Jean Grae (real name Tsidi Ibrahim, also known as What? What? & Da Easter B… Read Full Bio ↴Jean Grae (real name Tsidi Ibrahim, also known as What? What? & Da Easter Bunny, born November 27, 1976) is a hip hop artist from New York.
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. She also did some modelling during her teen years.
Ibrahim initially worked under the names Major Woody & Da Easter Bunny because she thought it would be funny to hear those names announced at shows. 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. 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. Under her new moniker, she released her first LPโAttack of the Attacking Thingsโin 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. 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. The album features the track "My Story", about the abortion she had as a teenager. 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.". 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". In July 2008, Talib Kweli posted a blog explaining Grae's album, mentioning that she was not retiring. The blog ends encouraging fans to purchase the album, referring to Grae as "one of the last true MCs left." Grae returned to doing live performances later that year.
On September 18, 2008, Jean Grae posted a Craigslist ad offering her creative services for $800/16 bars. 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."
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. She also did some modelling during her teen years.
Ibrahim initially worked under the names Major Woody & Da Easter Bunny because she thought it would be funny to hear those names announced at shows. 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. 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. Under her new moniker, she released her first LPโAttack of the Attacking Thingsโin 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. 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. The album features the track "My Story", about the abortion she had as a teenager. 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.". 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". In July 2008, Talib Kweli posted a blog explaining Grae's album, mentioning that she was not retiring. The blog ends encouraging fans to purchase the album, referring to Grae as "one of the last true MCs left." Grae returned to doing live performances later that year.
On September 18, 2008, Jean Grae posted a Craigslist ad offering her creative services for $800/16 bars. 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."
Hater's Anthem
Jean Grae Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴
Liquid content may cause you faggot's frames to burst
The same rhyme structure flamin' brain, I blame birth
The game switched-a made a retainer greater picture of lame dames that
Couldn't be felt with braille scripture
Even deaf kids are rockin' ear plugs
I rip you then stick you with sticks I dipped in arsenic filled jugs
I'm official you bitches.
I ignite under certain circumstances
Flip back and have your ass kicked by backup dancers
Cancer chokin'
The mad hatter the Jabberwocky of rap
And hibernate in
Contemplate and now I'm finally back
The throat changed so hopscotch your ass back
I play close like a thong huggin' that ass crack
Verb pleat scab riddled permanent scars
Scratch deep like a cheap box of CD-Rs
Spread heat like I'm gia's drawers
Pleadin' the 4th in court like he's the boss then I carry you off
I'm more necessary than violence on the Amistad (Oh my god!)
You grown like eatin' bacon on Ramadan
I'll piss on your shoes and make you clean em with your mouth
Then I'll tell all your friends I'll send the pens to your house
Must be crazy but the speed not to ya lady
File a DNA test so it's not your baby
(Maybe we can be friends?) No, just pretend
I slip razors in your charm bracelet; slit your skin bitch
Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, hold up
Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, wait, nah
Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, ok
Fuck you, fuck you, everybody
Super enhanced survival shoot em with a crucial plan
Infatuated with music in loops, no scruples man
Phrase-ologist. Non-apologetic mutiliator
Stays all of this defamin' names so they can sue me later
Hater, yes? The kinderst gas the fate opposer
Philanthropist, misanthropist, underground soldier
Banana clips just start unloadin' in your supermarkets screamin' till your
Hoarse, bleedin', finding out that you're the target
Monotony flow, controdictory, word plays and like bringin' satan to a
Baptism in a floooded basement
Jean's out to lunch, she ain't even punched in yet
You're a facsimile, I'm the original document
All shock and then lights out drop em in. Selections are very buried
Improper things I'm married to rap like J.Lo to scandals
Light up a room like J. Hov's birthday candles
I'm that bright like Steven Hawking's computer chair
Asked out a teacher on a Sadie Hawkin's dare
Paralyze you see the future in my sleep
I'll battle rap you until your belly starts to leak
Gnash your teeth and smash you then bind your feet
Thrash holes in your dome snatch your solo retreat
Mad Max's the pro so dope it's fantastic
Now fold up your dough before you get yo ass kicked
Rush the door like a Russian whore
Male order bitch. Sent your damers's crib
It's an honor to split your armor blood drip
Like pulp fiction when bits of bone get on ya
Shit, I just talked ya'll can disregard margins
Liquid date any enemies rap incarnate
I'm cynical, criminal actions excite me
My mic chords an umbilical, that radiates high beams
Humorous, filled with more flow than a cumulus cloud
Dentist mad, he said my words abuse my mouth, so I upchucked em
Gut buck em out. Chuckle loud, duck down screamin' fuck the crowd
Specialize staggered mixed malt liquor with jolt cola
Start drinking when cops start lookin' over their shoulder
Nastier than central bookin sandwiches handlin' tough
Cranky in the morning after smokin the canibus stuff
Can't see it like Orphan Annie's pupils in the cartoons
Can't be it like tranny's who paid for implanted boobs. Nope. That's not it
Close but no cigar, dutch licked but I'm passin' it right past ya Paul
That's all, that's Jean the definitive minister
The sarcastic lip bar spitter competitor
The un-cosmetic duck shit on your pedestal
Sanitarium released, the most unforgettable
Motov dirt Molotov your face
Then lock you in a box and watch you burn in a closed space
Big face get your shit taken and replaced with a tickin' pace that's
Strapped to your waist
(Duh) You move to slow sloth boost your movement
Your mind counts time like down south screw music
Who's it? The Phoenix wings spread like the ox head
I'll knock you out a window make you literally drop dead
The same rhyme structure flamin' brain, I blame birth
The game switched-a made a retainer greater picture of lame dames that
Couldn't be felt with braille scripture
Even deaf kids are rockin' ear plugs
I rip you then stick you with sticks I dipped in arsenic filled jugs
I'm official you bitches.
I ignite under certain circumstances
Cancer chokin'
The mad hatter the Jabberwocky of rap
And hibernate in
Contemplate and now I'm finally back
The throat changed so hopscotch your ass back
I play close like a thong huggin' that ass crack
Verb pleat scab riddled permanent scars
Scratch deep like a cheap box of CD-Rs
Spread heat like I'm gia's drawers
Pleadin' the 4th in court like he's the boss then I carry you off
I'm more necessary than violence on the Amistad (Oh my god!)
You grown like eatin' bacon on Ramadan
I'll piss on your shoes and make you clean em with your mouth
Then I'll tell all your friends I'll send the pens to your house
Must be crazy but the speed not to ya lady
File a DNA test so it's not your baby
(Maybe we can be friends?) No, just pretend
I slip razors in your charm bracelet; slit your skin bitch
Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, hold up
Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, wait, nah
Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, ok
Fuck you, fuck you, everybody
Super enhanced survival shoot em with a crucial plan
Infatuated with music in loops, no scruples man
Phrase-ologist. Non-apologetic mutiliator
Stays all of this defamin' names so they can sue me later
Hater, yes? The kinderst gas the fate opposer
Philanthropist, misanthropist, underground soldier
Banana clips just start unloadin' in your supermarkets screamin' till your
Hoarse, bleedin', finding out that you're the target
Monotony flow, controdictory, word plays and like bringin' satan to a
Baptism in a floooded basement
Jean's out to lunch, she ain't even punched in yet
You're a facsimile, I'm the original document
All shock and then lights out drop em in. Selections are very buried
Improper things I'm married to rap like J.Lo to scandals
Light up a room like J. Hov's birthday candles
I'm that bright like Steven Hawking's computer chair
Asked out a teacher on a Sadie Hawkin's dare
Paralyze you see the future in my sleep
I'll battle rap you until your belly starts to leak
Gnash your teeth and smash you then bind your feet
Thrash holes in your dome snatch your solo retreat
Mad Max's the pro so dope it's fantastic
Now fold up your dough before you get yo ass kicked
Rush the door like a Russian whore
Male order bitch. Sent your damers's crib
It's an honor to split your armor blood drip
Like pulp fiction when bits of bone get on ya
Shit, I just talked ya'll can disregard margins
Liquid date any enemies rap incarnate
I'm cynical, criminal actions excite me
My mic chords an umbilical, that radiates high beams
Humorous, filled with more flow than a cumulus cloud
Dentist mad, he said my words abuse my mouth, so I upchucked em
Gut buck em out. Chuckle loud, duck down screamin' fuck the crowd
Specialize staggered mixed malt liquor with jolt cola
Start drinking when cops start lookin' over their shoulder
Nastier than central bookin sandwiches handlin' tough
Cranky in the morning after smokin the canibus stuff
Can't see it like Orphan Annie's pupils in the cartoons
Can't be it like tranny's who paid for implanted boobs. Nope. That's not it
Close but no cigar, dutch licked but I'm passin' it right past ya Paul
That's all, that's Jean the definitive minister
The sarcastic lip bar spitter competitor
The un-cosmetic duck shit on your pedestal
Sanitarium released, the most unforgettable
Motov dirt Molotov your face
Then lock you in a box and watch you burn in a closed space
Big face get your shit taken and replaced with a tickin' pace that's
Strapped to your waist
(Duh) You move to slow sloth boost your movement
Your mind counts time like down south screw music
Who's it? The Phoenix wings spread like the ox head
I'll knock you out a window make you literally drop dead
The lyrics to Jean Grae's song "Hater's Anthem" are filled with aggressive and boastful language, showcasing her skills as a rapper and her disdain for her detractors. She starts by taunting her haters, using derogatory language and violent imagery to assert her dominance. She emphasizes her lyrical prowess, claiming to be the original and superior artist while dismissing others as imitations. She continues to challenge her critics, boasting about her ability to ignite controversy and provoke lawsuits. She compares herself to a soldier and a philanthropist, highlighting her commitment to the underground rap scene. She concludes by delivering a series of threats and insults, asserting her superiority and warning her adversaries of the consequences they will face if they continue to oppose her.
Contributed by Kylie F. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
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@lilrog51
Jean Grae has some of the most deadliest punchlines in her raps. She can hold her own against any rapper.
@flower321channel6
FACTS THAT'S 100 PERCENT TRUE!!!
@NickCTaylor
Yep. She is vicious
@marcelldavis666
*Big L joined the chat*
@p.r.h.7283
She sounds so East coast. There was so many people at that time. He comes out of that era. It was much bigger than him. He wasnโt the only one with razor sharp flows.
@WuBrother1No
Probably the most underrated MC of her generation.
@Donnomercy
WuBrother1No of her generation????...she transcends time....the most underated..underappreciated Female MC of all time...but she has used YouTube to counter the Radio and mainstream cockblocking.....
@bellatru92
@@sarahdoddingtonclark2258 EXACTLY
@XXXTHREAT
@@sarahdoddingtonclark2258 duhh, but female MC means she represents us women..... which she does..... and a mighty goood fucking job too. yep wayy better then males like you added xo
@ryanfonseca5750
A melhor mรบsica do midnigth club 3 nostalgia do caralho