Jean Grae(I)
- Actress
- Music Department
- Director
Jean Grae (Tsidi Ibrahim) was originally from South Africa, but says
that she will always be a New Yorker by heart. She is the daughter of
two jazz musicians. Jean learned an appreciation for all genres of
music at 9. She attended the High School of Performing Arts as a vocal
major and was later accepted to New York University as a Music Business
major. She was later given a good foundation on becoming a hip-hop
writer and producer. After that she was recruited by a rapper named
Ocean, who formed a group called Natural Resource in the mid-90s. In
1997, Natural Resource founded their own record label, Makin' Records,
and released the 12" single, "Negro League Baseball", which became an
underground hip-hop classic. They followed with several other 12"s
including the song Love This World. In addition to writing and
producing with Natural Resource, Jean also produced singles for Makin'
Records artists Pumpkin Head, Don Scavone and The Bad Seed. She
sometimes collaborates with Talib Kweli and Canabal Ox. She made two
albums: The Attack of Attacking Things, This Week and The Bootleg of
the Bootleg.
