On April 11, 2009, The Truth came to Wesleyan.
The Truth, of course, is Brother Ali who along with BK-One brought some Minnesota soul to Wesleyan for a concert just a few weeks after releasing “The Truth is Here EP“. Those that check AYH2CM on the regular know we got a lot of respect for Ali. The Brother’s been featured a bunch of times — not to mention the thing about how he’s the inspiration for the whole project. Peep the bottom of the page to find out what the hell I’m talking about (hint: favorite quote of the night, Brother Ali to me, “I like the name of your blog”). So, given the appreciation I (and the rest of the staff) got for the dude, it was an honor to meet him and BK-One. A lot of people asked me what he’s like, and the answer is just what you’d expect: a normal dude; well, but soft-spoken; appreciative; and curious — he was asking me questions.
And the show was ridiculous… AYH2CM’s good friend Bastille (only 1/2 of them, but still wearing the mask) was on the decks. Then came yesterday’s featured artist Wordsmith and the Concert G’s. As soon as Wordsmith and co. finished their last song the chants started: “Ali, Ali, Ali…” until BK-One took over. And take over he did.
Most of the time, people don’t think about how important a DJ is during a live set –it’s easy to assume that they’re just selecting songs from itunes — but BK-One knows how to work with an MC, he even pulled out a live remix of “Lookin‘ at Me Sideways” — damn. Plus, with no Toki Wright (Ali’s hype man and an MC in his own right) BK’s decks essentially became the second mic. Ali went hard, too. In fact, I’m not even going to get into it, y’all can read about him in the other articles, I can’t fault the guy for a damn thing. He showed love to the crowd, bringing the organizer up on stage for a shout out, coming back for an encore and sticking around after the performance to sign autographs and what not.
Thanks to Brother Ali and BK-One for making the trek to CT and giving a damn good show. Bastille and Wordsmith and the Concert G’s, y’all were on point. Seriously.
It’s been a long time coming, but I finally got the pics from that night up. Check the slide show I put together, follow the links to dl the ones you like. Also got a vid posted below.
Salaam/Shalom/Peace
- You Don’t Have to Love Me.
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