GOODFELLAS: J-Live, El De Sensei, Wordsworth Dropping Some of The Best Hip Hop You’re About To Hear

By Chris Penrose

There’s a war going on in Hip Hop. It’s not coastal and it’s not beef between camps. It’s a quiet war, and the good guys are losing: good guys like J-Live, El De Sensei, and Wordsworth.

These underground hip hop icons may be missing from most people’s ‘top ten rapper’ lists, but it has nothing to do with music that’s not bangin’ enough.

J-Live, known for his two LP’s The Best Part and All of the Above, recently re-released an EP called Always Has Been. What is apparent in all of his records is superior skill, blended with thoughtful, moving lyrics, beneath which is top-rate production. Reflecting on his growth, J-Live recalls, “I went from a college student who happened to have a record deal, to a family man trying to start his own label.”

With the label in the works on the business side, J also has a huge vision of the future of his music. I’m trying to expand the fan base to the point where I don’t have to conform to popular culture, but I kind of shape and mold what pop culture is. Instead of making the pop record, you make the record go pop.” Big dreams are achieved through hard work; part of that work is converting fans one show at a time. J’s approach to shows – for those in and out of the know – is clear. He explains, “If they came to have a good time and enjoy Hip Hop for what it is, they’re gonna, hopefully, lose their voice and get some exercise, because we bring that kind of intensity.” Besides being a forcefully talented emcee, J-Live’s blooming skills as a producer and a DJ add to his ability to make good music and move a crowd.

El De Sensei, half of New Jerusalem’s legendary Artifacts, has been carving out a solo career in a booming hip hop industry where more and more people are listening to only a handful of artists. Echoing J-Live, El is passionate about the power of performances: “We don’t just do the show, we do the show with the crowd.” Aware that many don’t know his songs and can’t sing along, he suggests people, “Just listen. Out of the ten twenty songs there is going to be something you are gonna feel.” On the stage, his standards are high because he knows that the audience has high standards: They want to hear you sound like you do on record, they don’t want to hear no shortness of breath. I was the same way when I went to a show, they walk away talking about that show.”

It’s not an easy fight, to push music in an era where you have more fingers that the number of emcee’s getting major rotations. El accepts the reality, though. This is what we do. Just take them away for a minute, from what they usually listen to which is a whole bunch of radio music. And make them walk away like ‘at least there’s someone out there trying to rhyme.’”


With scattered appearances on albums, singles, and compilations (most notably Black Star and Lyrcist Lounge), Wordsworth is another gem lost in a sea of glass replicas. His presence on the mic is a fusion of mind sparking punchlines, a choppy-but controlled flow, and a crazy voice. Alongside J-Live and El De Sensei, his presence at the Toronto Urban Music Festival will give the audience more of what they have come to expect of TUMF: the best music you-might-not-have-heard-yet-but-will-be-hearing-soon.

It’s gonna be powerful. I did the Comfort Zone (small T.O. club) and the energy was intense. Outside (at the CNE), there’s no roof to bang on, but there’s no roof to hold in the sound. It’s just going to magnify the show.”

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