Us

What comes across as moralistic sermonizing from lesser MCs here is the work of a rapper with a humane, often-troubled conscience.

Brother Ali’s music does not invite casual listening: It refuses to recede into the background. The Minneapolis rapper grabs listeners by the throat, a crazy-man gleam in his eyes, and angrily demands to be heard. On Us, his deeply humane new album, that mad-prophet intensity can be exhausting, exhilarating, and…

Brother Ali - Us review: Us lies at a precarious crossroads of self-help preaching and black history compendium, succeeding at neither.