perform. And if I couldn’t find a space to perform, I would battle the people that thought they were good at rhyming, and that’s how I made friends and how I carved out an identity, and that just continued when I grew up. I didn’t travel from school to school anymore, but I started going city to city and doing the same thing.
What was it like doing it as a kid? Do remember being pretty confident, or was it scary?
Yeah, I was confident about it, but I don’t even feel like I necessarily have a choice in the matter. I’ve literally done this every day since I was seven years old and I’ve never taken a day off. So nervous isn’t a part of it. There are shows where I feel pressure, like, “Man, I really would like for this to be a good show,” but I’ve learned that I’m not necessarily in control of that. With art, it’s really a spiritual thing and we can show up and seek to have those moments and those connections, but it’s not guaranteed that if you show up, it’s going to happen. But you show up and you try, so when it does happen, you’re ready for it. And having a great show is feeling connected to the audience. I’ve had moments onstage that are transcendent; they really are, and it’s bigger than group of people in there, and it’s bigger than me, and if things line up right and everyone’s in the right mood and space and feeling and vibe, I’ve had plenty of shows that I will never forget. So it’s more than just a good day at work.
You once said that food is one of your only real addictions in life. Can you tell me about that?
Ah, food. Yeah. Oh man [laughs]. Yeah, I like to cook! The whole time I’ve been touring and performing I’ve had Islam to protect me from all of the things that destroy people’s lives, but I come from a line of addicts, so I still have addictive traits. But I do a lot of cooking at home. That’s one of those things that I miss when I’m on tour; I miss cooking. There are times on tour where we’ll get a suite with a kitchen in it, like if we’re going to be somewhere for a few days, we’ll get a suite with a kitchen and I’ll cook, but it’s not the same as home. Cooking in a different kitchen is weird. Another reason I call my tour Home Away from Home is some of these places that I’m going I’ve actually got apartments there. So I’ll go to a city and I’ll like it so much that I’ll move there for a few months. So Seattle, Oakland, Philly, these are all places that I went to on tour and I loved them so much that I moved there for a little while. And any time I’m in a new kitchen it takes a while to get used to that kitchen.
What kind of things do you like to cook?
Mostly soul food and Puerto Rican food. Those are my favourites. My wife is Puerto Rican and the people that taught me how to cook were all soul food cooks, so those are the things that come easiest to me.
So you were taught how to cook. Did you also learn some on your own?
Yeah, people taught me. Those are all things that you have to learn from someone, but they’re experienced-based. All of those things, you can’t learn it from observing somebody else, you have to do it. And it’s the same thing with spirituality, it’s the same thing with art and culture, it’s same thing with music, it’s the same thing with food, it’s the same thing with love; you have to actually experience that. You can go on YouTube and someone will teach you how to make a beat, or how to make a sweet potato pie, but it’s not the same as actually having experiences with those things and with those people. I’m into authentic experiences.
Can you still find lots of good food when you’re on the road?
Yeah, there’s lots of good food out there, but I just miss the cooking. I miss the feeling of when I’m at home and I cook for my family and my friends, so I miss that feeling of everybody sitting down to eat the food that I made.
Brother Ali is currently on his Home Away from Home North American tour. His latest album, 2012′sMourning in America and Dreaming in Color is available on Rhymesayers Entertainment.
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