Jean Grae Calls It Quits?

Apparently, Brooklyn based super femcee Jean Grae has decided to retire from the recording business. The news hit a couple of days ago and has spread like wildfire on the net via bloggers and rap forums. While many simply shrug their collective shoulders and ask "what's the big deal?", there is a great number of hip-hop enthusiasts (myself included) that can only scratch their head and wonder what brought about this decision. To me, this "retirement" comes at a time when I would've assumed that Jean would be somewhat content and looking at things with a little more optimism. She recently been droppingnew joints on mixtapes with her new label Blacksmith Records, which is headed by Talib Kweli and is also home to Strong Arm Steady. A lot of her new material was really strong and up to par with her past stuff and she didn't hint at any raw feelings toward the music industry either. Unfortunately, there seems to be a little bit of uncertainty surrounding this situation. On a few boards Jean's manager has come forward and made a statement that Jean is just "frustrated" with things right now and her progress in the game. I've read other reports from die hard fans that this might just be a publicity stunt that she alledgedly has already pulled once before. I sincerely hope it is. We as a hip-hop community need Jean Grae man...now more than ever. There has to be an alternative to broads like Trina and Nikki Minaj. There has to be a few chicks with the gift, that "get it". Jean Grae was a shining example of one of those chicks that "got it". A complex, rambling and breathy delivery accompanied by deep and hypnotic lyrics that spilled out like poetry, Jean's style was more than unique, it was one of a kind. She was like a well thought out slam poet that could rhyme and ride a beat. So vunerable and honest, yet powerful and possessive of her identity. Jean is everything that is good about hip-hop. A frequent collaborator of the game's best underground talent, she has become over time the quintessential underground artist. Throw out her gender right now, Jean has given plenty a male counterpart a good run for their money on a track, if not destroying them on it. Rivaled by few, she has held it down for some time; the right way. She's stuck it out, bounced around from label to label, done small shows here and there, shook off the shitty hip-hop critics, maintained her music's integrity and accepted a small amount of dough for work that is priceless. She's proably well within her rights to wanna give it a break for awhile, or maybe forever. It can be and most often times is a thankless business, that railroads the truly gifted and embraces the mediocre. I for one just want to say to Jean, if in fact your are stepping down, Thank you. Thanks for all the great work. Thanks for all your contributions to this game, to your fans and to, most importantly of all, Hip-Hop. Gratitude is something that a lot of real artists tend to deeply appreciate, especially when it's genuwine. Another funny thing about true artists is that most of the time they never stray too far from their canvas. Whether it's Brett Favre, Michael Jordan or Keith Richards, they never stray too far, no matter what they might say. Bet that. So in that spirit, I say goodbye Jean......for now.

-BIG D O



for those that wanna hear a lil' bit of jeans stuff, check this out..it's a compilation of unreleased stuff, even features her singing a lil' bit...



http://www.sendspace.com/file/2i0sov