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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 14, 2004)
Underground sensation J-Live comes to WOW Hall After years of struggling with music labels, J-Live started his own label and released ‘All of the Above' by Carl Sundberg Pulse Columnist Making music in America is a tough business. Especially if no one knows who you are. The keys to suc cess are vigilant work, dedication, honesty and raw passion. J-Live is one example of an artist who embodies all of these qualities. Hailing from Brooklyn, NY, J-Live emerged onto the hip-hop scene in 1995, bringing his impeccable lyri cism and tumtablism across the globe with dedication, passion and honesty. Since then, J-Live has been listed in the "Unsigned Hype" section of "The Source" magazine His first single “Brag gin' Writes," sold 13,000 copies on vinyl. The follow-up track, "Can I Get It" doubled the sales of his first single Following his rapid early success, J Live was signed to a major label in 1997. Payday Records, a label which signed popular artists including Jay-Z and Mos Def s group Urban Thermo Dynamics, added J-Live to its roster. During this time, J-Live recorded his first album, "The Best Part," but it was not released. In 1999, it was re recorded, but again it was officially unreleased. It quickly became an un derground sensation and spread by way of bootleg recordings. Within a year, J-Live's relationship with Payday Records collapsed and he signed a new contract with Universal Records. This contract ended shortly as well. At this point J-Uve decided he would abandon his search for a new label and started his own, 'Triple Threat Produc tions." In late 2001, after serious trials and tribulations with label shuffling, J Uve finally released The Best Part." His second album, "All of the Above," was released in April 2002. He is currently on tour to support the al bum. He will make his way to Eugene and play WOW Hall tonight, along with special guests People Under the Stairs and Eugene's Strange Folks. J-Live is a one-man show. He mixes on the turntables and rhymes, some times at the same time. J-Live said his shows are full-energy party scenes. "It's just good hip-hop," he said. "There's a lot of energy, you know, precise lyrics, good deejaying. It's a good party vibe. I'm trying to put things in the context of a good party." For every show, I-Live said he sees a larger audience than the last one. "There's a lot of positive feedback," he said. "Some of the biggest shows recently were in Boulder, San Francis co. (These places) had good turnouts. And people in San Diego, they were so loud. I have to give them props." J-Live's lyrics are part of what makes him so respected. "He has a certain way of putting his rhyme patterns together that you hear something new every time you listen to him," KWVA Music Director Aaron Hall said. "By the 10th time you hear one of his songs, you realize, man, there's a totally different subtext going on. It's layered hip-hop, it's not just surface level." J-Live said he records what he feels compelled to write. "I do what I feel in my heart," he said. "I have a certain responsibility to uphold." I-Live holds a degree in English from the State University of New York in Al bany, NY. He said this background gave him more of a repertoire and style. "The more artists you are exposed to, the more you are influenced by Courtesy J-Live will perform at WOW Hall tonight with special guests People Under the Stairs and Strange Folks. Doors open at 8 p.m. and the shows starts at 8:30 p.m. them, he said. "I was really big on Asian philosophy. I really liked The Art of War' by Sun Tzu." KWVA will hold a live interview with J-Live at 8 p.m. tonight before his WOW Hall performance. "He's a one-man show and he kills it," said Tom OToole, who will inter view J-Live. J-Live credits college radio for help ing him build his name up. "There's a lotta politics in gettin' into radio," he said. "You gotta have a lotta resources and tools to do this, and until I get that opportunity, col lege radio is (there for me)." Tickets for the WOW Hall show are $12 in advance, and $14 at the door. Doors open at 8 p.m. and showtime is 8:30 p.m. Contact the Pulse columnist at carlsundberg@dailyemerald.com. BUS continued from page 1 with "broken politics." A year or so earlier John Wykoff, director of the Oregon Student Association and one of Smith's best friends, had pitched Smith an idea about restart ing the Democratic Forum, a confer ence that had existed in the 1970s to bring together young, up-and-com ing leaders. Smith and Wykoff revived the dis cussion when he returned to Port land, and Wykoff suggested they add a completely different dimension to the project. "He suggested ... we actually have action to advocate for candidates we support," Smith said. Thus, the Oregon Bus Project was bom "after a lot of hard work by a lot of people." "The inspiration was coming back to Oregon and realizing the politics are broken," Smith said. "What drove me crazy was that the people of my genera tion weren't doing much about it." In developing the project's plat form, Smith said they looked at the is sues they cared about, which hap pened to be "hauntingly similar" to those of the Progressive campaigns of the early 1900s. "It's not left, it's not right, but it's forward," Smith said of the project's label as a progressive group. The project's platform can be summed up in the "sue E's: Environ ment, economy, equal rights, election reform and 'ealth care." Partially inspired by the Freedom Riders of the Civil Rights Movement, the project purchased a 1978 charter bus and carted around 4,000 volun teers, mostly young people, to sup port progressive candidates around the state. Experts told them they were crazy, and one even said "volun teerism is dead." But defying the critics, six of the sev en candidates for whom the OBP dedi cated their full support were elected. "It demonstrated ... grassroots cam paigning can be very effective," he said. The OBP continues its grassroots campaign support and is planning to sponsor a "Trick-or-Vote" door to-door voter registration drive on Halloween. Smith quipped that while many are too old to trick-or treat, "you're never too old to trick or-vote." Another element of the organiza tion is its grassroots media effort to communicate progressive values. The OBP currently puts out a 'zine titled "Zephyr" and also will release a CD later this year featuring music by Ore gon musicians and Everclear lead singer Art Alexakis, who is involved with OBP. Freshman pre-psychology major Heather Bade is the co-chairwoman of the recently started Lane County chapter of the OPB. She said she was at tracted to the project because it pro motes values that appeal to everybody. Co-chairman James Mattiace called the project "a fun and exciting way to get involved with politics." He also stressed the importance of young peo ple getting their voices heard. "The power structure is not going to pay attention until you pay attention to the power structure," he said. For more information on the Lane County chapter, e-mail the OBP at lane@busproject.org. Contact the people/cufture/ faith reporter at moriahbalingit@dailyemerald.com. Wednesday, April 28 in the EMU River Rooms 3:30pm-4:20pm and 4:30pm-5:30pm Career Center 220 Hendricks Hall»(541) 346-3235 http://uocareer. uoregon.edu 0 Cdte&r How to make the Career fair work for you Monday April 20,12:00pm - 1:00pm Tuesday, April 27,4:00pm - 5:00pm Room 12, Hendricks Hall
