4 out of 5

Label: Rhymesayers

Produced by: Brother Ali

Growing up in the music scene – family, religion – and forming his own identity away from the backpack sound, Brother Ali blossomed on the celebratory and rallying Us, and then further evolved on his ever-present social and political themes with the focused and angry Mourning In America And Dreaming In Color. It follows that one of the next stages in this emotional flow would be… acceptance. Not in a defeating way, but in a Brother Ali way: getting cynical about the world he lives in, and still finding the joys. Still facing all the problems, and speaking to them, while pondering realistic solutions. All The Beauty In This Whole Life is relatively more “chill” than the Ali we’ve seen before, but no less active, rather just speaking with some of the hindsight of his experiences.

The production on this is otherworldly. Ali had to battle away from his early Atmosphere-influenced soul sound, perhaps swayed by his often working with Ant – a producer who I think is best when paired with an MC with a strong identity – and synthesize his own blend of hip-hop and church anthems and worldly influences, and the organic, live-instrument vibe of All The Beauty is a gorgeous, lush endpoint of that effort. This era of Ant’s also finds the producer comfortable in so many genres that he can slide into this lushness easily, mixing between spoken-word samples and simplistic beats and jazzy or poppy sounds with ease, never allowing things to sound like a template, or loop. This is an album you want the instrumentals of.

But pair that with Ali’s ever-lyrical flow, and it’s a supreme experience. While the subject matter naturally finds BA perhaps not as punchy or voluminous as he can be – it requires him to be laid back – there’s no denial of his passion, and the sing-songy slickness of his delivery is fully intact. While I think some tracks hit too broadly, just parroting a kind of “be good to yourself and others” vibe, those tracks erring toward a more verse-chorus-verse repetitiveness that can be a bit overlong, these are surrounded by some of Ali’s most mesmerizing moments – the uplifting and powerful Own Light (What Hearts Are For) – or some of this most engagingly direct and well-told narratives, of which there are several, including Uncle Usi Taught Me, or Pray for Me. And we’re not at all separated from the political, which is arguably more impactful when surrounded by all these positive vibes; the most open-ended stuff is towards the front of the disc, and the heaviest towards the back – an interestingly persuasive way for Ali to get his points across.

All The Beauty doesn’t directly go for the gut with an Uncle Sam Goddamn message, and features literally zero boast tracks. But the confidence – and yes, the beauty – of the album’s presented themes, and its rich production, and just the always impressive pitter-patter of Ali’s rapping, make this one of the most complete feeling albums of the artist’s to date.