Last Saturday, we sent hip-hop head, Lost Claws to cover J-Live. The artist is touring behind a Best of album that you can buy, here.
A fact that few people understand is that Hip-Hop is around 36 years old. It has traveled all over the world, has touched millions of people and helped inspire two generations of people live, love and express themselves. Thus is not surprising that some of the most dynamic emcees have not only lived with Hip-Hop their entire life, they have transitioned through life with Hip-Hop. Kam Moye and J-Live are two of these individuals. Performing at the Marquis Theatre these two 30+ emcees showed that there are adults in Hip-Hop that actually act like adults and still respect the art and the culture.
The first of these two artist to perform was Kam Moye. Just like the mid-west, the south has had it’s fair share of struggles putting themselves on the hip-hop map. Kam is one of those artists. Coming from South Carolina Kam has had to fight his way through the industry, from label problems, to identifying his south-east sound. I will say meeting the man who has had so many issues getting recorded has humbled and forced Kam to reaffirm his dedication to hip-hop. When we interviewed him he relayed to us that he was making music for his peers. Music for people his age; the 30+ folks. A perfect example of this is when he preformed the very human, heartfelt and sincere song “let’s be honest.” I’m the song and the performance he touched on REAL issues, about your own children, wife and career limitations; issues most of us his age are facing. To be honest the majority of the crowd that night could not related to Kam Moye, being too young to understand the lyrics they just nodded their head. However, Kam understands that the majority of the demographic for hip-hop is a young one and as a result he did deliver a hyped performance of “ “ to bring the entire crowd back to him.
Personally, J-Live has been one of my favorite emcees over the last 10 years. Not only do I respect him as an emcee because he has witty punch lines, and an excellent delivery, he also has a Bachelors’ of Arts in English and has been a middle school teacher for several years in Brooklyn. Not only an emcee but also a producer, J-live constantly redefines himself “making his ceiling his new floor.” He first garnered notice with the release of his 1995 single “Bragging Writes.” This single was what showed his thoughtful lyrics a confident flow. He followed up a year later with another hit, “Hush the Crowd.” This is when he started to produce with such producers as Prince Paul and Pete Rock. J-live in all aspects of Hip-Hop is a veteran artist with a cool inflected sound that gives off that great feeling of REAL HIP-HOP! In the show not only did he wreck shop on the mic, the man deejayed his own songs. This was truly an amazing site to see, one man cutting, spinning, emceeing all the while flipping record after record on the turntables. (When’s the last time you saw an emcee use records?) J-Live gave a great underground show, not only was his energy in tune with the crowd, he used his mastery as a teacher to get the crowd to pause and actually spell out words in the chorus of one of his songs. Although underrated, J-Live still proves to hold the key elements of Hip-Hop and showmanship. I was glad to be a part of an experience that fan rarely see anymore.
Word and Photos – Lost Claws
