DX: Were there specific things that applied from the progression of The Hereafter to Then What Happened?
J-Live: The Hereafter, there are so many things that I would’ve done different, had I had the opportunity – not then, but after, looking back on it. There was a lot of different things about the way that record was developed that I put into practice that I would not continue to put into practice. Sampling strictly from Ryko’s catalogue sort of limited the authenticity of the samples. Their catalogue, while it has some gems in it – and I did the most with it and definitely didn’t put out a record that I didn’t want to put out, there wasn’t a lot of ‘70s Soul, a lot of Jazz, or ‘60s Rock to really draw from, so it sort of handcuffed the producers that I enlisted, including myself. There was some songs that, rather than keep the original samples, I went back and had interpolations made or replayed things sort of fear of clearance than out of art. It was definitely a learning experience with a lot of stuff I wouldn’t have done. Now I still stand by that record. For the people who say it sucked, I would still beg to differ, but there are definitely things I took from that process and made sure not to repeat with Then What Happened. It’s sort of like the title.

The thing I would like to speak on is the attack on my ability as a producer or a beatmaker. That was heard. I’m not even gonna really dispute that my beats on The Hereafter left something to be desired, but at the same time, I sincerely hope that people don’t look to the fact that I didn’t do any beats on [Then What Happened] as a result of that. I definitely draw a line of demarcation between [production and beat-making]. Production is more than just making a beat and production is more than just beat-making. That’s not to take anything away from somebody. On every album, I always say, “beat by” and “produced by” as two different things.

DX: On some Brooklyn stuff, what was it like for you to work with Evil Dee?
J-Live: Oh, it was dope. On the EP Reveal The Secret that came out before this, “Feel Like Spittin’” was Mr. Walt [Evil Dee’s brother and Beatminerz partner]. I got both of them on there. I did a joint with them on [Da Beatminerz] album called “Oh,” so I was real happy, on some Brooklyn shit, and on some dope producer shit as well. Me being with [DJ] Spinna, that’s pretty much my permanent Brooklyn fixture right there.

DX: With a slower pace of late for you releasing projects, I really enjoyed “The Last Sunshine” on Pigeon John’s album [click to read]. That song was so complex, and very cool bi-coastal material. Tell me about that record…
J-Live: [Laughs] That’s pretty much all Pigeon John [click to read], man. He set me up with a template. He told me about the song when we were on tour. It was me, him and Living Legends, maybe a few years back. So we’d been planning to do a song together for a while. When the time came, he hit me up like, “Yo, I got this. The joint is ready. RJD2 did the track. I’m gonna send it to you.” He did and basically he had the hook idea, I laid the verse, and he took the reigns. The rough [draft] of the RJD2 beat was basically just the samples in the beat. To see all he did with it after I sent the verses was a beautiful thing. I love it when it goes down like that.

DX: To me, aside from The Grey Album, it’s as close as I’ve heard to a Beatles Hip Hop record…
J-Live: Yeah! [Laughs] I think people are scared to sample The Beatles. If I could, I’d have a whole Abbey Road album. [Laughs]

DX: I can’t say the last time a Hip Hop outro meant anything to me. “You Out There” appeared to be some sort of catharsis for you. You say some interesting things about your career and your future. What were you trying to leave the audience with?
J-Live: I mention in the liner notes, or at least I think I did – I wrote them pretty quick, but one of the things that was important in picking that beat from Nicolay [click to read] was I wanted to be like when you leave the movie theater, and you open the door and the light hits you. You’re disoriented for a bit, but there’s that mix of the visual disorientation with, “I just came out of a really dope movie.” A good movie transforms a theater into a vacuum where you’re in the setting of the movie, engrossed in it. So that feeling, when you open that door is, “Okay, back to the real world.” And your first taste of the real world is just a bright-ass light, which is subliminally somewhat positive. That’s what I was looking for. With the intro and cover art being so negative, I wanted the outro to be positive. Continued on page 3 »