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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Beats, Rhymes, and Live (4 Stars), September 4, 2005
J-Live returns with his 2005 release The Hear After. The results vary, but for the most part, the songs are tight. There are bangers on the album like "Harder", "Whoever", and "Aaw Yeah". You can also expect J to flip words and paint pictures like he's been known to do on tracks like "Audio Visual" and "Listening". To me, this is his strength. But if you're into J-Live, then you know that the lyrical aspect of the album will be on point and he doesn't disappoint on this album. Two thumbs up for the content.
As far as shortcomings, there are a few, but there aren't necessarily any wack songs. There are some beats that don't quite fit J (Do My Thing) and there a few forgettable tracks. Tracks like "Fire Water" and "The Sidewalks" are good, but they have a sleep inducing effect. They aren't wack, but they are a little slow/boring. But aside from a few boring tracks and a few weak beats, the rest of the album is tight.
As a whole, The Hear After is more than worth purchasing. J-Live's rhymes are always on point. The problem is that the production on some of the tracks isn't up to par (especially for J's standards). It's definitely one of the better 2005 rap releases though and would make a solid addition to any CD collection.
Standout Tracks: Listening feat. Kola Rock, Aaw Yeah, Audio Visual, Coming Home feat. Dwele, Whoever (My Favorite), Weather The Storm, Harder, & After
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The Demise of a Former Great - 3 Stars, August 31, 2005
When you come to J-Live, you come for lyrics. The ten-year veteran of the underground rap game - who received praise from The Source's Unsigned Hype column before dropping his first single, "Longevity," in 1996 - knows this. "Before bills get paid, skills get honed, you can't get that? Might as well get gone," Live warns on the album's opener, "Here."
As a self-proclaimed "triple threat," J takes pride in the fact that he writes, produces, and scratches most of his songs. But his reluctance to enlist outside producers, such as "Best Part" alumni Pete Rock and DJ Premier, is what paralyses "The Hear After" into mediocrity.
Unlike his previous effort, "All Of The Above," where J was able to tackle the bulk of production and still sound fresh, "The Hear After" sounds underproduced and dated. An above-average street narrative on "Sidewalks" is ruined by a mid-90s throwaway synth. Despite potential in the song title, "Do My Thing" is a dreadful attempt at a Swizz Beatz-meets-Dr. Dre collabo, where newcomers Cvees rehash generic lines like "put the chrome piece to your dome piece." These tracks aren't quite as painful as "After," though, with its random guitar licks, choppy bass line and carelessly throw-in horn stabs.
And so, predictably, the listener is forced to focus on J's lyrics. On the aforementioned "Sidewalks," he blasts the current New York City rap scene dominated by emcees trying to emulate Jay-Z. "I've seen people influenced by the next man's flow, to the point that it controls where they content go. But if there's eight million stories and a handful of rappers, we can't all be pimps, players and gun clappers," he laments. "Brooklyn Public Part 1" deserves points for its sheer originality, as J pays homage to both the public school system and his former career as an elementary school teacher: "Welcome to Brooklyn Public, one of the hardest places to work, so please don't apply unless you really love it. It's not a 9-5, or rather 8-3, it's really 5-9 A-P, if it's your job: place nothing above it."
Live then gets back to what he does best - criticizing society - on the album's strongest cut, "Weather The Storm." He shifts from domestic problems ("schools lack, the prisons is packed, insurance is wack, the simple rights remain under attack") to individualism ("whatever your country's cream is, the theme is fukk yours, give me mine, it seems") to foreign policy ("we on a world tour against Mohammad my man, with a constitution, bible, and a gat in his hands") effortlessly, reminding listeners of why they first got into J-Live.
When all's said and done though, "The Hear After" will be remembered as a disappointment. Eerily, J predicts the demise of his lackluster career as a result of his stubbornness on the album's closer, "After": "The entrance was too long, the exit was too short, but it's my way or the highway, so fukk what you thought." Hopefully this former great won't have to settle for irrelevance.
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7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
What the world really needs are some quality MCs, September 3, 2005
Let's get this out of the way first, if you're searching for beat-driven, crunk infused, boombastic thumpers, then conitnue your search. If there's one thing J-Live wants you to know by the end of the album, it's that MCing comes first. In this regard I agree with the other reviewer here who mentions the decline in production, and the subsequent shift to the lyrics. However, by my tastes, I really enjoy the production, the musical style and variety, and, of course, the lyrics.
The one thing that prevents me from putting this album at "All of the Above" level is the absence of thematic and structural creativity that made that album a classic. I'm thinking of songs like All in Together Now and the track with the varying endings.
Still, J-Live flexes his lyrical ability as well as ever. To my understanding, J-Live used to teach middle school English, and being that I teach 7th grade English, "Brooklyn Public Part 1" is a personal favorite. Though I cannot empathize with the experience of those in Brooklyn schools, I can certainly identify with J's jabs at principals, school boards, lazy and cynical teachers, testing, and in general, the illogical and thwarting nature of the public schooling system. There's also a sweet verse which just continually gives name to the countless variety of students you encounter in schools, "Some are motivated, some are lazy, some are geniuses, some are crazy, the line between is hazy."
This track's selling point to me, is the way that J-Live delivers these points, not in a condescending tone, but as if we, the listeners, are on a moving belt, traveling through a school, witnessing what our guide, J-Live, is telling us.
The music backdrop is also great here with a piano sounding as if it was pulled right from a high school auditorium, and a reocurring "Ohhhh ohh" chant.
Other beats on the album don't impress as they did on "All of the Above" because I feel that album contains more breaks and change-ups during songs. I do not deduct points for this, though, because I feel the production is more precise, and the songwriting is more focused (perhaps the cause for the absence of songs that take a leap in creativity).
Despite the move towards songs with the fewer breaks, there is still a wide variety of songs styles, most with memorable hooks.
The album opener, "Here", featuring the well-known jam band Soulive, sounds like the child of "Black on Both Sides" and "The New Danger" by Mighty Mos Def.
"Do My Thing" has a cool synth loop, and "Whoever" features a surprisingly groovy latin/carribean mix with some well-placed scratching. This track also displays some of J-Live's best flow on the album.
The follwing track, "The Sidewalks", is another favorite and deals with J-Live's childhood stomping grounds, NYC. The beat is heavy, and the twisting, high-pitched synth line in the background is straight out of an Eazy-E track. The lyrics in this song simultaneously, and effectively, dismantle biter MCs from the area, offer praise to the capital of the world, and make clear J-Live's roots in the same communities so many other rappers use as an excuse to talk of (or more accurately, glorify) lives of depravity, self-absorbed behavior, and fantasical imaginings of grandiose lives drenched in death, sex, and drugs. I applaud J-Live's ability to persevere through life on the same tough streets, and come out a messenger of knowledge and hope.
J-Live perfectly embodies the ultimate frustration in hip-hop and all of pop culture today: he is an artist as talented as any in his craft, yet the wisdom and truth with which he speaks will prohibit his words from reaching the people, and the great number of these people, that they need to reach. Without sacrificing the infectious vibe that is absent in much underground hip-hop, J-Live continues in the long line of great African-American thinkers who see the still present entrapments of his race, and warns of the dangers of complacency and indiffence, all with the spirit of hope, and the purpose of a teacher. I hope it will be soon when we ALL are ready to learn
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