Jean Grae
Background information
Birth name	Tsidi Ibrahim
Also known as	What? What? , The Easter Bunny
Born	November 27, 1976 (1976-11-27) (age 32)citation needed
Origin	Cape Town, South Africa
Genre(s)	Hip hop
Occupation(s)	Rapper, Producer
Years active	1996-present
Label(s)	Third Earth Music (2002-2003) Babygrande Records (2003-2005) Blacksmith Records / Warner Bros. Records (2005-Present)
Associated acts	Sathima Bea Benjamin, Abdullah Ibrahim, Talib Kweli, Atmosphere, 9th Wonder
Website	Official Site

Jean Grae (real name Tsidi Ibrahim, also known as What? What?)¹ is a hip hop artist from New York.

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.²¹

Early career (1996-1998)

Ibrahim initially worked under the name What? What? and 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 ² 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.¹ 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. Under her new moniker, she released her first LP—Attack of the Attacking Things—in 2002, and followed it with two more album releases over the next two years. 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.³ 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, 2008.⁴ The album features the track "My Story", about the abortion she had as a teenager.⁵ 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.^{citation needed}

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. ⁶ 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".⁷ 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.⁸

On September 18, 2008, Jean Grae posted a Craigslist offering her creative services for $800/16 bars.⁹¹⁰ 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."¹¹

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

External links

• Jean Grae Discography on Discogs
• Jean-grae.com Official website
• Her official blog
• Official Myspace Page