Jean Grae is a lyricist, producer, engineer and performing artist. She is an American woman whose expertise spans a large number of different subject areas. She started out as an MC and became popular in the underground hip hop circles. However, a quick look at her Patreon page reveals that she’s moved on from the start and has added a whole host of other feathers to her cap including , rapping, singing, directing, filming and editing, acting, comedic, hosting and cooking.
That’s not all, she also does freelance writing, voiceovers, hairstyling, performing plays, teaching children, hosting her own live talk show, live music shows, free hug stations, improv and podcasts. Grae has been a keynote speaker at Montreal Hip Hop Week and has lectured at prestigious universities such as Yale, Princeton, Columbia and the Kennedy Performing Arts Center.
Jean Grae was born Tsidi Ibrahim on November 26, 1976, in Cape Town, South Africa, is the daughter of two legendary South African jazz musicians, Sathima Bea Benjamin and Abdullah Ibrahim. As the son of these two, who lived creative and independent lifestyles, Jean was groomed for life as a creative artist.
As a result of the racial riots at her home at the time, her family moved to America when she was only three months old. The talented artist grew up in New York City, where she later studied vocal performance at the famed Fiorello H. LaGuardia Academy of Music and Arts. She enrolled at New York University to study music business, but dropped out three weeks later to pursue a full-time music career.
Jean Grae music career
Jean Grae’s career took off in 1995 after she was spotted by George Rithm Martinez, who recruited her for a five-song demo under his group Ground Zero. The demo proved to be a huge hit and was awarded the duo “Unsigned Hype” by Die Quelle (magazine) in March 1996.
After Natural Resource disbanded in 1998, Tsidi Ibrahim dropped her previous alias What? What? and picked up Jean Grae, under which she released her first LP Attack of the Attacking Things (2002) and released This Week two years later.
In 2005 she left her former record label, Babygrande Records and signed with Talib Kwelis Blacksmith Records. Throughout her career Jean Grae has collaborated with many strong figures in the hip hop industry including Atmosphere, The Roots, Talib Kweli, The Herbaliser, Da Beatminerz, Phonte, Mr. Len, Masta Ace and Vordul Mega – Rayz Walz, Mos Def, Styles P, Pharoahe Monch and Immortal Technique.
Citing disenchantment with the music industry and wanting to start a family, Jean Grae announced her retirement on April 28, 2008 through a blog post on her MySpace page. He said goodbye to her fans. However, she added that she’s working on a new track and still wants to keep making music: “You know what? I need that Grammy. I think I might stop after that. “
On July 8, 2008, Grae released an album entitled “Jeanius” which she recorded with North Carolina producer 9th Wonder. Prior to that, she released the same album through Zune Live Marketplace two weeks earlier. The work was initially leaked on the internet before it was finished and as a result it was shelved. However, at the time of release it received many positive reviews, with Robert Christgau describing Grea’s rap on the album as notable for its speed, clarity and idiomatic cadence.
Continuing the release, Talib explained KweliGrae’s album via a blog post urging fans to buy it and describing her as one of the last true MCs left. In the same post, he also explained that she didn’t retire. Later in 2008, Grae returned to performing live, releasing all of her music through her website and bandcamp.
After three years away from the scene, Grae released a free mixtape titled “Cookies or Comas” on June 23, 2011. This was followed on January 2, 2013 by the 10-track “Dust Ruffle” featuring unreleased songs from 2004 to 2010. She then released a series of the EPs titled “Gotham Down Cycle 1: Love in Infinity (Lo-Fi)”, ” Gotham Down Cycle II: Leviathan” and “Gotham Down Cycle 3: The Age of Artemis” between October and November 2013.
Leaving music, she played a supporting role in 2013, had a role in the indie feature film Big Words and released the audio book The State of Eh in January 2014. She also wrote and directed the online sitcom Life with Jeanie. In 2015, she starred in the CBS sitcom 2 Broke Girls.
Jean Grae became engaged to rapper and producer Quelle Chris released a fifteen-track studio album titled Everything’s Fine on December 3, 2017 and March 30, 2018 through Mello Music Group. A masterpiece of rap performance, the LP blends dark comedy, cathartic narrative and even vaudeville with a hip-hop soul.
The Beautiful Black Lady is so good at what she does that her work has been archived in the Yale Anthology of Rap and the Smithsonian National Museum of American History and Culture.
Although she’s spent more than 20 years in the music industry, Grea might not be described as a household name, but it’s very hard to find rappers willing to fight her. Lyrically, she is one of the most talented MCs of all time.
Her husband
The autocratic lyricist marriedThe young man from Detroit, Michigan is a record producer, rapper and songwriter.
They tied the knot in an intimate occasion that took place on Sunday, August 5, at the W Loft in Brooklyn. The duo’s closest friends, including Tanya Morgan’s Donwill and Von Pea, comedian Hannibal Burress and author John Hodgman, were in attendance.