Brother Ali

The New Year's Eve party, as an established form of therapy, gives us a few magical hours to teeter on the edge between another disappointing year spent wasting time, money, and brain cells, and the promise of a better one to come; a chance to celebrate (or, if you're like me, mourn), and hope wildly, if for only a moment. Whatever your M.O. any other time, tonight's the night everyone from diamond-encrusted high rollers to hoodied-up hooligans all want the same thing—chiefly, to shake the dirt of the old calendar off their shoulders while strutting drunkenly into a fresh groove. What's the perfect soundtrack for such a metamorphosis? How about three titans of the local rap scene? While Toki Wright has been providing soup-for-the-soul edutainment to those big and small (most notably with his annual Twin Cities Celebration of Hip Hop), Ali and DJ BK One have been regular collaborators since 2000. With music trump tight up to and well past midnight, grab that special someone and shake your shit. 21+.
Mon., Dec. 31, 9 p.m., 2007