J live - Interview

photo coutesy of MontrealMirror.com


J-Live burst onto the Hip Hop scene back in 1995 with the underground classics "Longevity" and "Braggin’ Rights". Noted in The Source as Unsigned Hype, he continued to build a buzz with singles like "Can I Get It" and "Hush The Crowd". Tragically, his 1st album The Best Part got caught up in politics and became one of the most bootlegged unreleased albums in history. But that didn’t stop J-Live, as he continued to rhyme and drop albums, such as the EP Always Will Be and All Of The Above. Back on the scene with a fantastic new album, The Hear After, J-Live took the time to reflect on the past, his underground status, and his new album, and even his status as a 5 Percenter. Don’t sleep – the album is one of the best this year.



Dirty Backpacks:
Aight…J-Live. You’re somebody that’s been around since the mid-90s. The majority of Hip Hop listeners may not be as familiar with you as they are with other artists with more exposure. How do you feel about being viewed as an "Underground legend?"

J-Live:
Um….it feels good – it’s better than not being viewed at all! (Chuckles) I’m happy with the people that come to my shows now; the people that have my last 3 or 4 records. I’m happy that I’ve had the opportunity to put out a new and gain a lot more exposure. So I pretty much just go with the fans that I have and add on and continue to build from there.

Dirty Backpacks:
Now, you’ve got a big cult following….

J-Live:
Yup!

Dirty Backpacks:
….and you’re well known on the Underground scene – do you consider your music "Underground" music, and what are your views on the Underground vs. the Mainstream in Hip Hop?

J-Live:
I don’t think there’s really underground music as much as there is underground budgets and commercial budgets. As far as just commercial tapes, in terms of tapes sounding the same….people catering to a certain kind of music that this is NOT, that’s one thing. But to call it "underground music" would be to assume that if it was somehow adopted by mainstream, it would still be underground. But it would not. So, I’m just trying to look at things as dope and wack. I recognize that I’ve been "underground" in the sense that not a lot of people know about me, but the more people that do, the less underground I become. Not so much in the style of music that I make, but just in my notoriety.

DBP:
You were one of the first artists to really enjoy success without major exposure or radio airplay in the realm of Hip Hop listeners. Talk to us about your experiences and your struggles in the past.

J-Live:
Um, I think that pretty much sums it up. In the mid-90s, there was a resurgence of independent artists. To say that I was one of the first would be to totally forget about the Sugar Hill Gang and all the things that was going on in the late 70s and the early 80s. But there was definitely a sort of renaissance in the mid-90s, with people like me, groups like Company Flow (note: how many of y’all know about Funcrusher Plus?) and Complex, Unspoken Heard….so, there’s that, but there’s a lot of artists out there…the truth of the matter is, there’s a world of music out there that people just don’t get to hear if all they have is major radio and videos.

I mean, people say I’m one of the first dudes from that era, and it’s definitely a compliment. And the status that I get off the jump from that….I think it’d be a lot harder to come out right now if I was new, and I definitely take full advantage of that. But I’m not by any means one of the only people that’s been doing it like that.

DBP:
Well, one of your first singles – the classic "Braggin’ Rights" – they say that it sold almost 20,000 copies worldwide. And your first album The Best Part was massively bootlegged before you finally got a chance to release it yourself. Why did it take so long to officially release it, and how do you feel about the bootlegging situation?

J-Live:
Well, it’s a pretty long and pretty old story, but the long and short of it was the record was released to the press right before the label flipped the distributor. As a result, people have the record, and when it became understood that it wasn’t coming out, the people that had it has something they could sell. On the one hand, they was profiting off of something that they didn’t put any work into, but on the other hand, it wasn’t really competing with something that was on the shelves. It wasn’t taking sales away from something that was out; it was just kinda making sure that my name stayed out there. So I can’t be mad at that. If it wasn’t for that, there would’ve been no interest in (his previous full-length album) All Of The Above or I wouldn’t be standing here talking to you right now.

DBP:
Aight….there’s a lot of MCs that don’t have the educational background that you do.

J-Live:
Really?

DBP:
Yeah, a lot.

J-Live:
In terms of being teachers, or…?

DBP:
Well, just the whole thing – everything that you’ve been through with going to school, with teaching school….

J-Live:
Well, I mean when I was in school, there was a gang of MCs, and even teaching, there was like a handful of cats in the school system that was on it too.

DBP:
Well, I’m not saying the majority, I’m just saying that there’s a pretty significant number who talk about in their history that they didn’t necessarily go through the same educational process that you did.

J-Live:
Okay.

DBP:
So, why don’t you talk to us about your educational experience and what it means to you, and do you feel it gives you an advantage over other artists.

J-Live:
No, I don’t feel it gives me an advantage over other artists. I think that after completing high school then a natural progression comes from the way that I was raised. And after 4 years of school with a major label Hip Hop career in sight, it was still good to have my degree to fall back when if things fell apart. So, in that regards – as an English major, obviously that enhances my ability to write. As a teacher, it helped me in terms of developing my stage show and keeping the crowd focused. In that regard, hell yeah it helped. I think a lot of the artists I know, a lot of the artists that I grew up listening to – I learned as much from them as I did from any school. It was just as important. If you’re gonna be in Hip Hop, you’ve got to be into Hip Hop.

DBP:
As far as the teaching goes, what made you get into that?

J-Live:
The love for the profession and understanding how important it is. Understanding how the kids coming up have somebody that actually cares about what they’re going through and can relate to them and has a similar story or a similar background. Cuz a lot of these schools, we were able to get the jobs because we were teaching at schools where no one else wanted to teach. A lot of the certified teachers are the teachers with their Master’s that were going out to Long Island and downtown Manhattan. Not as many of the top teachers in the world are looking to go to the inner cities like that, so it’s a good opportunity for someone who needs a job, but also it’s also an opportunity for someone who came up in the inner city to be able to give back and build with kids on a level where they can relate.

DBP:
Are you still involved with education?

J-Live:
No, right now I’m doing music full-time. I stopped teaching before All Of The Above came out.

DBP:
Do you think at some point you’ll go back to being involved with education?

J-Live:
Yeah – I think so. I think right now I’m pretty much full speed ahead with my music, but eventually – yeah, I could see that happen.

DBP:
Now, you’re not just any MC – you DJ and you produce as well. We see that becoming more and more the norm with the rise of certain artists in recent years. I mean, you can go as far back as Jermaine Dupri with the producing and rapping or you can go to Kanye West and even Eminem to some extent….

J-Live:
Mm-hmm….

DBP:
But I think a lot of people would kind of view you as ahead of the curve in terms of this new crop of people that kind of want to multi-task like that. What was the impetus behind you becoming that type of artist?

J-Live:
Just the fact that I started dee-jaying around the same time I started rapping. And as an MC and a DJ I had aspirations to produce because those two things sort of add up into that – being familiar with records and at the same time being familiar with what an artist needs. About 5 years ago I was able to get my own studio up to the point where I could really, really start to develop my own productions. But I been dee-jaying and rhyming since I was 12, so it kinda came together that way.

DBP:
Aright man – let’s get to the album. Your new album is The Hear After. Talk to us about the new release, man.

J-Live:
Well, it’s featuring me and a host of other talented producers such as Hezekiah out of Philadelphia, Oddisee out of DC, Soulive and The Fire Dept. from New York, James Poyser from Philly, and artists such as Dwele on one track, and some up and coming artists as well, like Kola Rock – she’s a pretty dope MC, probably coming out later this year.

DBP:
You said you hooked up with Soulive; I’m from Buffalo, and they from Buffalo too….

J-Live:
Oh – say word?

DBP:
And you also hooked up with Dwele, one of my favorite artists, like period. How did you connect with two really heavy hitter musical acts like that?

J-Live:
I been down with Soulive since All Of The Above – they played on that album as well. I’ve been doing some gigs with them every now and then. I brought them with me on The Carson Daly Show. I also did some work on their remix album and their last album as well. And I met Dwele off and on a couple of times, and he’s good friends with the engineer of the album so we was able to hook up and get a song done.

DBP:
You mentioned production on the album – did you work with Jazzy Jeff?

J-Live:
Oh naw, that was last album – All Of The Above.

DBP:
Oh, okay – I was misinformed. What’s the difference between when you recorded The Best Part back then and now today with the release of The Hear After?

J-Live:
Well, I did The Hear After in my own studio, so that’s primarily the main difference. I built the studio from scratch in my house, brought the equipment in – some stuff that I had from the years, some stuff that I got from the budget. And I really got it to sound the way I wanted it to sound. Over the years, I’ve been working with a gang of different producers on the last few records, and I learned a lot about what I like in terms of equipment, the tricks of the trade in terms of how to get the best sound out of things, and I think it reflects on this album. I think this album sonically is very loud and clear as a result of that. So primarily, yeah – it’s just having my own place to work out of. It’s more casual, to be able to come up with ideas on the spot. On All Of The Above, I was working out of a spot called Fast Forward that doesn’t even exist anymore, but the engineer, Elliot – I learned a lot from him as well. This is sort of a culmination of all my efforts and my struggles. What it’s like, and what I’ve tried to achieve – that’s why it’s called The Hear After. This is what you hear after all I’ve been through.

DBP:
What’s your favorite song on the album?

J-Live:
Um, it changes every time I listen to it. Right now, it’s probably "The Sidewalks". A lot of people have been asking me about it. It’s a song that’s close to my heart because it talks about how I came up without necessarily trying to sugarcoat things or make it sound like it was harder than it was. Like, because I’m from New York or because I’m from Spanish Harlem I had to make it sound like I went through all types of struggles – not everybody has to go through that struggle. Like, everybody feels like they have to put that type of spin on things. It was important to me to make a record that was genuine and true to where I’m really from.

DBP:
This is kind of off on a tangent, but – is it true that you’re a 5 Percenter?

J-Live:
Yeah.

DBP:
How did that come to be, and why do you think so many MCs are 5 Percenter or are influenced by 5 Percent theology?

J-Live:
Well, it’s not theology because it’s not religion. We teach Islam as a culture, there’s no real belief system to it, it’s more of a foundation – being able to study and observe what you know and what happens around you and with different people. You know - put things together for yourself. I mean, coming up in New York, immersed in Hip Hop, I was heavily influenced by the 5 Percent Nation, and when I went off to college, I started to build with the gods that were on campus with me and really get into it like that. That’s how I got Knowledge Of Self. It was sort of a natural progression. I think the influence comes with the language being so magnetic and the fact that so many well-reputed artists are 5 Percenters, whether it be Brand Nubian or Rakim or Poor Righteous Teachers. And then, even some of the artists that weren’t 5 Percenters, going hand in hand with some of the same teachings or the same ideas, whether it be BDP or Public Enemy – things of that nature. So that’s how it came about.

DBP:
Leave the people with what you want to say, what message you want to get out about the album or anything you want to say.

J-Live:
I want to silence being labeled as an underground artist. I want to develop my fanbase and let it grow. I’m trying to bridge the gap between underground and commercial and make it more about being dope or being wack. Just be yourself as an artist, speaking your mind and letting people know what you’re about and not being ashamed to be yourself.