A meager six months after finally dropping The Best Part, J-Live has blessed us again with his sophomore LP, All of the Above, though on the ever-so-underground Coup D'Etat label.

His delivery is similar to Posdnuos, and his lyrical content is along the same lines: intelligent, educated, confident, and socially conscious. And, like De La, J can bring it. His lyrics are clever, and he does shit with meter and rhyming patterns that is simply mind-blowing.

In terms of beats, J-Live's knows when to pass the mic, or rather, pass the console. One of his best moves was to enlist the assistance of virtuoso producer DJ Spinna. Spinna dishes dimes on a third of the album's 21 tracks, including two of the strongest, "Satisfied?" and "All of the Above." "Satisfied?," the first single off the disc, uses reggae-flavored bass and keys in the verses, then adds lo-fi accordion in the chorus, in addition to what sounds like a boys choir. Upon closer inspection (and a peek at the liner notes) it's actually grown men (J-Live et al) singing "are you satisfied?" in falsetto - a neat trick.

"All of the Above" is easily the best track, musically, on the album. The beat has a chilled-out, transcendent quality to it, spinning a low-key jazz funk in the bass along with ethereal keys (courtesy of Ticklah) and shifty scratches in the instrumental chorus (courtesy of DP One). The rhyme is a fucking masterpiece, delivered via double-tracked vocals - one more or less the "melody" track, with a "harmony" track lurking underneath. Sound rich? It is.

As if five years of trying to get his debut out weren't proof enough, All of the Above makes it clear that J-Live is no flash in the pan. Rather, it gives you the feeling that J is just at the dawn of a fairly epic career. Good things come to those who wait - and hopefully, somewhere, a record exec is kicking himself over this one. - review by by Brad Haywood for Pitchfork, April 2002