Jeanius

iTunes Review

Jean Grae has been paying dues on the underground hip-hop circuit since the late nineties, releasing a series of acclaimed albums with the group Natural Resource, and a series of increasingly rewarding solo releases since 2002’s Attack of the Attacking Things. Grae trades in a fiercely confrontational style that hearkens back to the lightning quick freestyle aesthetic of battle hardened golden age MC’s like Big Daddy Kane, Masta Ace, and MC Lyte, and she's as comfortable spinning an extended narrative as she is trading razor sharp lyrical punch-lines. Jeanius is a collaboration with the much feted North Carolina producer 9th Wonder, and as always 9th Wonder’s understated beats are steeped in dusty soul samples and boast a reverent attitude towards groundbreaking producers like Pete Rock and DJ Premier. Those beats make an ideal counterpart to Grae’s intricate cadences, which borrow from Jay-Z’s self mythologizing tendencies on the remarkable “This World” and Big L’s boastful lyrical dexterity on the horn laden “Think About It”. Thankfully Grae is never beholden to her influences and with Jeanius, offers her listeners ample proof that she is an original and accomplished artist in her own right.