By Daniel Paiz

After some time away, A Week’s Worth Album Review returns by digging into Brother Ali & unJUST’s Love & Service album. This 13-track project arrived at the end of April 2024, and seemingly has been under the radar compared to other projects released lately. Brother Ali delivers his signature rhymes full of reflection and social commentary over a variety of unJUST productions. These two have solid chemistry throughout. Each track feels like just the right puzzle piece to the overall album.

There’s not a bad track on this album. As always there are a few standouts, and those keep leading to repeat plays. As expected, this album sounds better the more you listen to it. Songs are like chapters in a book, delivering different viewpoints dependent on where you are mentally with each listen.

Reflection amidst self-definition

Evaluating where you are in life is a good thing to do, but there has to be more to it than that. Reflection can lead to working on oneself, and critically looking into what decisions are impacting the current state of things for a person. There are several tracks on this project that can be a reminder, or a guideline of sorts for certain places in life one might be. It’s essential to focus on the here and now, rather than lamenting on the past or worrying about the future. Awaken does a good job of emphasizing this:

“Nothing entertains us like the insane ledger of occasions we created, the fingers that we pointed at the saviors we anointed, the anger when our expectations got disjointed, spaceship, we’re thinking we’re home on it, til our VISA run out and we’re deported”-Brother Ali on Awaken

Scenarios in our head are usually far graver than reality shows them to be. Ali reminds listeners of this. These lines are so fluid and paint numerous pictures. Focus on being in the moment, and not sleepwalking through life via comfortable patterns. In some ways, humankind creates its own problems. Instead of realizing this beforehand, it’s all about living through it; reaction and not prevention is a downfall of people. As the title suggests, one must recognize this continually happens.

Another track in a similar vein would be Ghosts. This track has patterns that keep getting repeated, kind of like spectres we keep showing ourselves as we live life. One particular section that stands out follows as:

I asked if the subtweet was about me, you promised that it’s not, then you block me,

you sent a voicemail to say you’re sorry, I called you back promptly, you denied me,

the app says you’re online in the margin so I know you’re watching, what’s the problem?

-Brother Ali 2nd verse on Ghosts

Interpersonal communication has broken down so much due to misunderstandings and people not clearing up things with each other directly. Likely one of the best assessments of contemporary digital connections to date. Devices that connect so much information seemingly present social barriers as well. There are two other tracks that tie into this when discussing the world around us.

The titular track Love & Service does a wonderful job of getting at the heart of the matter (and the heart of the album). The song dives into the idea that everyone is a product of the society they live in, and each person has the job to grow in spite of it. People have the choice to aid each other and grow, or to fall to the individualist mindset prevalent today. Judgment is a result of lacking vulnerability and an unwillingness to be open.

Love and Service take consistent effort and openness despite one’s environment. That’s certainly tough to do, but anything worth it requires work. There’s a feeling one achieves by doing so, and the track Inside demonstrates this quite well.

Inside is such a heartfelt track, and the no frills guitar breakdown with quotes sampled over the beat helps establish this very accessible tune. This is the most ethereal work on the album, guiding the listener to be reflective and resilient. Good rhymes abound, but this one puts the listener into their feels.

The musicality is soulful, with the combination of blues and Hip-Hop intertwining flawlessly. “The tears just can’t stay on the inside, you might swallow, your fears, and your prayers but, I sing mine” is the best chorus on this album. This song closes out the album peacefully.

Final Word

Love & Service is an album that delivers as a toolbox of sorts for life right now. There are tracks that reminds the listener to reflect, and to recognize how their responses can and will dictate how life goes for them. There are other tracks that showcase the lyrical skillset of Ali and the production thoughtfulness of unJUST. There isn’t a track on here that veers away from the overarching message of being open and learning about oneself, and in doing so this can impact others around us. There’s a maturity on this album that delivers both kindness but also lessons. It isn’t preachy, there’s no finger pointing; instead, reflection resonates throughout.

This album feels like it’s been looked over amongst popular releases this year in the realm of Hip Hop. Projects like this are necessary for not just the genre, but for the culture as well. When an album feels like a book one can return to it and learn something new from or hear a different perspective—that’s unusually refreshing.