Jean Grae
(real name Tsidi Ibrahim
, also known as What? What?
, born 1976) [1] [2] is a hip hop artist from New York.
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JEAN GRAE TICKETS
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Biography
Early life
Born in
Cape Town,
South Africa on
November 26,
1976, the daughter of South African
jazz musicians (her father and mother are the celebrated musicians
Sathima Bea Benjamin and
Abdullah Ibrahim), she studied Vocal Performance at the
LaGuardia School of Music & Art before majoring in Music Business at
New York University.
[3]
Early career (1996-1998)
Ibrahim initially worked under the name Major Woody and after working with groups including Ground Zero, she joined a
hip hop music group called Natural Resource in the mid-1990s,
along with rapper Ocean, and in 1996 they released a pair of
12-inch singles called
Negro League Baseball
b/w "Bum Deal" b/w "They Lied," and "Bum Deal(remix)" b/w "They Lied(remix)" b/w "I Love This World" on their own label Makin' Records.
She also appeared on singles by fellow Makin' Records artists Pumpkinhead and Bad Seed, and on the O.B.S. (Original Blunted Soldiers) double
12-inch single alongside crew members Pumpkinhead, Bad Seed, and Meat-pie, and produced much of the material released on the label under the pseudonym Run Run Shaw. During this period she established strong ties with the Brooklyn Academy crew, with which she would appear throughout her career.
Solo career (1998-2004)
Natural Resource dissolved in 1998, after which Ibrahim changed her stage name from What? What? to Jean Grae, a reference to the
X-Men character
Jean Grey.
[4] Under her new moniker, she released her first
LP—
Attack of the Attacking Things
—in 2002, and followed it in 2004 with
This Week
.
Throughout her career she has also recorded tracks with numerous major hip hop artists,
Atmosphere,
The Roots,
Talib Kweli,
The Herbaliser,
Da Beatminerz,
Phonte,
Mr. Len,
Masta Ace,
Vordul Mega,
C-Rayz Walz,
Mos Def, and
Immortal Technique among them.
Jean has recorded an unreleased album with celebrated
North Carolina producer
9th Wonder, of
Little Brother fame, entitled
Jeanius
. This unfinished record was leaked on the internet, and subsequently work was stopped on this album.
[5] However, at the release party for
9th Wonder's Dream Merchant Volume 2
album she stated that
Jeanius
was still going to be released. This album was eventually released first through Zune Live Marketplace two weeks before its disc release on July 8, 2008.
[6] The album features the track "My Story", about the abortion she had as a teenager.
[7] Her rapping on the album was described by
Robert Christgau as "remarkable for its rapidity, clarity and idiomatic cadence. The writing has a good-humored polysyllabic literacy."
[8] Elsewhere, it's been reported that her proposed fourth album, provisionally titled
Phoenix
has gone into production. It has been reported by several camp insiders that
9th Wonder will handle the lion's share of the production duties with unknown UK producer
Passion hifi and NY resident Clinikal providing a beat each.
Blacksmith Music (2005-present)
Previously signed to
Babygrande Records, she signed a deal in 2005 with
Talib Kweli's
Blacksmith Records. On
28 April 2008, Jean Grae posted a blog on her MySpace page saying goodbye to her fans.
[9] She later cited disenchantment with the music industry and desire to start a family as the reasons behind the 'retirement' and said that she was working on new material and still wanted to continue in music: "You know what? I need that Grammy. I think I might be able to stop after that".
[10] As of July 2008, Talib Kweli posted a blog explaining things about the album and includes the fact that she is not retiring, and encourages fans to purchase the album by "one of the last true MCs left". Grae returned to live performance later that year.
[11]
On September 18, 2008, Jean Grae posted a
Craigslist offering her creative services for $800/16 bars.
[12] [13] On her
MySpace blog entry, she states, "I don't wanna complain anymore, I just wanna change some things about the way artists are treated and the way you guys are allowed to be involved, since it IS the digital age."
[14]
Discography
Albums
- Attack of the Attacking Things
(2002)
- The Bootleg of the Bootleg EP
(2003)
- This Week
(2004)
- The Orchestral Files
(2007)
- Jeanius
with 9th Wonder (2008)
- The Evil Jeanius
with Blue Sky Black Death (2008)
References
- Salazar-Moreno, Quibian "Jean Grae Biography", ''Allmusic'', Macrovision Corporation
- Warren, Jamin (2005) " Jean Grae", Pitchfork Media, 26 April 2005
- AskMen.com; Jean Grae Biography. Retrieved on 2008-10-03.
- Crockett, Stephen A., Jr. (2008) "Grae's Anatomy", ''The Root'', 13 August 2008
- Johnson, Christopher (2008) "Jean Grae: 'I Am Hip-Hop'", NPR Music
- Heaton, Dave (2008) "Jean Grae ''Jeanius''", ''PopMatters''
- Remington, Alexander F. (2008) "JEAN GRAE "Jeanius" Blacksmith", ''Washington Post'', 5 December 2008
- Christgau, Robert (2008) "Jean Grae Shows There's No Better Femcee", NPR Music
- AllHipHop.com; Jean Grae Retires From Hip-Hop?. Retrieved on 2008-05-07.
- Harvilla, Rob (2008) "The Trials of Jean Grae", ''Village Voice'', 8 July 2008
- Chinen, Nate (2008) "A Hip-Hop Classicist Defies Her Meager Turnout", ''New York Times'', 1 December 2008
- Craigslist.org; Jean Grae Will Do Original Verses..For $$$, lol. Retrieved on 2008-09-19.
- Michaels, Sean (2008) "Jean Grae becomes a hip-hop mercenary", ''The Guardian'', 24 September 2008
- JEAN GRAE IS FOR SALE. Retrieved on 2008-09-19.