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┌────────┐ ██▀▀
────┤ Info ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
└────────┘
Artist | J-Live
Title | The Best Part
Genre | Hip-Hop Format | Album
Source | CD Time | 74:15
Label | Triple Threat Productions Store | 2001
Catalog | TTP0001 Rip | 2018
Bitrate | 862 kbps Size | 479.53 MB
Freq | 44.1 kHz Encoder | FLAC 1.3.1
┌────────┐
────┤ Tracks ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
└────────┘
01. Outside Looking 1:48
02. Intro 1:13
03. Got What It Takes 5:09
04. Don't Play 5:04
05. Vampire Hunter J 2:59
06. YES! 3:32
07. Them That's Not 5:12
08. Kick It To The Beat (Feat. Asheru & Probe.Dms) 4:22
09. Wax Paper 3:27
10. Timeless 4:00
11. Get The Third 4:45
12. School's In Remix 5:14
13. R.A.G.E. 3:36
14. True School Anthem 4:23
15. Inside Looking Outro 2:07
16. The Best Part 3:36
17. Play 5:01
18. Braggin' Writes Revisited 3:17
19. Epilogue 5:30
┌────────┐
────┤ Notes ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
└────────┘
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.
"The Best Part" is, simply put, classic New York hip-hop, or, as
J-Live himself labels it, 'true school' that can trace its roots in
a direct line back to such icons as KRS-One and Big Daddy Kane.
Granted, J-Live didn't reach that level of name recognition with
this debut album, and even if it doesn't quite attain the heights of
the landmark recordings from those artists, it does threaten to
scale them. It is a truly cataclysmic tour de force, especially when
you consider the hoops through which the music was forced to jump
before it finally appeared, long overdue, in 2001.
"The Best Part" was near completion as early as 1997, and was once
set for official release in 1999 (most of the songs were written
between 1995 and 1998). Unfortunately, the album, according to
J-Live's own liner notes, was 'built, robbed, destroyed, rebuilt,
held up, postponed, cancelled, shelved, bootlegged, analyzed,
exploited, slept on, supported, patiently awaited, and appreciated'
long before it ultimately came to commercial fruition for everyone
else to appreciate. No wonder, then, that it is such a confident,
assured record.
No wonder also that the music is very reminiscent of the sounds that
were coming out of the alternative New York scene of the fertile
early 90's (Pete Rock, DJ Premier, and Prince Paul all lent a hand
in the production booth), although, reworked as it frequently was,
it sounded just as timely at the outset of the 21st century. So
uniformly excellent are the songs that it plays almost like a
best-of compilation.
Particular highlights include the brilliant call-and-response anthem
"YES", the cool-cat jazz of "Them That's Not", a cerebral stream-of-
consciousness head trip, the classic old-school pastiche "Kick It To
The Beat" (featuring labelmates Asheru & Blue Black, with whom
J-Live shares an artistic sensibility), the new wave groove of "Get
The Third", and the autobiographical title track.
This is one of the sine qua non hip-hop joints of 2001.
┌────────┐
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└────────┘