Here.. After... J-Live

How could you do this to us, J-live?
Let me begin this by saying that I'm one of the biggest J-live fans. In my top 10 list of favorite Hiphop artists, he's in the top 3. 7 Heads, Asheru, Blue Black... The most soulful modern day Hiphop artists I can think of aside from the Roots. But this isn't the J-live I've come to get down with and grown to love so much over time. I want to know what happened. So J-live, why did you do this to us? I hate to say this but I feel let down. The album starts off extremely well I mean Soulive is featured on it, and I'm a giant fan of Soulive, purely because they pump out steady funky shit. What happened to the production? I know there's a list of dope heads on it:

"Production by Oddisee, Floyd tha Locsmif, Hezekiah, Fire Dept, Probe DMS, Soulive, James Poyser and yours truly"( j-livemusic.com)

But I want to know what happened to the horns, piano, funky, soulful, classical music inspired warmness that catered to J-lives' style so well? If this was any other artist, with this production aside from the first track and the song the Listening, this album might be acceptable. The Listening makes me remember the older shit. But this is J-live we're talking about here. It's good, its acceptable at most... But its not going to remain steady in my jeep, which pains me to say because J-live is the coolest, most humble person I've ever met.

Maybe I'm too hard on him. After All of the Above, achieving anything similar would be nearly impossible. This stated, I'm not the only one who has thought this. In fact, I've gathered opinions from many of my acquaintances: friends, family, friends friends, etc.

What I'm hoping happens is that it's just too ahead of my time. I'm hoping I haven't listened to it enough to grow to like it like the Pharcyde's Labcabincalifornia. I genuinely hope that happens, and if it does, we can all expect an update stating so.

Peace and Love