CD Review: J-Live’s Then What Happened?
June 8, 2008
Disclaimer, this is not an objective review which is why it’s taken so long to write it. I know J-Live, have spoken to him on many occasions. I only even knew this CD was coming out because I called him on his phone to ask him what he was up to. If that’s a little too honest for ya’ll, tough.
Anyway, I’ve always admired J as a lyricist but this review is about the beats. To this day All of The Above sits as my favorite of his projects because the beats complemented his intricate word play. Like many of you I was not blown away by the instrumentation on The Here After (with the exception of the jazzy “Listening” and guitar-flavored “Harder “) and was intrigued at his explanation of what happened. I copped the Reveal The Secret EP and was extremely pleased with the sample heavy, scratch-laden soundscapes he got from the likes of Jazzy Jeff, Da Beatminerz, etc. “The Incredible” and “Feel Like Spittin” were on constant rotation in my iPod until I could get my hands on Then What Happened?
Now the good side of Then What Happened? is that it is a 1000% percent improvement over the beats on The Here After. The xylophones and scratches on “It Don’t Stop” go great with the drums and the melancholy rhodes and trumpet on “The Last Third” are a fitting conclusion to that series. As for head nodding ear candy the CD doesn’t get better than “The Understanding” and “The Upgrade.” They come closest to the energy of the EP and gave the sub woofers in my truck a nice workout. A close third is DJ Spinna’s “We Are!” with its soulful moans and claps from “Long Red.”
Somewhere in the middle “Simmer Down” “Be No Slave” and “The Zone” do their part to keep the party going. But unlike the above cuts they haven’t migrated into my roadtrip playlists on their own merit. Nevertheless the drums and claps on “The Zone” are ripe for cutting and “Simmer Down” could be ill in an indie movie soundtrack.
Bad side? There really isn’t a “bad” side, just songs I could have lived without. Maybe a lil too subdued or left of center the beats on “Ole,” “One to 31″ and “What You Holdin” didn’t have much replay value for me. And the drums on “You Out There” were just too weak and the synths sounded way too artificial.
I personally think there were cuts from the EP that should have made the final CD so what I’ve done is created a wish list of what is my ultimate J-Live CD, Reveal What Happened, made up of cuts from Then What Happened ? and Reveal The Secret in this sequence:
1) It Don’t Stop
2) Feel Like Spittin
3) We Are!
4) The Understanding
5) The Last Third
6) Red Light Green Light
7) The Upgrade
The Incredible
9) The Zone
10) Practice (The Magnificent Remix)
And for someone with as much to say as J I wouldn’t have minded a skit/interlude or two to weave it all together. Maybe excerpts from an interview with a certain website:) Peace Justice.
Jerry L. Barrow
Triple Threat J-Live returns with new CD Then What Happened?
April 16, 2008
Pressure busts pipes and shapes diamonds so if anybody has jewels to drop it’s J-Live.
Three years after his last project, The Here After, multi-talented triple threat is back with a vengeance on his new CD, Then What Happened?
“The cover is me knocked out with my glasses broken,” says the NY native who now resides in Atlanta, GA. “Musically this is me getting off the ground.”
After the lukewarm reception to the production on his last project J-Live enlisted a who’s who of hip-hop producers and talented off-the-radar beatsmiths.
“I didn’t do any beats on this one,” says J who is famously known for being able to scratch records and rhyme at the same time. “I’m not trying to have a beat on the album for the sake of having a beat. I got Jazzy Jeff, Evil Dee, Oddisee, Floyd The Locsmif, DJ Spinna, Nicolay and DJ Numark from Jurassic Five.” Also featured are Joe Money, (who produced “Like This Anna,” “One For The Griot,” and “Nights Like This” on All of The Above ) Yalzee and Spymusic’s Probe DMS.
“I’ve been working on this for about a year and a half,” he says. “Every time I get into it something happens in my life, my whole world flips around. The separation from my wife was big, that’s a very serious life altering occurrence and having three kids makes it more complicated. That’s a whole other animal. My kids are in Atlanta now, that’s why I’m down here. I’ve been doing some tutoring of Language Arts and Math to middle schoolers. Just keeping that side of the blade sharp.”
While he stands by his work on The Here After, he does have an explanation for why it sounded so different from his previous work.
“The thing that people don’t realize is that [on] The Here After we only sampled from Rykor’s catalogue cuz they said they couldn’t afford any sample issues,” he reveals. “It was an interesting experiment, very worth the effort, but at the end of the day it doesn’t go back to 70s soul or Jazz and Funk so every producer on the record had their hands tied behind their back, including myself. It was apparent in the end product.”
J hasn’t done much production as of late but his MPC work on “Traveling Music,” “Stir of Echoes,” and “The 4th 3rd” should leave little doubt as to what he can do with the right resources. After touring in the U.S., Europe and South Africa he’ll begin working on an instrumental album.
“I’ll let people talk their shit because my rep speaks for itself on the beats. It’s not like the evidence ain’t there. Lately it’s just been ‘focus on the rhymes’ but the beats are coming.”
J-Live’s, Then What Happened? will be in stores May 27th