DX: You had mentioned to me South African fans memorizing freestyles of yours from 1996. Worldwide, you have a cult following that’s growing. I look at El-P and Talib Kweli and Mos Def now. Do you think had you started with a bigger label like Rawkus or Stones Throw you would be in a different place today?
J-Live: I think if my record would’ve came out the way it was supposed to come out my career would’ve been different. Whether it was Rawkus or Payday or [anyone]. Had Payday not split from London, had Universal not taken it over and left me [unemployed], I’m sure it would’ve probably been different. See, I don’t know though. Even back then Payday was reluctant to spend major label money on my project. When things were pushed over, and I was sort of shuffled around the Universal Group, it was apparent that nobody there was really gonna spend a lot of money on my project. So to say had [I] been on an official major label, things would be different, I don’t know. [Chuckles] I know The Best Part, with the lineup it had (DJ Premier, 88 Keys, Prince Paul, Pete Rock), but if there wouldn’t have been a video for it, and there wouldn’t have been payola goin’ on, who knows?

I know I was this close to signing to Rawkus at the time. It wasn’t my decision to make, but things turned out different. There’s no sensitive vapors or anything like that ‘cause it’s been so long. We’re talking about something that would’ve happened 10 years ago. There’s been plenty of opportunities to sign to a major since then, but I think the fact that I just kind of ended up independent speaks to the way people treat this music like it’s disposable. I’m trying to avoid those sort of pitfalls, where you do something slowly but surely as opposed to just taking off and falling flat. By no means am I trying to say that my successes and failures are a result of anything more than my business savvy or lack thereof. I don’t think that my genre of music is an excuse of where I am versus where I want to be. I think that there are plenty of people in my genre that are gleaming examples as to why there is a market for this kind of music, and it’s a sign of inspiration, a sign of competition and a sign of hope.