5 out of 5

Label: Travelers Media LLC

Produced by: Brother Ali

Back in 2000, Brother Ali self-produced his debut, Rites of Passage. It’s really impressive, both for a debut, and as a bit of DIY hip-hop – it’s got the edges of an early effort, but otherwise so much upfront polish that was clearly indicative of how reliable Ali would prove to be across a couple following decades of releases, working with plenty of big name beat-makers, like Ant and Jake One.

In 2019, we see a retreat to something a little rawer, via the Evidence-produced Secrets & Escapes, and then in 2021 we got a limited release of self-produced, 1-minute tracks Ali had been recording along the way of his journey. And with no offense meant to Ant and the rest: why the heck does this boy even need another producer, when he’s had these drops at drastically different points in his career that prove he can do it all?

Minutester is even more impressive than Rites for its density: how each minute doesn’t seem like a snippet, but rather come packaged as fully fleshed out tracks. The depth and delightfulness of these beats (and samples!) is amazing, told even more clearly by the B-side which gives you instrumentals. I was already blown away listening to the vocal versions, but then when the music is highlighted, the variation Ali put into the tunes, and the richness – these are not simple loops – is otherworldly, hanging on old-school vibes, but smoothed out with the artist’s preference for a funky low-end, and then made groovier or more chill, as befits that tune’s need. The lyrics aren’t sketchpad stuff either, and skimp on boast tracks: politics; touring life; relationship maturity; creativity… The final song on the set explains it: that Ali put so much mental stress into making the most perfect albums, that there’s something freeing to just pressing record and getting these minute-long songs out. Agreed! But it’s astounding how fresh and polished these short efforts ended up being. (And that there’s further sweat put into sequencing this so it listens like an EP, and not just a collection of cuts.)

Hands down one of Ali’s best releases.