J-Live: All Of The Above : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Indie-rap hero J-Live figured to fulfill crossover dreams with his would-be major-label debut, 1999's The Best Part. But thanks to megamerger cutbacks, that album never saw release, leaving J-Live to do what any self-respecting edutainer would: become a schoolteacher. Three years, countless bootlegs and hundreds of English lessons later, J-Live has returned with All of the Above, a dense album of mature hip-hop from a rapper who understands the depths, and limitations, of the form. He's flexible with content -- "One for the Griot" is a debauched tale with three different endings -- and style: "MCee" is a stunning exercise in alliteration. And like any battle-scarred veteran, J-Live is unafraid of risk, rapping with equal aplomb about a divine woman ("Like This Anna") and his college degree ("A Charmed Life"). "Satisfied?" is a vibrant, cutting response to 9/11 jingoism: "It won't make the brutality disappear/It won't pull equality from behind your ear." Like the prodigal son returned, J-Live serves notice on the rap industry that spurned him: It's time for class.

JON CARAMANICA
(RS 897 - June 6, 2002)