Hip hop artist J-Live was once a junior high school English teacher.

Fans of hip hop music may be familiar with an internationally known rap artist known as J-Live. The musician’s music has been popular with listeners of hip hop for over 20 years. But did you know that he was once a junior high school English teacher?

J-Live was born on February 22, 1976, in Spanish Harlem in New York City. His given name was Jean-Jacques Cadet. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Albany, State University of New York.

After earning his degree, J-Live taught junior high school English, first in Brownsville, Brooklyn, and then in Bushwick, Brooklyn. His career as an educator spanned from 1998 to 2002. “The degree in English sorta gave me the leg up,” J-Live once explained. “The experience teaching English just gave me something to talk about and a whole other perspective in terms of my experiences. And how to write songs that hit home when you have an intended message,” he continued.

Early in his teaching career, J-Live began to make hip hop records. The musician, who also uses the stage name Justice Allah, has released eight albums to date. His second album, All of the Above, released in 2002, sold 30,000 copies. In addition to creating hip hop music, J-Live has worked as an emcee, DJ, and producer. He is  actively involved in workshops, classes, and speaking engagements. In fact, he is known worldwide as a “hip hop teacher.”

Will J-Live ever return to teaching? “I am kind of pivoting into a more educational space,” he admits. “I’ve had the good fortune and opportunity to do some speaking events and workshops, and the opportunity to teach with Next-Level Hip-Hop, which is a State Department program run by the University of North Carolina,” he says. And, “I’m teaching DJing in Croatia for a couple of weeks.”

To learn more about J-Live, you can read this online article at Prefix.