In typical Rhymesayers fashion, with just over a week to go before Brother Ali’s album hits stores, we get a look at the packaging. Rhymesayers remains one of the few labels dedicated to maintaing high quality physical copy releases, which is becoming more admirable over time as buyers shift to digital.

Take a look at the packaging below, which includes a huge 80-panel fold out booklet of the American flag on one side and the liner notes on the other. Mourning in America and Dreaming in Color hits stores September 18th.

BONUS: Take a look at Ali’s recent visit to Sway in the Morning as he dismantles the 5 Fingers of Death freestyle challenge.

The post Video: Unpackaging Brother Ali’s New Album appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Brother Ali releases the newest single off his upcoming album, Mourning in America and Dreaming in Color. The album hits stores on September 18th and is produced entirely by Jake One. Be on the lookout for the Minnesota rhymer in your city for his upcoming tour.

You can follow along with the lyrics Ali was kind enough to post on his SoundCloud page:

I don’t usually use those big words ‘cause I don’t usually deal with big people.
I find you can get a whole lot of small people and whip hell out of a whole lot of big people.

Murder murder murder kill kill kill
Cannibals walk the earth and get ill blood spill
Eyes sunk deep in their skull their bone chill
Few for survival most for the thrill

Terrorism is the war of the poor
Hold up a mirror so the script get flipped
Cause when it’s in reverse it ain’t wrong no more
Warfare’s the terrorism of the rich

Who’s the true guerilla
When the bomb on your body killing innocent civilians
But a life is a life and a killer is a killer
You’re at a desk chillin’ push a button kill a million

See the anguish of the parents
When they’re carrying the body of the baby that they cherish
When innocent people perish
It’s a very thin line between a soldier and a terrorist

Murder murder kill kill kill
Death and destruction a cap get pealed
Harm or heal destroy and rebuild
Shots still ring out the blood still spill

Overseas we can mutilate and mangle
Let me give you an example what our troops are coming back to
Cold cities where the youth are getting strangled
The community in peril and our future looking narrow

Your school already failed you
The boys in blue will nail you they salute you with a barrel
The streets are a certified dead zone
Decorated with chalk lines and headstones

All the way live and every night the bullets flying
Even if you ain’t dying you a traumatized survivor
When you grow up in a climate of overriding violence
You will never get beyond it it’s always alive inside you

And death just surrounds you
Fallen classmates’ ghosts haunt you
Crime just calls you cause you look at what you walk through
Ain’t certain if you’ll make it ain’t sure you even want to

Murder murder kill kill kill
Death and destruction a cap get pealed
Harm or heal destroy and rebuild
Shots still ring out the blood still spill

Murder murder kill kill kill
Death and destruction a cap get pealed
Harm or heal destroy and rebuild
Shots still ring out the blood still spill

Choir
Tears and sorrow block the sunlight
Head low heart broke eyes closed tongue-tied
Waters raise the tide is climbing
Speeding time the sky is crying
Shots are fired bombs and sirens
War and riots mourning in America

Now that society forgot you
And they locked you in an obstacle course where nothing’s possible
If you slip up and they caught you
They got boxes where they lock you make a million dollars off you

They rule you too rude to school
They screw you in a booth shoot electricity through you
Or inject death into you
On a television set and let it ooze through you

Every time a leader tries to stand up for our freedom
Someone claps them with the heater their brain and back leaking
A shame their family grieving the only way to see them
Is a displaced dream displayed in a museum

They say they built our nation for a reason
Then they stained it with the bleeding of the slaves that never seen it
I ain’t hating I still want to believe it
And I’m not trying to leave it I just call it how I see it

Murder murder kill kill kill
Death and destruction a cap get pealed
Harm or heal destroy and rebuild
Shots still ring out the blood still spill

Murder murder kill kill kill
Death and destruction a cap get pealed
Harm or heal destroy and rebuild
Shots still ring out the blood still spill

They haven’t got anything to lose and they’ve got everything to gain. And they’ll let you know in a minute it takes two to tango. When I go, you go.

The post New Music: Brother Ali – “Mourning in America” appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Brother Ali’s new album, Mourning in America and Dreaming in Color, will be dropping August 21st. In correlation with the release, Ali will be headed out on a 38-city U.S. tour (with a couple of Canadian stops thrown in).

The tour will include the Blank Tape Beloved, a 5-piece band consisting of Jake One on drums, a horn section, keys and guitar. Check out the dates below. Tickets go on sale June 29th.

*With Homeboy Sandman, DJ Sosa
09.12 – San Luis Obispo, CA @ SLO Brewing
09.13 – Santa Ana, CA @ Constellation Room
09.14 – La Jolla, CA @ Porter’s Pub
09.15 – Tempe, AZ @ Club Red
09.16 – Albuquerque, NM @ Sunshine Theater
09.17 – Dallas, TX @ Trees
09.18 – Austin, TX @ Mohawk
09.20 – Birmingham, AL @ Bottletree (18+)
09.21 – Atlanta, GA @ 529 (21+)
09.22 – Orlando, FL @ The Social
09.23 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL @ Culture Room (18+)

*With Homeboy Sandman, DJ Sosa, The Reminders
09.25 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
09.26 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
09.27 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom (16+)
09.28 – Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club (18+)
09.29 – Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground
09.30 – Toronto, ON @ Annex Wreck Room (19+)
10.02 – Ann Arbor, MI @ Blind Pig (18+)
10.03 – Chicago, IL @ Metro (18+)
10.04 – Madison, WI @ Barrymore Theatre
10.05 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue (18+)
10.09 – Iowa City, IA @ Gabe’s Oasis
10.10 – Omaha, NE @ Waiting Room
10.11 – Fort Collins, CO @ Aggie Theatre
10.12 – Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theatre (16+)
10.13 – Boulder, CO @ Fox Theater
10.15 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge (21+)
10.17 – Seattle, WA @ TBA (On sale Aug. 2)
10.18 – Bellingham, WA @ Wild Buffalo
10.19 – Vancouver, BC @ Venue Nightclub (19+)
10.20 – Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theater
10.21 – Eugene, OR @ WOW Hall
10.23 – Reno, NV @ Cargo
10.24 – Arcata, CA @ Humboldt State Univ. (On sale Aug. 7)
10.25 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
10.26 – Santa Cruz, CA @ The Catalyst (16+)
10.27 – Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey Theatre
10.30 – Santa Barbara, CA @ Velvet Jones

The post Brother Ali Announces “Mourning in America” Tour Dates appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.