Brother Ali on Stevie Wonder's "Songs in the Key of Life"

Guest: Brother Ali

The album: Stevie Wonder: Songs in the Key of Life (1976)

  As part of the two week MaxFun Drive, we wanted to save two of our best shows to share with you. This first week, it's rapper Brother Ali, a long time MaxFun favorite, and he picked one of the greatest albums of all time: Stevie Wonder's majestic Songs in the Key of Life, recorded when the artist was still in his 20s(!).   Brother Ali, of course, has his own string of modern classics, including Shadows on the Sun (2003), The Undisputed Truth (2007) and most recently, last year's All the Beauty In This Whole Life. In choosing Stevie's masterpiece, Brother Ali took us back to his childhood, growing up with listening to Stevie in the house, and then later, as a teenager, buying Stevie albums to bring home and study. During our conversation with him, we got into the musical, social and cultural threads that Songs In the Key of Life  has helped unwind over the years.     More on Songs In the Key of Life Jordan Runtagh's revisit of the album for Rolling Stone. Alan Light's review of the album for Pitchfork. The original 1976 Newsweek feature on the album.

More on Brother Ali

Donna Claire's 2017 interview with him for Passion of the Weiss. Mike Schiller's review of All of the Beauty for Popmatters. Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Show Tracklist (all songs fromSongs in the Key of Life unless indicated otherwise):

”Isn’t She Lovely” Brother Ali: All The Beauty In This Whole Life “Own Light (What Hearts are For)” ”Summer Soft” ”I Wish” ”Black Man” ”Pastime Paradise” ”Village Ghettholand” ”Love Is In Need of Love Today” ”Sir Duke” ”Knocks Me Off My Feet” ”Saturn” ”Another Star” ”As” George Michael:  Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael “As Feat Mary J. Blidge” Coolio: Gangsta’s Paradise “Dangerous Minds” Jay-Z: 4:44 “Smile” ”Isn’t She Lovely”

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