Brother Ali: The Truth Teller | Rappers Talk Hip Hop Beef & Old School Hip Hop | HipHop DX
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Brother Ali: Right. And none of “Uncle Sam Goddamn” [click to view] is changed by any of this. “Uncle Sam Goddamn” in a way shows what Barack is up against. Barack’s one person. And he’s not radical. He’s not a revolutionary. He’s a Democrat… By doing this he has joined that system. So if you’re gonna say when anybody joins the system I write them off, well that’s your right to do that. But I salute people when they go in there and try. I think those people deserve our support. Or they at least deserve mine. Now, if you’re KRS-One you have to say if everybody is jumping up and down about Barack you gotta say something else ‘cause you’re KRS-One. And if you’re dead prez [click to read] and you’re saying, "Fuck the system," even if somebody in the system is black, you have to say fuck them. Like, that’s your job. And that role is necessary.
My thing though is that I’m not a political rapper. I had one political song ["Uncle Sam Goddamn"] that ended up being a video and a single. But that even isn’t really a political song. I’m not talking about policies… I’m talking about the greed and the hatred that’s written into the history of this country.
My father-in-law, who’s like a father to me, he used to couldn’t eat dinner in his own hometown at a restaurant. This dude has worked all his life [in] steel mills. He’s from Chicago… People calling him “nigger.” And people calling him “boy.” And then the President and everybody in government, everybody in power, are people that don’t respect him as a man. And now he gets to turn on TV everyday and see Barack Obama and [see that] everybody has to respect that [he’s] the President. There’s something to be said for that, man. That’s not a small thing.
But I love [KRS-One] and I’d never say anything against him. He’s doing what he thinks he’s supposed to do, man. God bless him… And people have dissed me [for my position on Obama in contrast to KRS’]… I try to answer my own messages on MySpace, so people have really used that as a way to talk shit to me… When I put out “Uncle Sam Goddamn,” I got a whole bunch of white dudes with no shirt on, on MySpace calling me a “faggot.” One of ‘em called me a nigger and [told] me to go back to Africa… I’ve had other people tell me I’m so anti-American. I just make songs about what I feel… I’m not thinking about trying to like, “Well I’m gonna work this [political] angle.” Like my Obama song, I made that the night of the election [click to read]. I was sitting in the studio with my wife and my kids and I made that song as states were coming in for Obama… And now people are dissing me for that: “You’re so ignorant.” And then they bring up KRS [like], “Your hero KRS was telling the truth…”
