J-Live at Homeboy Sandman/Spec Boogie Release Party, Simultaneously DJing and Rhyming

New York City underground hip hop legend J-Live made an appearance last night (6/1/10) at the joint album release party for Homeboy Sandman’s The Good Sun and Spec Boogie’s Introspective Boogie. J-Live, the MCing/DJing/producing owner of Triple Threat Productions, was met by excited cheers from the abundant and heavily underground-friendly audience in attendance at SOBs. Lighting up his set with material from his seven-album-deep catalog, the New York transplant (he now resides in Atlanta), then jumped behind the turntables to showcase a combination of rhyming while cutting on the turntables, something many had undoubtedly never seen done before.

With a vocal styling in the vein of Black Thought from The Roots, J-Live flowed calmly, firmly and effortlessly over a classic break beat that he kept bringing back on the dual 1200s. With such an impressive feat to close out his set, it’s no wonder why J-Live continues to be held in high regard in the underground hip hop community, who pride themselves on respecting skill, creativity and the NY boom-bap subculture of hip hop that has lost it’s toehold on the mass market, but kept alive and well by people and events like this.

Check the video below, and click here to view more pictures from the Homeboy Sandman/Spec Boogie album release party, presented by ANARCH EIGHTY.

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J-Live at Homeboy Sandman Album Release Party – 6/1/10 from Birthplace Magazine on Vimeo.