Brother Ali @ Korova Bar Review

Brother Ali – Korova Bar, Liverpool. 19/03/10

On a cold, wet northern evening, on the back of his 4th LP “Us” Minneapolis’ Brother Ali brought the latest leg of his European tour to Liverpool’s Korova Bar. Not the usual crowd you would see at a hip hop gig, the crowd ranged from the standard Carhart clad backpackers, to a couple of aging hippies. Korova’s basement setting proved ideal for a night of real hip hop, unfortunately due to motorway traffic and service station pit stops we missed the support acts but made it just in time to grab a Heineken and see Ali’s long term DJ BK-One take the stage and warm the crowd up.

With Brother Ali you get no emphatic build up to his entrance, no hype man screaming at the crowd to get up. The crowd doesn’t need any help, they all know what they’re here to see and without warning Ali casually strolls on to the stage. He opened up the show rhyming over some old school classics, heads were bobbing, hand’s were in the air. Ali’s presence showed he loves to perform and feel the crowd’s vibes. He explained to the crowd that this wasn’t a show they’d come to see but more a party where he wanted everyone to get involved...and we did. The crowd went wild when he kicked in to the brassy stomper which is “The Preacher” and following that was classic after classic Brother Ali gold. We were even treated to a small slice of stand up (a joke about school grades, ice cream, sex and grandmothers...we can’t print it here!).

BK -One also gave us a sample of his new LP “Radio Do Canibal” which the crowd showed great appreciation for (one to pick up on my next pay day!). After nearly an hour and a half (we wished it had gone on longer) Ali wrapped the show up, the crowd buzzing off what they had just been part of, and instead of the normal go straight backstage and disappear act that we’ve seen so many do, Ali and BK went straight into the crowd to hang with the crowd, showing that he’s the real thing, one of “Us”, he never disappoints. Let’s hope it’s not too long until he comes back to the UK, maybe with the rest of the Rhymsayers crew. Good work Brother Ali, BK-One and all at Korova.

Martin Sundholm