Jean Grae For President
This summer, I attended the Randall’s Island, New York rendition of Rock The
Bells. It was raining and cold, and my umbrella was confiscated as I entered the eight hour festival because it could be potentially used as a weapon – (another victory for the enemies of freedom and justice) Needless to say, the shows were incredible.
However, I was not aware that Jean Grae (aka Tsidi Ibrahim) was there. I was probably not the only one. She might not have been there; she was not on the program, because she was one of the “Special Surprise Performances.” She was not surprised, though; she’s being doing this for a long time, and, as Byron Hurt points out, it’s hard to for female hip hop artists to succeed in a world where women are objects, not agents.
Grae called herself The Easter Bunny for two weeks, because it was so funny when she got announced at shows. And because she knew she’d get almost no name recognition anyway, because she’s not willing to strut it in stilettos at the whip crack of the record industry. She wants respect as an artist, but she does not disrespect strippers, either. She also made this really heavy rape-crisis hotline advertisment: be forewarned that this may be triggering, and is definitely sad.
For more info on the lovely Miss Grae, check her official blog for a description of how she feels about Brooklyn wildlife – “Fucking raccoons. Fuck off”and the NY dating scene:
“Sigh, ahhhhh.. being single in the city. You would think in New York we would have a large selection of mates to possibly select from. Well where are they? If anyone knows where to find non-psycho, job having, attractive, financially stable, humorous and witty men to date.. please stop holding on to that information, you bastards.
I was contemplating speed dating, cause its funny..
Then I thought about doing my own dating show. Of course, it’s just ME going on date after date. Cause it’s funny.
Then I thought about combining the two. This is probably what will happen.”
To see the sassy Grae with her Reds and 
her Gray Goose, check out this interview (and part two) provided to youtube by underground hip hop dot com.
For some of Grae’s music, check out this performance. (Sorry — my embed-a-video doohickey is apparently down.) This woman is funny, wise, chill, and down to earth while simultaneously real, singular, and a confident, brilliant artist. For her bio, check out this helpful Wikipedia article.
Grae doesn’t take herself too seriously, either- she put out an album called “Attack of the Attacking Things” in 2002. I hope she gets some respect and recognition sometime soon.
Posted: September 10th, 2007 under Beyond Beats and Rhymes, Brooklyn, Byron Hurt, City, Grae, Ibrahim, New York, Rock The Bells, Tsidi, agency, agent, artist, attack of the attacking things, beats, blog, candidate, crisis, date, dating, dating show, disrespect, easter bunny, election, female, gender, hip hop, hotline, jean, man, mate, music, musician, object, objectification, president, presidential candidate, raccoon, randall's island, rape, rapper, rhymes, sad, scene, select, single, speed dating, stiletto, stripping, triggering, umbrella, underground, undergroundhiphop.com, vote, whip, wildlife.
Comment from Lindsay
Time September 10, 2007 at 5:40 pm
Right on. I have most of her LPs and mixtapes, and her wit and poignancy outstrips most other emcees, whether they’re mainstream or underground, male or female. I was at Rock The Bells in NY, too, but unfortunately, I missed her set. But it doesn’t surprise me how she was treated — Jean Grae’s lyrical skills have gone under-recognized for quite some time. Lately, I’ve only heard her as a “featured artist” on a track by the likes of Talib Kweli. It’s good that he tries to use what little fame he has to try to help her, but I think she’s getting the token female rapper treatment. Also, I miss Rah Digga.