J-Live Strips Away The Insult In “Ya Mama So Black,” And It’s No Joke. (Audio)

J-Live is a proven master of concept. The Brooklyn, New York native keeps finding new ground to make complex commentary about the things Heads hold dear. Twenty-three years after The Pharcyde and J-Swift made “Ya Mama,” J-Live takes a deeper look at one particular mom “snap.”

“Ya Momma So Black” takes the childhood dozens joke and and erases the humor. Instead, Justice puts Blackness on its pedestal, and traces heritage back to the fertile crescent. He also looks respectfully at maternity, femininity, and race in this indictment of an age-old schoolyard joke. Live’s verse gets real, and makes a song praising Black women as potent as anything you’ll hear as of late.

If a major label artist made this, would it make news? After 20 years of music, does J-Live not deserve the same props?

Related: J-Live Turns An Open Letter Protesting Police Violence Into Song (Audio)