Zitat:
Brooklyn MC J-Live first garnered notice with the release of his 1995 single "Bragging Writes." Delivering his thoughtful lyrics with confidence and ease, J-Live's rapping was strong and his soul-inflected grooves immediately appealed to fans of underground hip-hop. A year later he followed up with another hit, "Hush the Crowd," and started to generate a palpable buzz. With tracks produced by luminaries such as Prince Paul, DJ Premier, and Pete Rock, the release of J-Live's full-length debut The Best Part was hotly anticipated and the future looked promising for the ascendant MC. At this point, though, J-Live was beset by a host of troubles. Amidst constant label shuffling and plagued by a series of illegal bootlegs, the release of The Best Part was delayed for five years. There was some talk that J-Live was behind some of the bootlegs — a few of which were of extremely high quality — and the ongoing saga became something of an underground legend. In the interim, J-Live worked as an eighth grade teacher in Brunswick and continued to embellish and refine his debut. He kept good company, making cameo appearances on strong albums like Handsome Boy Modeling School's So How's Your Girl? and J Rawls' The Essence of J Rawls. The Best Part finally enjoyed its official release in the fall of 2001. All of the Above followed one year later, and 2003 brought a two-part mini-LP-tribute to his early days, Always Has Been and Always Will Be.
J-Live - The Best Part (2001)
1. Outside Looking In
2. Intro
3. Got What It Takes
4. Don't Play
5. Vampire Hunter J
6. Yes!
7. Them Thats Not
8. Kick It to the Beat
9. Wax Paper
10. Timeless
11. Get the Third
12. School's In [Remix]
13. R.A.G.E.
14. True School Anthem
15. Inside Looking Outro
16. Best Part
17. Play
18. Braggin' Writes Revisited
19. Epilogue
J-Live - All Of The Above (2002)
1. First Things First
2. How Real It Is
3. Satisfied?
4. Interlude 1 (I'm A Rapper)
5. MCee
6. Like This Anna
7. One For The Griot
8. Stir Of Echoes
9. Interlude 2 (For The Babies)
10. Do That $#!%
11. All In Together Now
12. Nights Like This
13. The 4th 3rd
14. Travelling Music
15. A Charmed Life
16. All Of The Above
17. Interlude 3 (Whatever)
18. Happy Belated
19. Satisfied (Dub Version)
20. 3 Out Of 7
21. The Lyricist
J-Live - Always Will Be (2003)
1. Always Will Be
2. Add-A-Cipher
3. Deal Widit
4. Get Live
5. Car Trouble
6. Walkman Music
7. 9000 Miles
8. Skip Proof
J-Live - The Hear After (2005)
1. Here
2. Aaw Yeah
3. Fire Water
4. Do My Thing
5. Whoever
6. The Sidewalks
7. Audio Visual
8. Brooklyn Public Part 1
9. Listening
10. Harder
11. Coming Home
12. Weather The Storm
13. After
J-Live - Reveal The Secret (2007)
1. The Incredible
2. Once Upon A Mic
3. Practice (Magnificent Mix)
4. Feel Like Spittin'
5. Red Light Green Light
6. Practice (Spaghetti Bender Mix)
J-Live - Then What Happened? (2008)
1. One To 31
2. Be No Slave
3. The Upgrade ft Posdanous & Oddisee
4. It Don't Stop
5. The Understanding
6. The Last Third
7. Ole ft Oddy Gato
8. What You Holdin'?
9. Oowee
10. The Zone ft Chali 2na
11. We Are!
12. Simmer Down
13. You Out There
Wooooaaas?! Ich find das Album sehr geil! Super produziert, sehr schöne Sample-Auswahl, mal wieder nen rundes Ding von J-Live. Ich würd mehr Punkte geben... vielleicht 7 wenn nicht noch mehr.