Mourning in America and Dreaming in Color

Last updated
Mourning in America and Dreaming in Color
Brother-ali-mourning-in-america-dreaming-in-colour.jpg
Studio album by
Brother Ali
ReleasedSeptember 18, 2012 (2012-09-18)
Genre Hip hop
Length51:41
59:24(Deluxe Version)
Label Rhymesayers Entertainment
Producer Jake One
Brother Ali chronology
The Bite Marked Heart
(2012)		Mourning in America and Dreaming in Color
(2012)		Left in the Deck
(2013)
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic 80/100 [1]
Review scores
SourceRating
Alarmfavorable [2]
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [3]
Consequence of Sound C+ [4]
The Guardian Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [5]
HipHopDX Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [6]
Pitchfork 7.9/10 [7]
PopMatters Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [8]
XXL XL [9]

Mourning in America and Dreaming in Color is the fifth studio album by American rapper Brother Ali. [10] It was released via Rhymesayers Entertainment on September 18, 2012. [11] Entirely produced by Jake One, it includes a guest appearance from Dr. Cornel West. [12] It reached number 44 on the Billboard 200 chart. [13] It sold 10,000 copies in its first week of release. [14]

Contents

Critical reception

At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, Mourning in America and Dreaming in Color received an average score of 80% based on 11 reviews. [1]

David Jeffries of AllMusic gave the album 4 stars out of 5, saying, "Layered viewpoints, bittersweet situations, and complicated anger flow out of this articulate effort, but the sweet trick of the album is how approachable it is, living up to its title with equal shares of Mourning and Dreaming." [3] Nate Patrin of Pitchfork gave the album a 7.9 out of 10, saying, ''Mourning in America and Dreaming in Color is where the political agitation of The Undisputed Truth and the social humanism of Us intersect, and there's no vague platitudes or defeatist cynicism here." [7]

Jaeki Cho of XXL said, "[Jake One's] distinguished soul production provides the necessary thump throughout, proving that one-producer-one-MC formula works superbly for this juncture." [9]

Exclaim! named it as one of the most unappreciated albums of 2012. [15] Potholes in My Blog placed it at number 41 on the "50 Best Albums of 2012" list. [16]

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."Letter to My Countrymen" (featuring Dr. Cornel West)4:04
2."Only Life I Know"4:01
3."Stop the Press"4:01
4."Mourning in America"4:08
5."Gather Round" (featuring Amir Sulaiman)4:39
6."Work Everyday"3:45
7."Need a Knot"2:45
8."Won More Hit"3:43
9."Say Amen"2:59
10."Fajr"3:51
11."Namesake"2:10
12."All You Need"3:14
13."My Beloved" (featuring Choklate & Tone Trezure)3:58
14."Singing This Song"4:22
Total length:51:41
deluxe edition bonus tracks [17] [18]
No.TitleLength
15."Just Fine"4:18
16."Dreaming in Color"3:25
Total length:59:24

Notes

Charts

ChartPeak
position
US Billboard 200 [19] 44
US Independent Albums ( Billboard ) [20] 10
US Tastemaker Albums ( Billboard ) [21] 15
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums ( Billboard ) [22] 6
US Rap Albums ( Billboard ) [23] 5

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References

  1. 1 2 "Mourning in America and Dreaming in Color - Brother Ali". Metacritic . CBS Interactive . Retrieved October 19, 2014.
  2. ↑ Morrow, Scott (September 19, 2012). "Review: Brother Ali's Mourning in America and Dreaming in Color". Alarm. Retrieved December 4, 2015.
  3. 1 2 Jeffries, David (September 18, 2012). "Mourning in America and Dreaming in Color - Brother Ali : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic . Retrieved September 26, 2012.
  4. ↑ Freed, Nick (September 17, 2012). "Brother Ali – Mourning in America and Dreaming in Color". Consequence of Sound . Retrieved December 4, 2015.
  5. ↑ MacInne, Paul (August 30, 2012). "Brother Ali: Mourning in America and Dreaming in Color – review | Music". The Guardian . London. Retrieved September 26, 2012.
  6. ↑ Fairfax, Jesse (September 19, 2012). "Brother Ali - Mourning In America and Dreaming In Color | Read Hip Hop Reviews, Rap Reviews & Hip Hop Album Reviews". HipHopDX . Archived from the original on September 27, 2013. Retrieved September 26, 2012.
  7. 1 2 Patrin, Nate (September 19, 2012). "Brother Ali: Mourning in America and Dreaming in Color | Album Reviews". Pitchfork . Retrieved September 26, 2012.
  8. ↑ Grossman, David (October 7, 2012). "Brother Ali: Mourning in America and Dreaming in Color". PopMatters . Retrieved December 4, 2015.
  9. 1 2 Cho, Jaeki (September 20, 2012). "Brother Ali, Mourning in America and Dreaming in Color". XXL . Retrieved November 26, 2014.
  10. ↑ Weiss, Sam (September 19, 2012). "Album Stream: Brother Ali "Mourning In America and Dreaming In Color"". Complex . Retrieved December 4, 2015.
  11. ↑ "Rhymesayers Entertainment :: Brother Ali". Rhymesayers Entertainment . September 18, 2012. Retrieved September 26, 2012.
  12. ↑ Horowitz, Steven J. (September 19, 2012). "Brother Ali "Mourning In America And Dreaming In Color" Album Stream". HipHopDX . Retrieved December 4, 2015.
  13. ↑ Tardio, Andres (March 27, 2017). "Brother Ali Talks Donald Trump, Injustice & Creating 'All the Beauty in This Whole Life'". Billboard . Retrieved June 11, 2017.
  14. ↑ Paine, Jake (September 26, 2012). "Hip Hop Album Sales: The Week Ending 9/23/2012". HipHopDX . Archived from the original on September 27, 2013. Retrieved December 4, 2015.
  15. ↑ "Exclaim's Most Unappreciated Albums of 2012 (Page 1 of 2)". Exclaim! . December 20, 2012. Retrieved June 11, 2017.
  16. ↑ "The 50 Best Albums of 2012 (2/6)". Potholes in My Blog. December 19, 2012. Retrieved June 11, 2017.
  17. ↑ "iTunes - Music - Mourning in America and Dreaming in Color (Deluxe Version) by Brother Ali". iTunes . Apple Inc. September 18, 2012. Retrieved September 26, 2012.
  18. ↑ "Amazon - Music - Mourning in America and Dreaming in Color (Deluxe Version) by Brother Ali". Amazon Music . Amazon.com, Inc. September 18, 2012. Retrieved September 26, 2012.
  19. ↑ "Brother Ali - Chart history - Billboard 200". Billboard . Retrieved December 4, 2015.
  20. ↑ "Brother Ali - Chart history - Independent Albums". Billboard . Retrieved December 4, 2015.
  21. ↑ "Brother Ali - Chart history - Tastemaker Albums". Billboard . Retrieved December 4, 2015.
  22. ↑ "Brother Ali - Chart history - Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums". Billboard . Retrieved December 4, 2015.
  23. ↑ "Brother Ali - Chart history - Rap Albums". Billboard . Retrieved December 4, 2015.
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