my sister looks like Gok Wan

Record of the Day interview

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Kickin' Back with Brother Ali

Brother Ali is a wise man. He’s like a preacher who doesn’t preach; a live-and-let-liver whose contemplative lyrics give new meaning to the word deeeeeeeeep. As a result of being born with genetic condition, albinism, the 32-year-old MC has seen the world from a different angle than most. Couple that with his teenage conversion to Islam (a faith he continues to adhere to), and the married father of two has an unmatched perspective on life – shared eloquently in his music.

He flies the flag of indie rap kings, Rhymesayers Entertainment, and has encountered much success on the hip hop underground. With his fourth long-player, Us, on its way out, Ali swooped into London for his first solo (and sold-out!) gig in Camden last month and spoke about fatherhood, independence, Obama and clarifies why exactly why he doesn’t identify with whiteness.


You’re about to embark on a big tour, and have two young children, how do you prepare to leave them for so long?

The only thing you can do is ensure that your relationship and bond with them is very strong. Because it’s damaging either way – it’s like fasting. I’ve been fasting for Ramadan, and the idea is that fasting is going to hurt your body – but if you eat healthy enough during the times that you can’t eat – you can minimise the damage that it does – you know what I mean? So when I’m home, I’m a really hands-on dad. I was a single dad until my son was four, so I do the whole baby thing.

How are you dealing with the time zones and breaking fast?

The thing is about Ramadan is that fasting is an option. You can choose to fast, or you can choose to fast and there is no blame on you for that – you can make it up later. When travelling in the states, I’d fast anyway – but like today – I’m not fasting. I wasn’t in control of my schedule or what and when I could eat. It’s not meant to break you down – it’s meant to teach you something. I think Islam is perceived to be this really strict religion, and it’s not. Fasting is a very unifying experience – any sort of common difficulty brings an automatic camaraderie.

How has your relationship with Ant (of Atmosphere) evolved after all these years of working together?

Ant is one of those people that...you know you have your friends, your loved ones, and then there are those you just can’t hide from. We show all of ourselves in the music. Our friendship is the number one catalyst for the music we make together.

Have people connected with Us, the way you’d hoped, in spite of it taking a slightly different route in telling others’ stories rather than your own?

I think my core fan base will be fine and like it. I don’t question it. Often when you make an album, you try to say something or offer a new way of looking at the world - so you want the world to hear it! So of course you want to know if it touches anyone outside of your bubble. And I have no way of judging that. I never know that.

All you can do is say, ‘I made the best music that I could this year – and I tried to present it as honestly as I could.’ You have to be confident in yourself and in people and believe that wherever it ends up, is where it ends up. I think a lot of artists feel slighted because they aren’t as famous as somebody else, but at some point you have to realise that what you’re doing is not going to connect with everybody – but the people who it does connect with, that’s a real thing. And you have to be comfortable enough in who you are to let that be what it is.

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weeezle. 07.10.09 hammersmith apollo

Lil tiny baby boy Wayne weezy started his Hammersmith Apollo gig with
a millli. Good choice but couldn't help thinking all night about the question that has been plaguing since I moved to London: "why the fuck is Hammersmith IN Hammersmith". Rubbaaaash.

Anyway. So he was wearing a Fuckmylife tee, which made me wonder if he sips all that sizzurp because he's depressed? I dunno. I don't think he's got daddy issues particularly as his daddy, Birdman, was chirping away on stage with him most of the night.

So then!! I tried to keep track of all the songs but I've just been told I missed lollipop. That's fine though. Most people there knew all the words to carter 3 songs and jo keeps bangin on about carter 2(which I've never heard of because my lil wayne knowledge is limited to drought 3, dedication2, aaaand some other shit never mind).

What's that martian tune called? Phone home? Well, the visuals were incredible. Floating mars planet graffix innit. And then! Gizmo from gremlins! Super cute and not that weird among the random flashes of a crazed skinhead britney spears and smiling miley cyruses.

Actually, if I'm honest, all the imagery on the big screen was great. There were many flying bags of cash, dollar signs and of course! The young and cash money logos, with fires burning behind them.

The graffiks were literally the best part. At one point he sang rapped with no band and the dj delved into turntablism and it was beautiful and there were floating notes, treble and bass signs floating round like champagne bubbles...lovely.

Anyway. he did a dedication to all the dead. Which is fucking stupid I think, at this point. Because hip hop has been around now for a generation or two and people are going to start dying of natural causes!

Whatever. Digression.

So the last funny was his homage to the best rappers of all time. This little video/dj medley/cover tune show was delightful. Of course it started with BIG and moved on to undeserving 2pac and then respeck to jay and then an amazing ten minute tribute to HIMSELF. I love it.

Fat, anorexic, orange, brown, israeli teens in the crowd. I'm yellowy pink. Everyone had fun. Good one. I love lil wayne.

Brilliant!

le cool in the Guardian - again

they love us...

lecool.com

Le Cool is a series of city guides that started life in 2003 as a weekly email magazine in Barcelona, offering a calendar to the city's cultural life for the week ahead. Now they serve eight cities – Amsterdam, Barcelona, Budapest, Istanbul, Lisbon, London, Madrid and Moscow – with the impeccable taste suggested by the title. The weekly email for London, for example, offers an alert for events coming up the following week, covering gigs, exhibitions, pop-up shops, films, parties, events, sports, bars and, er, pub quizzes. The London guide is edited by Mat Osman, former bassist of Britpop band Suede, who says: "It's for people who love the city. People who love scooter shops that turn into coffee shops, and flats with aeroplane wings through them, and manga libraries, and doll's house furniture shops, and bubble-and-squeak stalls, and hairdressers-cum-art galleries-cum-nightclubs, and rollergirls, and so on and so on . . ."

"You're a good kid"

Checked out The Hurt Locker last night as the impromptu answer to a planless Monday night. I was really impressed, though not sure it warranted the five stars that the Times gave it.

Set in modern-day Baghdad, the film follows a crew of American Army EODs as they traipse around the perilous metropolis taking down bombs hidden in debris, cars and even dead bodies.

Multiple cameras were used in hopes of capturing a certain realism while shooting in Jordan. With cinematography by Barry Ackroyd (The Wind That Shakes the Barley) and a pack of Iraqi refugees and feline amputees as extras, it did feel like you were in the midst of wartime Iraq (not that I know what that’s like).

Not-so-familiar actors Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, and Brian Geraghty put on excellent performances portraying the range of egos, emotions and madness prevalent among soldiers in a modern war. Unfortunately director, Kathryn Bigelow, couldn’t let go the Point Break-style American cringe moments, which I think brought the entire piece down a level. Still very much worth a peek.

Fried rice balls and salty pig meat

Last week I visited Terence Conran's Blueprint Cafe with my mom. The view would have been beautiful, had it not been pouring rain and dark as the eatery sits atop the Design Museum in SE1 with windows overlooking the Thames. The chef, Jeremy Lee has been up in this spot for 15 years and changes the menu with each sitting. Pretty impressive. But I’m not a fan of the‘modern British cuisine’ epidemic currently plaguing London. Modern British cuisine seems to mean, traditional bland recipes cooked with local and organic products.

Don’t get me wrong, they had some nice things on this menu. We definitely enjoyed the suppli, which were amazing little fried risotto cakes stuffed with cheese and a watercress and spinach soup. I ordered salt pork for the main, which was interesting - coupled with tiny parsnips it wasn't as fatty as one might expect. Our evening concluded with a highly indulgent almond cake (recommended), vanilla cheesecake (no) and some posh c-nut demanding that the staff make her taxi appear NOW. Ew. I would recommend checking it during the day for lunch after a wander through the galleries.