"Not a thug, not a drug seller/ Not a gun shooter, not a stripper sex symbol or anything you use to/ Marketing nightmare/ I don't fit into categories/ I just rap, make beats and shit and sleep all of these stories . . ." — Jean Grae
Jean Grae
The Bootleg of the Bootleg EP
(BabyGrande)
In 2002, Jean Grae was crowned b-girl rap's revolutionary sweetheart with her critically acclaimed debut CD Attack of the Attacking Things. On her unofficial sophomore effort, The Bootleg of the Bootleg EP, Jean continues spitting introspective narratives and metaphors galore over crafty productions that has launched her to underground rap stardom.
Jean is apocalyptic, funny and brilliant on the EP. Bootleg's standout is "My Crew," a buoyant hip-hop anti-anthem where Jean excoriates pedophiles disguised as music artists and rap fans who devalue hip-hop culture. She spits: "Rap's dead, rap sucks, but thanks to y'all for killing it/ Grilling it down and spilling it guts and filling it back up with trash/ Wait up, I mean cash/ But ain't the two synonymous/ With media politics?/ You know they love it."
Jean is not your politically correct rapper either. The bright rhyme-slinger talks about her own spiritual warfare with God on the melodic "Take Me," and on the incendiary "Hater's Anthem," Jean's inner bitch is revealed as her honesty outweighs being polite. She huffs in one verse: "I'm more necessary than violence on the Amistad/ [I'm] wrong like eatin' bacon at Ramada-n/ I'll piss on your shoes and make you clean them with your mouth/ Then tell all of your friends and send ya panties to your house." With a chorus that goes: "Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, fuck you/ Hold up/ You fuck, you fuck, you fuck."
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