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| Exclusive Interview: Mr. Live |
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| Written by Dub MD | |
| Monday, 22 September 2008 | |
 Raptalk.net this week chopped it up with one of the most slept on, underrated emcees around right now, Brooklyn native Mr. Live. He sat down with us to speak on what his experienced in his career so far, his up coming new mixtape "Drama Class: School's In Session" and what sets him apart from every other emcee out there. Make sure you check out the brand new exclusive "Fallen Rain" at the end of the interview.Dub MD: Mr. Live, What's good? Mr Live: Right now, Life. I can't complain, I got some good people behind me so I can't complain! Dub MD: For those who don't know, could you just give a short review of what you've experienced in your rap career up until now? Mr Live: A breakthrough single on the classic “Fondle 'Em”, three singles on my own “Get These” label, about seven or eight international singles, a couple of tours, an extend hiatus do to me “getting my grown man on”, an international album released last year and now I'm back in your area. Dub MD: Coming from Brooklyn, what do you think of the New York music scene right now? Mr Live: In my opinion, like Hip Hop, it’s in bad shape. Underground cats are too underground, cats that still have this dream of the industry, radio and BET, are way too commercial, and overall, we just got too many people trying to convey the same message over the same kind of music. Dub MD: What do you think of the commercialisation of Hip Hop right now, do you think its showing respect to its pioneers? Mr Live: I'll answer this in two ways, one there’s only two acts that come to mind that actually give respect to Hip Hop (Black Eyed Peas & Missy Elliot), the rest of the so called commercial acts in my opinion do the same assembly line kind of music, you can't even call it Hip Hop, call it Pop music, better yet Hip Pop. And two No, there is absolutely no respect for the pioneers in Hip Hop! Brothers need to take a page from Little Brother and Talib and throw a classic brother or sister on your project. If you are a visible enough personality in this music, you can make it happen. If you look at how rock lovers still gravitate and respect groups like Aerosmith and U2, you will see how our respect for cats that did it back in the day is no where near wear it should be. Dub MD: You released your latest album "The Bang Theory" last year, how do you feel that release has went for you now that it’s out there? Mr Live: Well as far as it getting me back into this music and letting people know I was back out. It was okay, I realized that there was a big demand for some quality music and that when I was grinding hard, there were a lot of people checking for me and the kind of Hip Hop I do so in that effect it was refreshing. The bad thing about it was that it showed me that the so called industry did not change a bit. No matter what country your dealing in. The Q-Tip rule still applies! Dub MD: Do you have a new project in the works? What’s it called? And what can heads out there expect from it? Mr. Live: Oh Yea! I got a couple of things on the chalkboard, I got an album and a classic album slated for release this year. As soon as I get that tight, I'm planning a couple of videos and a European tour with my brethren called “Drama Class”. But what ya’ll should be hearing in a minute is a mixtape my brother Dub MD is putting out called “Drama Class, School's In Session”. Please believe that it will be like no other mixtape / CD you ever heard and, if you can prove you did, when I'm in your area, doing a show or whatever, I'll lace you with some free merchandise, My Word! "There is absolutely no respect for the pioneers in Hip Hop! Brothers need to take a page from Little Brother and Talib and throw a classic brother or sister on your project. If you are a visible enough personality in this music, you can make it happen" - Mr. Live Dub MD: With this project, what artists & producers are you connecting with this time round? Mr Live: Basically, the “School’s In Session” project will be in house, Drama Class faculty and friends such as my man No Sleep, my girl Mauikai, Apani B Fly, on production Earl Blaize of course, Big Will, Big Trap, and I'm respectfully using beats from the late and very great J-Dilla, Madlib, and maybe some Ayatollah but look for it to be more chock then this, its still in production. Dub MD: Back in the day you had some name problems with J-Live, can you tell us a little about the history of that? Mr Live: Okay, let me start this by saying there is absolutely no beef now between me and that man. Me and him squashed it personally years ago. The history I recently found out was largely manipulated by people around me and him. But long story short, I went by the name “Jae Live” since like ’89-’90. Hit the underground hard with a group called “Blacrayn”. In like ‘95, I came back from my first European tour and found there was a cat with my name and a hit record, of course I was hot. Bobitto Garcia wanted to put a single out for me and I was double hot because I couldn't use my name, so I changed it to Mr Live. I tried all kinds of shit to get this cat to battle but he just wouldn't battle a brother. You gotta ask him why he didn't want it. I know it was a pussy named Whoreshack that was doing a lot of talking that I know that cat J-Live wasn't saying so, my real venom is with that cat but now I ain't got nothing but love for that brother, from what I hear he’s a good dude so ain't no beef on this side. Dub MD: What do you think is you're most defining and unique characteristic that sets you apart from every other emcee out there? Mr Live: I'ma get real vain right now and say it’s a combination of my voice and how I deliver on a track. My voice is god and parent given, my flow, a lot of people say is reminiscent to Boot Camp but even though I'm a big fan of them cats, if you listen to them, Mos Def, myself, even B.I.G. all of that extra bounce and flow is nothing but Brooklyn coming out in lyrical form. Dub MD: If you could describe yourself as an emcee in 4 words, What would they be? Mr Live: Versatile, Consistent, Powerful & MCee! Dub MD: For your fans that haven't seen you perform yet, are you planning on going on tour anytime soon? Mr Live: Yes Sir! By the higher powers grace, we should be in Europe soon. We are trying to open up a spot in New York to bring back some of that vintage open mic vibe of the mid 90’s around holiday time. So we will be in your area very soon! Dub MD: What is on tap for Mr. Live for the rest of 2008 and beyond? Mr Live: Grinding, working to get the best product out for the near future. Dub MD: Do you have anything to say to the fans? Anything you wanna get off your chest? Any shout outs? Mr Live: To the fans I would just like for them to listen to the music as a whole. There are a lot of brothers and sisters out here with real quality music but it gets pushed to the back by these big budget acts so, search for the good stuff. I definitely want to thank Dub MD for lighting a fire under a brother, a lot of what you will hear in the near future from me is due to you so, Nuff Respect. Big up my Drama Class family, Earl Blaize in particular and my family. Check out this new track, click the link below to download: Mr. Live - Fallen Rain Comments (1)
  written by IAMVES, January 10, 2010
This is VES, producer of Mr. Live (Supa Dupa, Placebo, Good Life), and I want y'all to know that we now have a site showcasing some unreleased Mr. Live and Tony Bones as well as classic stuff no longer available on vinyl... check it out at - iamves.blogspot.com
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