J-Live
'Then What Happened?'
Indie-rap rhyme scholar weighs in with respectably smart set.
Since his classic underground debut album, 2001's The Best Part, former Brooklyn schoolteacher J-Live has enjoyed cultlike status as the quintessential no-frills indie MC -- literate but genially pointed. His fourth full-length, despite patchy stretches, exhibits that same low-key charm and introspective wordplay (with help from De La Soul's Posdnuos, Jurassic 5's Chali 2na, and DJ Spinna). On the spirited "It Don't Stop," he spits cleverly defiant one-liners, then unfolds a witty house-party narrative on "Ole." Unfortunately, potentially fiery tracks ("The Upgrade," "What You Holdin'?") suffer from too-tepid flows.
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