Street Album Spotlight: J-Love & Meyhem Lauren - Acknowledge Greatness

For years those truly in the know when it came to excellent east coast Hip-Hop have clamored for underground DJ extraordinaire J-Love and his music. Through mixtapes, vinyl twelve inch releases and of course his un-rivaled boom bap production, the product of the Richmond Hill section of Queens, New York has established an impeccable resume. He has worked with some of the best emcees to ever get down in the big apple, building a name for himself and becoming one of the underground's most dynamic DJ's and beatsmith's. Becoming best known for his street mixtapes and an un-flinching commitment to the true school of Hip-Hop music, J-Love exudes an aura of authenticity. His rabid fanbase understands his primary goal over the past decade has been to uphold a type of hip-hop music that sadly has gone from being NYC's chief commodity to one of it's heavily ignored sub-genre's. Boom Bap is J-Love's trademark pursuit and no one other than DJ Premier and his good friend Large Professor, has elevated the art form more consistently.

For all that J-Love is, regrettably he's never gotten to do the one thing that so many of his founding Boom Bap fathers have done. That would be release an album with a single, ubiquitous emcee. The man has yet to find that reliable partner in rhyme. He hasn't discovered a C.L. Smooth to his Pete Rock, a Guru To His DJ Premier, a B-Real to his Muggs, an Evil Dee to his Buckshot. Until, maybe now.

Enter in fellow Queens native Meyhem Lauren. A relative unknown to most, but to those who keep their ears to the mixtape grindstone he's an emcee that we know is more than capable of handling the job. A seasoned veteran of both the Queens streets as well as Queens recording booths, Meyhem is primed and poised to become J-Love's go to guy. After dwelling for a time in the 718's mixtape purgatory, Meyhem started appearing here and there on J-Love tapes. More importantly he was making the most of those appearances. While Meyhem had previously worked with such established DJ's as PF Cuttin, there was little doubt when he started working with J-Love in 2004 who he worked with the best. The similarities between J-Love and Meyhem didn't stop with just a penchant for rocking Polo attire either. They both possess a love for real hip-hop and they both have that very matter-of-factly way of stating things. The two seemed to be overall very well suited to run wit each other and collaborate on music.
I don't know if they knew right off the bat that they had a compelling chemistry, but anyone who had a pair of fully functional ears most certainly did. A distinct voice and delivery all his own, combined with a dense vocabulary and razor sharp timing, Meyhem impresses with a fluent calmness. Splicing together hardcore imagery with small grains of knowledge and manifesting a presence on the mic that reassures the listener that he's much more than your average boulevard dreg...he's a guy that puts some true deliberation into his print and nine times out of ten, delivers highly diverting material.

Naturally, it didn't take J-Love and Meyhem long to realize that they needed to bring the world their allied vision of a boom bap album. In the form of J-Love's prolonged and elusive conquest the idea for a DJ/Producer double disc album was born. For all that had been waiting to see if J-Love could transfer that production magic that he exhibited with regularity on his mixtapes, here layed the answer. An answer and an opportunity for the young Meyhem who has been searching for a way to make noise through his no-nonsense and truthful approach to rapping. Finally, Here's what we have had to anticipate for such a long while. Here was something that was finally gonna be worth it.

From beginning to end "Acknowledge Greatness" forces you to concede to exactly what the title states. Track after track is something great, something old, yet new, and something that makes you whisper to yourself, "damn, that was nice". J-Love flexes his production chops like Arnold on the stage of the Mr. Universe competition. He absolutely outdid himself for this project and blessed the world of hip-hop with a heap of unforgettable, boom bap infused beats. Whether concocting upbeat, harp string laden joints like "Wartime" or taking the hardcore route with pounding kicks, over sinister piano loops and perfectly timed DJ scratches on "Major League", J-Love proves he is nowhere near losing a step in the "instrumental arrangement" department. While all the beats are to be marvelled at, the soulful and funked out sample work on joints like "Rockin Chair", "Stay Sharp" and "Change" are huge components of a stellar production effort and really added the icing to an already delicious multi-layered cake. I could literally write a book about the production on this joint. J-Love keeps you mired knee deep in endless and accessible beats that should earn him the ultimate respect amongst critics and his industry peers alike.

Even though the production serves as the glossy veneer that will draw you in to it, at the end of the day it's the lyricism that "Acknowledge Greatness" contains that will keep it in your CD rotation for years to come. Fans of classic albums with astonishing wordplay like "Capital Punishment" and "Only Built For For Cuban Linx" will definitely dig this excursion into the main emcee's J-Love and Meyhem Lauren's belief's and thought processes. Spitting lines like "I seen artists go and switch they plans/to get new fans, forgettin' about the ones they had." on the track "Change", it's no secret that Meyhem holds the current state of the game largely in contempt. The recurring theme of advocating the return to true hip-hop aesthetics rings out amid Meyhem's witty pop culture and clothing brand references. Hammering home a message that if you don't pick up on by the end of the second disc, well, maybe your just better off turning in your hip-hopper card. Meyhem is technically skilled yes, but he's far from an un-relatable geek on the mic. Intricate, yet street approved rhyme webs are weaved everywhere on this album when he drops brazen lines on the Tragedy Khadafi assisted "Runnin Around". Reciting "Saran wrappin', zip lockin', tag poppin', watch rockin'/....Snow coppin', blow choppin', street boxin'/Stay Alert cause' the D's Watchin'", he keeps it simple, but interesting. Meyhem achieves the common wave length when he keeps things pastoral but easily can switch it up and speak on any subject scholarly or otherwise. Perhaps his best moment on "Acknowledge Greatness" comes when he focuses on a theme and trades baseball war stories with J-Love. "Subway Series" is a brillant ode to Queens's love affair with the Mets and their rivalry with the Yankees. J-Love and Meyhem sound like two regular old sports fans as they go back and forth arguing why who's team is the superior. It's a performance that almost makes you forget about J-Love's incessant awkward delivery when rhyming. J-Love's ceaseless clumsiness behind the mic doesn't take away from the project much however. Basically because although what he's saying is sort of off beat, it's usually something that I can feel. On top of the saavy production and top notch lyricism, the A-List of guest emcee's is far superior to anything else that has been dropped in the past two to three years. Everyone from M.O.P., AZ, Kool G Rap, Ghostface, Theodore Unit, Tragedy Khadafi, Killa Sha, Roc Marciano, Thirstin Howl III, Animal, Cappadonna and Old Dirty Bastard all drop through and contribute to an excellent record.

If J-Love and Meyhem set out to create a classic album that is sure to be remembered as one of the most slept on projects from the east coast in 2008, then they have wholeheartedly and completely reached their goal. J-Love eclipsed any previous production load he's ever dropped and gained some ground in his new ventures in emceeing. Simoultaneously, Meyhem has officially arrived and now should be arduously considered as one of, if not thee brightest new hardcore emcee out of New York City. Anyone who longs for Hip-Hop in it's most cutting and seasoned form will undoubtedly feel quenched after running through "Acknowledge Greatness".

-BIG D O