Brother Ali and New York rapper Immortal Technique have always seemed like kindred spirits to me. Both are long-time stars of the independent hip-hop scene. Both deliver brute-force lyrics about injustice and struggle. Both aren't afraid to speak their minds.

Now we finally get to hear them on the same song. "Civil War" is a new track off Immortal Technique's free online album, "The Martyr" (released last week). And it's a monster, featuring not only Brother Ali, but Chuck D and Killer Mike.

Over some haunting military drums, Ali steals the show with the song's final verse. The rapper continues the song's theme -- domestic conflict – by penning a heart-felt treatise about being Muslim in America. Listen here (this version includes a lengthy intro from Martin Luther King):

Immortal Technique - Civil War ft. Killer Mike , Brother Ali and Chuck D by rebeve

Here are Ali's lyrics:

Listen, our hearts were torn apart just like y'all was
Watching towers full of souls fall to sawdust
Every time we called your office you ignored us
Now you holding hearings on us all inside of Congress
Microscopes on us, ask if we're Jihadists
My answer was in line with all of the Founding Fathers
I think Patrick said it best: "Give me liberty or death"
I shall never accept anything less
You claim innocence, you play victimless
But you gave the kiss of death in the name of self defense
Slavery and theft have brought other nations to the end
Of pacifying your citizenry with excess
We believe in freedom, justice, security
But they're only pure when they're applied universally
So certainly if I Rage Against the Machine
My aim was only to clean the germs out of the circuitry
Heard you need putting fear inside your heart
Make you burn Korans and tell me not to build a mosque
Me, my wife and babies we ain't never made jihad
We just want to touch our heads to the floor and talk to God
Ask him to remove every blemish from our heart
The greatest threat of harm doesn't come from any bomb
The moment you refuse the human rights of just a few
What happens when that few includes you?
Civil war.


Download the whole album on Immortal Technique's website.

(Above photo by Leslie Plesser)