Published: Monday - April 28, 2008
Words by Miles Bennett
Jean Grae (Photo: via MySpace)
Is one of the best female MCs retiring? Maybe.
Rapper Jean Grae, who is signed to Talib Kweli's Blacksmith imprint, seems like she is giving up music. At least, that's what is being taken from a recent blog post on her official Myspace page.
"It's been a wonderful and awful journey all at the same time. Mostly leaning towards the wonderful part ... lol. Thank you for letting me share what I could with you and sharing yourselves back, as you have really been the reason that I kept on," she wrote. "I will always love what I consider to be true hip hop music ... from the bottom of my soul. I hope you will continue to distinguish those who are contributors to the evolution of Hip Hop and other black music as both an auditory stimulation and a culture, taking care that they are put in a position to do so."
At the end, Jean closing with "Enjoy ... see y'all around. It's been amazing. Thank you again."
While she doesn't outright say she's retiring, it very much sounds that way. She even changed the title of her page to "Jean Grae Saying Peace Out," and deleted all her pics except for a photo of her blowing a kiss good bye.
Jean Grae inked a deal with Kweli's Blacksmith imprint, which is under Warner Bros. Records, in 2005.
While some can speculate that Jean is fed up with the industry after going through rough patches because of failed deals, album delays, etc, when she signed with Blacksmith, she seemed happy and ready.
She told BallerStatus in summer 2007 that her situation with the label was great, "I'm just blessed to have [a deal with an open label]. If it was me going somewhere else, I'm sure it'd be a totally different situation. I also can always call Corey (of Blacksmith) when I have ideas and he's either gonna be like "Jean, we can't do that, we'll go to jail" or "that's a f---ing fantastic idea (laughs)."
However, before the deal, she was almost through with music all together, but when she recorded The Jeanius, it turned around.
"I didn't wanna keep doing music at all (laughing). I was like, 'This is bullsh--, why am I trying?' She admitted. "I think recording The Jeanius really came at a good time. I wanted to work with 9th [Wonder] and I was at a 'I don't give a f--- anymore' point. The whole experience of doing it ... the work ethic, it seemed like being at a place when I was really, really hungry and happy about music, and working with someone excited about working on music like I used to be. ... I had writer's block for like six months. When I got down there, I couldn't stop writing. That kind of brought it back for me. I was enjoying my music again."
The Jeanius was the official album to be released through Blacksmith, but it has yet to see a release date.
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