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| Thing is, my two introductions to you, was
first the Herbalizer stuff, and next "How To Break Up With
Your Girlfriend". Do you actually have a preferred introduction,
who you wish people got to know you, your music? |
That's actually interesting as there's a big
gap in between the two things. About a year or two before Herbalizer
I did Natural Resource. Herbalizer was after that and then there's
a lot of stuff in between that and "How To Break..."
That's like a few years. Maybe three.
But now, I think to a lot of people who might have heard, just
Herbalizer, and haven't heard anything else up until now, they'll
be: 'oh, Jean Grae changed.' And I'm like 'you know, I was also
like eighteen years old when I was doing that stuff.' So you
learn a lot of things and you move on, you grow as a person
and as an artist. And on this album, this is where I was at
this moment. For the next album, hopefully, I will try to grow
a little bit more, and learn more about myself and the world,
and it will reflect on my music.
Introduction wise, no, I think you can pretty much start anywhere.
If you wanna go backwards, that's fine too. Just as long as
you listen, you know, that's great (laughs). |
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| Just for the record: what
have you done in the few years gap then? |
| Ooh boy: there were a couple
of Rawkus projects, there was the High & Mighty album,
there was a Don Scavone record, Pumpkinhead's record that
came out. Another single called "Can It", which
was released in Japan. There was Apani's "Estrogen".
Oh boy, I really would have to look this up somewhere
(laughs). And nothing was, ... you know it's much easier
to kick off a good eight or sixteen bars, and not having
to worry to finish the whole song yourself. So it's kind
of interesting to hear people say: 'oh, she changed',
because they haven't really heard many full length songs
from me. |
| You also did some engineering
and production. On what did you do that? |
| The whole album is pretty
much done at home. It was about a ten dollar project for
CDs. I started engineering when I was about sixteen. And
I went to school for that and then it sort of became my
passion, along with the production and writing rhymes.
So I try to do a little bit of everything. Only because
I'm stubborn and hard headed and like to do things my
way myself. So it works out pretty well (laughs). And
I definitely think it's a very home made sounding album,
with what they call 'dirty mixes'. |
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| You know, the next
thing that I'll do, is going to sound a lot different,
because I think that's what you should do. You don't
want everything coming out to sound the same. |
| But at the same
time, to produce and engineer does not seem to be
pleasing enough, as you are also rhyming. |
| Yeah. Right now I think I'm more
interested in writing. And not concentrating so
much on doing the other two. Just because it's nice
to take a break and to be able to pick music, and
be able to not have to get stuff done myself. Right
now, we are working on the next album. Which hopefully
we are trying to get out before the end of the year.
It's going to be called "Involuntary Inebriation".
And the production is done by this production group
called Magic Fingers, that's sort of out of the
Brooklyn Academy, Skeme Team, Word-A-Mouth family.
It'll be a very interesting album. All totally different
from "Attack Of The Attacking Things".
Some will have a little bit the same flavor, but
it's a totally other level, with definitely a whole
bunch of new feelings on there. It's really good
to be able to sit back and write and not have to
worry about the other aspects. What I can also say
about the other album, which we try to get done
for next year, which is an album with myself and
Mr. Len. |
| And you are also going to do
something with Murs. |
| Yes. But it's just really hard
to record, because we live on different coasts.
And that's kinda far to get stuff done. Then again,
we will try (smiles). I think we got like one song
completed (laughs). So maybe once we will actually
get some money and can travel, we will try to sit
this out. |
| Well, you got one. You always
start with one. |
| Yeah. And we could really fool
them, and put different beats behind it, and like
play parts of the verse backwards, and could like
make twenty songs out of that one song. |
| Exactly. Or how many bars is
it? |
| I'm not letting you know all that
(smiles), man. It's a song. You are asking too many
questions (laughs). |
| Oh, I just wanted to suggest,
that you could separate the verses into like eight
bars, and put like three minute beats behind these
eight bars... |
| Yeah that, and we'll be doing like
the Drum-N-Bass extended mix. We gonna be getting
Fat Boy Slim in here. That's going to be great. |
| Yeah, do a fourteen minutes
version, like the full "Rappers Delight".
That sounds like a plan. |
| (Laughs) Yeah, we are going to
roll up that song and see how much we can actually
finish in the next couple of years. |
| I'm looking forward to it. |
| Thank you. Me too. |
| Humor is very prominent in your
music. Now, obviously, then again this is just a
blatant statement, humor is always real. |
| Yeah. That's just personally how
I am. A lot of times when I'm making jokes, even
when it's in interviews, it might go a little off.
I think I am extremely sarcastic. But I kinda think
that if people are clever enough, they pick up on
it. If they are not, then hey, you should probably
buy another album. You know, I don't wanna tone
down the intelligent humor or anything. You should
always be able to laugh at, I think, yourself first.
You should always be able to make an ass out of
yourself, and not think about it too much. Because
you now, it'll pass. |
| How much humor do you need when
you post on message boards? |
| Quite a lot. Quite a lot. You have
to realize what it is. And just take it for what
it is. You can't really take that too seriously.
You can take into account that yes these are people
who buy albums, blah blah blah, but you know, it
is the internet. You can't get too mad at things.
I could say that I'm a twelve year old girl from
Kansas. And you'd have to believe me, because it's
the internet. So there's definitely pinches of salt
that I take with that one. And posting can always
be hilarious. |
| Do you think that it actually
takes away parts of the 'myth' and 'exclusivity'
of being an artist, because the gap between the
fans and you is closing? |
| I think it's a lot more interesting
when you actually get to relate that close. I think
even without myself posting or actually responding
to people on boards like that, I think the album
is so personal, I'm pretty much telling you everything
that you need to know, without asking me. I don't
believe in closing myself off, because if I'm a
fan of someone else's, I tend to place them a little
higher. And it's strange to have kids come up to
you to ask questions. But I just happen to do music,
this just happens to be my job. It doesn't make
me any different from you. I just wanna feel I can
relate and feel closer to people that way. And that
makes me comfortable. So I think the communication
on the internet is really interesting. Like kids
will send me instant messages and asking questions,
and I don't need to answer anything, unless I want
to answer it. But other than that it's really interesting
to have another form of to relate to people. |
| What kinda gets us back to the
album when you say it's very personal. The most
personal song must be the last one. You talk about
someone passing on, but I don't think you mention
the name, so there must still be some things you
don't want to disclose. |
| Actually the first word of the
song is his name. I say: "Dimitrius, I have
to say something...". But yes, that's definitely
the most personal song. I'm incredibly open to everything.
And I think that's what it should be used for. I
think I got some marbles missing, definitely. Otherwise
I would have not taken this job. You have to be
a little crazy to be doing this. But it's definitely
a kind of talk therapy to get things out. Not even
to just get it out there, but for me to get it out
and actually say it, was very important. So I definitely
wanted to close out the album with that. |
| Also on the topic of the album:
it's dropping on Third Earth, which is the Masterminds'
label. How did you hook up with them folks? |
| I think underground in general
is kind of a small community, that if you don't
know someone, the other person that you are close
to is probably best friends with someone else. So
we kinda knew each other from the underground scene.
The connections with like Murs and Len. And Kimani
had approached me and told me that they'd like to
put my album out. So I was like 'okay, great' (smiles).
And he called me a couple of times: 'we really,
really wanna do it', and I think we met at a club
one night, and he again was: 'come on, we really,
really wanna do it.' And I was like 'alright, how
about when I get it to you by Monday.' - 'Okay.'
- 'Cool.' We shook on it and that was kind of the
deal. So it was definitely good for me to have a
set deadline to push it out by. Otherwise I'd probably
still be sitting here with it. |
| But you mentioned in other interviews
before, that there's no label that's willing to
put you out. I guess that was mostly a comment on
major labels. |
Yeah major labels. I definitely
been hound by major labels and underground labels
alike. Third Earth is a very small independent label,
and we all kinda saw eye to eye on this music and
life in general. So that makes it much, much easier.
But yeah, I'm still getting turned down. Nothing
has changed. You gotta love that. I've passed so
many experiences with A&R's and labels. And
it's a very interesting place. You gotta love those
guys. I think there's a point where it really got
me excited and happy to meet them, and now I'm more
bitter and jaded, which is terrific. And I just
totally don't get excited about it anymore. So you
know, if someone wants to pick me up in the future,
it's definitely going to be on my terms. Which however
is very, very hard to find. Either independent or
major. Obviously much more difficult with a major.
They always say: 'we just don't see the potential
for any commercial single.'
Oh well, fuck 'em. |
| And on that note, we can end
the interview. Thanks a lot for your time. |
| Thank you (laughs). |
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