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Customer Reviews of All of the Above

All Of The Above: It's All Good
J-Live's "first second album," All Of The Above, is an excellent hip-hop album that delivers on all levels. I first heard J-Live on the Handsome Boy Modeling School album where he drops one verse on "The Truth", and i was blown away by his tight flow, his awesome rhyming, and his seemingly infinite ideas. Needless to say, i picked up his album as soon as it came out. The album has excellent graphic design and informative liner notes by J-Live.
J-Live is a complete MC, and the best there is today. He is clever, funny, easy to understand, passionate, fearless, deep, political, cocky, skillfull as hell, inclusive, and respects hip-hop's past. Other than the bonus track featuring Asheru and El Da Sensai, J-Live is the only MC on the whole album. And the thing is, you don't even notice because he is so good. J-Live has a few trademarks which include creating rhymes that work both on a storytelling and conceptual level. He also is really good at taking everyday hip-hop phrases and flipping them and giving them a more literal meaning.
The production on this album is good, and doesn't outshine what's going on in the vocals. The beats represent a nice variety of musical styles, from dancehall to smooth jazz to straight up hip-hop.
Standout Tracks:
"Satisfied?," where he fearlessly and masterfully comments on the post-9/11 situation.
"MCee," where J-Live uses only words that start with M and then C for the whole second verse, and starts each line with M or C in the third.
"Like This Anna", where J-Live turns "like this anna, a like that anna" and turns it into a song about a hypothetical girl named Anna.
"One For The Griot", where J-Live tells a story, then backs it up and changes the ending two times.
"Stir Of Echoes" (last verse), where J-Live drops one of the trippiest rhymes i've ever heard.
"Do That S#!%" where J-Live fights hip-hop ignorance.
and "All In Together Now" where J-Live takes a verse at half speed in fragments, and then speeds up the delivery while switching all of the fragments around to give a different meaning. He does this on two verses. It's amazing.
This album gets better with each listen and in my opinion, is the best hip-hop album of 2002. Don't sleep on this one.

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Ahhhhhhh....The memories. (4.5 Stars)
This album came out when I was a college senior in VA (April '02). I was delivering pizzas at the time and I stopped by Plan 9(a local spot) to buy some new material during my break. I saw this album sitting in a bin marked "Employee Favorites". I saw it was a hip hop album, but I didn't know who J - Live was. So I said "what the hell" and I bought it. Now, this album is in my favorite 25 hip hop albums ever (see my listmania list). There aren't many flaws on this album. If you need a break from "hip pop", then give this album a listen. You won't be disappointed. The beats are on point and the lyrics are straight fire. You can't miss with this album. If you're a "hip pop" fan that wants to expand your library a little, this album will fit in nicely. It has an old school feel to it, but it's still hot. J Live is a multidimensional MC. "One For The Griot" is storytelling at its best while he takes a well known hip hop saying and turns it into a love song about a girl named Anna on "Like This Anna" and on "MCee" he raps the whole song using words that start with M and C. J Live is an emcees emcee, he can do it all.

Personal Favorites: Satisfied?, Interlude 1 (I'm A Rapper), One For The Griot (my favorite), Travelling Music, MCee, A Charmed Life, & Nights Like This

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The Real
This album was off the hook! Every track is crazy. This cat is hot. One of the true underground sensations. You want some real music? Then cop the album!!!!!!!!