A Superior Brother Ali

DULUTH -

On paper, the start of Brother Ali's latest trek around his so-called "United Snakes" didn't sound all that far removed from Minneapolis: He had a signing at the Electric Fetus, followed by a performance at Pizza Lucé.

In person, though, Tuesday's kickoff of Ali's Fresh Air Tour felt worlds away from the familiar confines of the rapper's hometown.

The venue -- which bulged with about 300 fans -- was smaller than any Ali has headlined in the Twin Cities for about five years now. The crowd included swarms of underage fans mixing with college kids and a smattering of middle-age audience members in search of a fun night out, even a few bikers and one guy in a non-ironic camouflage hunter's cap. When you stepped away from the booming bass sounds outside Pizza Lucé, you could have heard a pine needle drop.

Also, the weather coming off the lake in Duluth was crisp enough to make the bald rapper shop for a knit cap in the Fetus' clothing section after his signing.

"It's gonna be winter by the time we get home," he griped.

Ali won't be off the road until Nov. 20, when the tour stops at First Avenue.

He and his Fresh Air entourage -- longtime DJ BK-One, opener and hype-man Toki Wright and new Rhymesayers signee Evidence, of Dilated Peoples fame -- will cram in a staggering 49 concerts along the way, from New York and Boston to Los Angeles and San Francisco. The tour will promote "Us," Ali's third full-length album for Rhymesayers, which came out Tuesday.

With that much ground to cover, why even bother with Duluth, which has become the traditional jumping-off point for nearly all Rhymesayers tours?

Ali said the fans there offer the perfect leeway and energy for opening night.

"You spend all this time preparing a set, but the minute you do it in front of people you never know what's going to happen," he said. "So it's good to have home-court advantage for that first time, and do it in front of people that are gonna be lenient with you. If you try this in New York, you can't get away with screwing up there. They don't love you like this."

Ali's producer and main collaborator on his records, Anthony (Ant) Davis, thought the show was worth driving up on his own to attend.

"I like seeing the very start of the tour, and the end of it, and appreciating how it grows," said Ant, whose last time at Duluth's Pizza Lucé was his first live gig with Atmosphere after a long hiatus from the stage.

"It's a good place to work out the nerves."

After their two previous albums were so well received, Ali and Ant wouldn't seem to have anything to be nervous about going into the making of "Us." However, they pretty well threw out the old playbook by bringing in live musicians instead of working off samples for most of the record.

"Us" players include Atmosphere backers Nate Collis (guitar), Erick Anderson (keys) and Brian McLeod (drums), plus Heiruspecs bassist Sean McPherson and such un-hip-hoppy musicians as New Standards vibraphonist Steve Roehm and strings and horns arranger Dustin Sorenson. Guest vocalists include Philly rapper Freeway, Mint Condition's Stokley Williams and Public Enemy legend Chuck D, whom Ali befriended when they guested on the Current's "Fakebook" series ("I think we both get a kick out of each other," Ali said).

"Having all the musicians involved meant we could make the songs all fit together better," Ali said, raising some of the disparate subject matter in riveting "Us" tracks such as "Tight Rope" and "Breakin' Dawn."

"So the story about the Somali teenager doesn't sound all that different from the one about the kid dealing with homophobia or the one about my friend who got murdered because he was stuck in the street economy."

Lyrically, "Us" presented another challenge for Ali -- who previously made a name for himself by crafting gritty and ultra-personal portraits of divorce, prejudice (from his albino skin), being a single dad and living in poverty.

Between 2007's "The Undisputed Truth" and "Us," though, Ali made a sharp ascent toward contentment as his career took off, he found greater solace in his Muslim faith, he remarried and he welcomed a daughter to the family alongside his son, now 9. The bad thing about living the good life is it might steal some of the north Minneapolis-reared rapper's thunder.

Ali, however, shrugged off that notion.

"I feel like I hit a point during 'The Undisputed Truth' where I was worried people might think I had nowhere else to go than my own stories," he said.

"The truth is, I still have plenty of my own stories and issues that I haven't even touched on yet. But I figured if people can relate to my stories, then they can probably also relate to the stories of other people I know and love who are still struggling."

Ali doesn't exactly push his success under the rug, either. In fact, songs such as "Fresh Air" -- about buying a house -- and "Best At It" find him rhyming about his ascent with the same candor he used during harder times. Speaking of "Fresh Air," he said, "It's really a big thank-you to fans for getting me there."

"But," he added, "so many people related to my older songs like 'Freedom Ain't Free,' where I was saying, 'I'm going to give up my life for a while so I can build a better life for myself.' I wanted to tell those people that it really can work."

It didn't look like the new songs' deep qualities sunk in with the Duluth crowd as Ali played a few of them to start his set, but they partied wildly off the beats until he finally kicked into the 2007 hit "Truth Is Here." Then, three-quarters of the crowd rhymed along -- even including, no kidding, the guy in the camo hat.

Brother Ali appears ready to take on the nation once again.

Random mix Local music photographer Darin Back has put together a new exhibit of his bare-bones black and white portraits, for which he allegedly uses just one roll of film per shoot. Which probably helps explain why musicians like him. He's showing it tonight at the Nomad Pub with some of his subjects on hand to perform, including Chris Koza, Dave King, Molly Maher and Jason Shannon (7-9 p.m., free, followed by music, $5). ... Another visual/musical crossover show happens Oct. 3 at Franklin ArtWorks, where Kraig Johnson (Golden Smog) will be back in town performing as a sort of live soundtrack with the "Few Landmarks and No Boundaries" exhibit. More details at FewLandmarks.com. ...

The Current (89.3 FM) has been Beatlemaniacal all month with on-air discussions and blog posts surrounding the latest wave of Fab Four merchandising, culminating in a tribute Thursday at the Turf Club with giveaways, DJ sets and live music by instrumentalists Big Trouble (members of Heiurspecs) featuring vocals by Current jockey David Campbell (E.L.nO.), Chris Pavlich (Two Harbors) and more (9 p.m., $5). ... The opening acts for next week's Tapes 'n Tapes "tour" have been set: Mystery Palace and Lookbook on Thursday (7th Street Entry), Jeremy Messersmith and the Owls next Friday (Music Box Theater, the unplugged show) and Chooglin' and Red Pens on Saturday (Turf Club). ... Rhymesayers' Uptown store Fifth Element is hosting a parking-lot sale Saturday from 11 a.m.-6 p.m. with food, prizes, DJ sets, 15 percent off everything, plus the debut of a used vinyl section, most of which is probably made up of LPs that Ant accidentally bought twice. Even funnier, who knew the store (2411 Hennepin Av. S.) even had a parking lot?

chrisr@startribune.com • 612-673-4658