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Hip Hop, News

Do Remember When Plug 1, Oddisee, & J-Live Gave Came Together For A Hip-Hop Upgrade

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Twenty years ago, MC/producer/DJ J-Live was putting the finishing touches on his debut album, The Best Part. During that time, the talented artist was heard on DJ Premier’s New York Reality Check 101 compilation. The Brooklyn, New York-based English teacher was also putting in acclaimed work with Prince Paul and Dan The Automator’s Handsome Boy Modeling School. Meanwhile, an anticipated LP for Hip-Hop Heads was jammed up in delays as Justice moved from Raw Shack Records to Payday/London Records, all without letting his release see the light of day.

It was not until 2001 that The Best Part released. Preemo and Prince Paul produced songs, as did Pete Rock and his brother Grap Luva, DJ Spinna, as well as 88-Keys. Even if the LP was late by J’s watch, the effort was right on time for legions of Hip-Hop fans. He wasted no time following up. A year later, All Of The Above was a powerful and personal sequel to one of the brightest talents out the Underground Hip-Hop. While there was Rawkus, Fondle ‘Em, Hydra and other crews of artists, J-Live teamed with The Artifacts El Da Sensei as well as Asheru & Blue Black for another team of talented voices.

J-Live Is Making Hip-Hop Great Again With A Song About Hate (Lyric Video)

By the end of the 2000s, J-Live had left NYC for Georgia, with a stop in Philadelphia in between. After two EPs and 2005’s The Hear After seemingly did not live up to the excited response of J’s first two albums, the triple-threat put it all on the table in the form of 2008’s Then What Happened?

For an artist who had been so personal with his audience, the release was another candid conversation, a dozen years after the journey began. DJ Jazzy Jeff, Da Beatminerz, DJ Nu-Mark, and Capital D produced. However, J-Live also involved Foreign Exchange’s Nicolay as well as an artist he’d been working with throughout the decade, Oddisee.

When Stakes Were High For Hip-Hop, De La Soul, Common & Mos Def Got Down To Bizness (Video)

Originally released on BBE Records, the album contains the ultimate collaboration in J’s catalog. “The Upgrade” is a moment of optimism, shared between J, Oddisee (who also produces the cut), and De La Soul’s Posdnuos. At a time when the housing market bubble burst, Hip-Hop’s middle class seemed pushed to the fringes, and the CD was dying, these three men still found a reason to celebrate. That joy and positivity resonate more than a decade later. It was three artists whose careers seemed to start in three different decades, teaming up with a common message of self-worth and survival.

J kicks things off. Midway into his pepped-up verse, he declares, “I doubt that the stakes are that high / Not do or die, more like die or do / That’s what I’m going through / So J can get live at a venue near you / That’s why I quit the job way back in ’02 / We’re not here merely to survive off Rap / We’re trying to eat way healthier than that / So not to tread water, but to run laps / My legs been crampin’ since the starter-gun clapped / Not too many in the crew survived from that / So I learn how to stretch to avoid those traps,” Justice celebrates the sacrifice to get him to this point and fights for the cause, and references some De La song titles in doing so.

Oddisee Releases The First Video From His Extraordinary New Album

Oddisee rhymes next. The soulful multi-talent was a few years before a flood of attention was paid to his material. However, the moment shows that the great was always there for the Washington, D.C. product. “Born in D.C., raised in Maryland / Right away the corner from the grays and heroin / Played in the playground where them strays found / I’m talkin’ ’bout caps, y’all, not greyhounds / It’s all about the cap, y’all, I stayed down / Recess over, y’all, Oddisee don’t play now / Lookin’ for a beat? Holla at me, upgrade now / Unless you’re J-Live or Plug 1, you pay now.” The former A Touch Of Jazz affiliate was asserting his worth, and letting the industry know that he was more valuable than perhaps thought of in the past. Time shows that Oddisee was absolutely right.

Pos’ closes out the song with a trademark here-and-now verse from the Long Island legend. “Some say if the shoe fits, know there’s another foot that can fit in too / Don’t ask / Slip that foot in, walk that foot to the cash / Y’all can call me cash-shoes, some others call me work-matic / I’m a category 6 when at it / You’re all ecstatic in the form.” The nimble and unconventional rhyme is in the pocket as Plug 1 scoffs at people who were still calling the 20-year veteran “underground.” He compares himself to fish, and blows bubbles in the face of haters with an artful verse.

Other Ambrosia For Heads “Do Remember” Features

At a time when Hip-Hop needed a shot in the arm, J-Live, Oddisee, and Posdnuos gave us all an upgrade. J-Live recently added Then What Happened? and other titles to digital streaming platforms via his Mortier Music imprint.

#BonusBeat: J-Live’s October 2018 release Lose No Time:

Twenty years ago, MC/producer/DJ J-Live was putting the finishing touches on his debut album, The Best Part. During that time, the talented artist was heard on DJ Premier’s New York Reality Check 101 compilation. The Brooklyn, New York-based English teacher was also putting in acclaimed work with Prince Paul and Dan The Automator’s Handsome Boy Modeling School. Meanwhile, an anticipated LP for Hip-Hop Heads was jammed up in delays as Justice moved from Raw Shack Records to Payday/London Records, all without letting his release see the light of day.

It was not until 2001 that The Best Part released. Preemo and Prince Paul produced songs, as did Pete Rock and his brother Grap Luva, DJ Spinna, as well as 88-Keys. Even if the LP was late by J’s watch, the effort was right on time for legions of Hip-Hop fans. He wasted no time following up. A year later, All Of The Above was a powerful and personal sequel to one of the brightest talents out the Underground Hip-Hop. While there was Rawkus, Fondle ‘Em, Hydra and other crews of artists, J-Live teamed with The Artifacts El Da Sensei as well as Asheru & Blue Black for another team of talented voices.

J-Live Is Making Hip-Hop Great Again With A Song About Hate (Lyric Video)

By the end of the 2000s, J-Live had left NYC for Georgia, with a stop in Philadelphia in between. After two EPs and 2005’s The Hear After seemingly did not live up to the excited response of J’s first two albums, the triple-threat put it all on the table in the form of 2008’s Then What Happened?

For an artist who had been so personal with his audience, the release was another candid conversation, a dozen years after the journey began. DJ Jazzy Jeff, Da Beatminerz, DJ Nu-Mark, and Capital D produced. However, J-Live also involved Foreign Exchange’s Nicolay as well as an artist he’d been working with throughout the decade, Oddisee.

When Stakes Were High For Hip-Hop, De La Soul, Common & Mos Def Got Down To Bizness (Video)

Originally released on BBE Records, the album contains the ultimate collaboration in J’s catalog. “The Upgrade” is a moment of optimism, shared between J, Oddisee (who also produces the cut), and De La Soul’s Posdnuos. At a time when the housing market bubble burst, Hip-Hop’s middle class seemed pushed to the fringes, and the CD was dying, these three men still found a reason to celebrate. That joy and positivity resonate more than a decade later. It was three artists whose careers seemed to start in three different decades, teaming up with a common message of self-worth and survival.

J kicks things off. Midway into his pepped-up verse, he declares, “I doubt that the stakes are that high / Not do or die, more like die or do / That’s what I’m going through / So J can get live at a venue near you / That’s why I quit the job way back in ’02 / We’re not here merely to survive off Rap / We’re trying to eat way healthier than that / So not to tread water, but to run laps / My legs been crampin’ since the starter-gun clapped / Not too many in the crew survived from that / So I learn how to stretch to avoid those traps,” Justice celebrates the sacrifice to get him to this point and fights for the cause, and references some De La song titles in doing so.

Oddisee Releases The First Video From His Extraordinary New Album

Oddisee rhymes next. The soulful multi-talent was a few years before a flood of attention was paid to his material. However, the moment shows that the great was always there for the Washington, D.C. product. “Born in D.C., raised in Maryland / Right away the corner from the grays and heroin / Played in the playground where them strays found / I’m talkin’ ’bout caps, y’all, not greyhounds / It’s all about the cap, y’all, I stayed down / Recess over, y’all, Oddisee don’t play now / Lookin’ for a beat? Holla at me, upgrade now / Unless you’re J-Live or Plug 1, you pay now.” The former A Touch Of Jazz affiliate was asserting his worth, and letting the industry know that he was more valuable than perhaps thought of in the past. Time shows that Oddisee was absolutely right.

Pos’ closes out the song with a trademark here-and-now verse from the Long Island legend. “Some say if the shoe fits, know there’s another foot that can fit in too / Don’t ask / Slip that foot in, walk that foot to the cash / Y’all can call me cash-shoes, some others call me work-matic / I’m a category 6 when at it / You’re all ecstatic in the form.” The nimble and unconventional rhyme is in the pocket as Plug 1 scoffs at people who were still calling the 20-year veteran “underground.” He compares himself to fish, and blows bubbles in the face of haters with an artful verse.

Other Ambrosia For Heads “Do Remember” Features

At a time when Hip-Hop needed a shot in the arm, J-Live, Oddisee, and Posdnuos gave us all an upgrade. J-Live recently added Then What Happened? and other titles to digital streaming platforms via his Mortier Music imprint.

#BonusBeat: J-Live’s October 2018 release Lose No Time:

Source: AmbrosiaForHeads.com

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Hip Hop

10 Years Later, Q-Tip Explains How “The Renaissance” Made A Lasting Statement

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November 4, 2008 was a day laced in change. Marking the Presidential election that led Barack Obama to Office, American politics and culture was in the midst of a transformation. Hip-Hop artists became increasingly vocal in the conversation of change in America. In addition to US politics, Rap music seemed to be undergoing its own remodeling. Accompanied by the historic election, Q-Tip’s second album, The Renaissance, presented itself as the perfect declaration of change on all fronts.

Tip had a good idea of what he was up against with the release of this album In an interview with Thomas Hobbs of NME, he describes how the new scene transcended into his studio sessions for the album. “It felt like I had re-entered Hip-Hop. At the time I exited, music was vastly different,” he says. The Abstract then goes on to describe how the differences overcoming the culture were those of a newer model to a familiar ride, “I came back and was like ‘Okay, the brakes are still there. This is the steering wheel. We don’t put the keys in doors no more, I can handle that!’ It was like even though things had changed, the premise of a car is still a car. Once you get in, you keep things moving.”

Anderson .Paak’s Oxnard Album Tracklist Features Dr. Dre, Q-Tip, J. Cole & More

The MC/Producer of A Tribe Called Quest didn’t seem fazed by the new wave of artists at the time. On the album’s fourth track “Official,” Q-Tip describes how he doesn’t need the charts to validate his message. In hindsight he sees the energy and message of the record speaks to what Hip-Hop has become. “Up until DAMN., Kendrick didn’t have a lot of radio play, yet he was still selling albums,” Tip observes. “J. Cole didn’t have a lot of radio spins either, but was doing world tours and has legions of fans.” The Queens, New Yorker was looking to instill a sense of individuality in how to make it music to the generation of upcoming as well, “When I said ‘don’t need a Billboard hit for me to hit you‘ – that thinking ties into the logic behind Soundcloud Rap as well. Those lyrics were about showing rappers that there are other pathways and conduits to reach your audience. That lyric spoke to the archaic construct of the 21st-century record business, which a lot of people were still trying to cling onto at the time. I saw it deteriorating, so that lyric was a little prophetic. I wanted to show there was a different path to success.”

Looking back, the new age of Hip-Hop was not the only challenge Q-Tip faced. The then-Universal Motown Records artist was facing the comparisons of his solo work to the likes of what he did with A Tribe Called Quest. “Living underneath or inside the corridors of A Tribe Called Quest is a lot, you know? People always judge me against what Tribe was. I try not to pay attention to those shackles, but everyone else does,” he admits. Despite the frustration as a result of the criticism, the multi-talented artist received them as fuel to create more music, “I try to rely on the humanitarianism of the listen. Meaning, everybody else has those hangs ups on me, but I don’t pay attention to it… I just keep making music that moves me, and hopefully, it connects to people and changes their world too.” It seems like the only thing that could stop the artist is himself.

Q-Tip Is Working On His First Solo Album In Nearly 10 Years & It’s Coming Soon

The Renaissance celebrates its 10th-anniversary during a very different time. “I think The Renaissance has an optimism that doesn’t really exist anymore,” he declares. “If you look at The Renaissance and the last Tribe album [We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service], then the former is bright, and the latter has a darker tone because we knew [a Trump Presidency was happening].” The negative influence of the political climate seemed to mirror itself in pop culture as well.

Music began to take on darker views and shallow subject matter which Q-Tip describes as a loss for creativity in Hip-Hop, “[Right now] you don’t see a lot of harmony in the music. You don’t hear a lot of depth. The music is a little darker. The young rappers now have a much more limited subject matter, which is fine, but that means their imagination has to be immense and it just isn’t, for the most part.”

Q-Tip Will Teach College Students The Low End Theory & Other Hip-Hop Lessons

Despite the unsuspected changes in the state of Hip-Hop and pop culture, Q-Tip has no intentions in pulling back his influence on the game. “I ain’t stopping. I am too talented. I will do this to my death,” he tells NME. “I am going to be like James Brown or Louis Armstrong or Prince; they did music until they couldn’t do it anymore and were gone. In my final days, I will still be doing this. I don’t believe in retiring. I will probably keel over my drum machine. I’m 48 now, which, I guess, means I’m only half-way done!” Now teaching music courses at NYU, The Renaissance man is looking forward to fulfilling the longevity of his career and impacting music.

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