J-Live

All Music Guide:

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, NY, 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 released his third LP, The Hear After, in 2005 on the Penalty (Ryko) label and followed up with the Reveal the Secret EP in 2007. Then What Happened? debuted on BBE Records the following year.

Wikipedia:

J-Live (also known as Justice Allah, legal name Jean-Jacques Cadet) is an MC, DJ, and producer from New York.

Early career and The Best Part

J-Live first appeared on the underground hip-hop scene in 1995, when he was a freshman English major at the University at Albany, The State University of New York. His first single "Longevity" appeared on Mark Farina's Mushroom Jazz CD, and follow-up singles "Braggin' Writes" and "Hush the Crowd" garnered widespread attention, getting him printed in the "Unsigned Hype" section of The Source. This led to a record contract with Raw Shack Records. His first album, The Best Part, recorded from 1995 to 1999, featured production by Prince Paul, DJ Premier, and Pete Rock. Due to problems with his record label, J-Live left the label and the album was shelved. He moved to Payday Records, but when Payday's parent company London Records was bought from Universal Music Group by WEA, the album was again shelved. In 2001, copies surfaced as bootlegs and several were of such high quality it was rumored that J-Live himself was behind them. By the fall of 2001, The Best Part was finally officially released after five years of label problems. It was released on Triple Threat Productions, J-Live's own record label.

All of the Above to Then What Happened?

In 2002 his second album, All of the Above was released on the label, Coup D'état. It featured production by DJ Spinna, Usef Dinero, P Smoova and J-Live himself. In 2003 J-Live simultaneously released two EPs, Always Has Been and Always Will Be. Always Has Been was a collection of J-Live's six early singles which did not appear on any of his albums. Always Will Be consisted of 8 new songs. Both EPs were released on the label, Triple Threat Productions. His third LP, The Hear After was released in 2005 on the label, Penalty (Ryko), and was followed in 2007 with another EP, Reveal the Secret, and in 2008 with an LP entitled Then What Happened?, both from BBE Records.

Personal life

After completion of his English degree from SUNY Albany, J-Live became a middle school English teacher in Brownsville and Bushwick, Brooklyn. He later left teaching for the full time pursuit of his hip-hop career. J-Live is currently living in Philadelphia, PA. He is married and has three children. He is of Haitian descent. J-Live is a member of The Nation of Gods and Earths.