Throwback Write-up #7: Jean Grae - Bootleg of the Bootleg - HipHop | HipHop Channel

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Throwback Write-up #7: Jean Grae - Bootleg of the Bootleg - HipHop

Throwback Write-up #7: Jean Grae - Bootleg of the Bootleg - HipHop

Throwback Write-up #7: Jean Grae - Bootleg of the Bootleg

Posted: 05 May 2020 09:08 AM PDT

Artist: Jean Grae

Album: Bootleg of the Bootleg

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Background

Jean Grae is a lyrical MC born in Cape Town South Africa before moving to New York City at a young age. As the daughter of two jazz musicians (including a mother that managed her own label), throughout Jean Grae's life art and music was part of her lifestyle. Whether it be starting off in dance, starting a career as a producer or her eventual rise to being an MC.

One thing that has always defined Jean Grae's life is her competitive spirit which she cultivated to push herself as far as she could no matter what work she was perusing. When she made beats she'd focus everything on making them the best, and this only continued when she started her rap career in the mid 90's.

After Originally using the name 'What? What?' for the first few years of her career she decided to change her name to something more self-reflective of who she is. The name Jean Grae hatched from her love of comics and specifically the X-Men character Jean Grey.

A few years of demos and small releases eventually set the stage for her 2002 debut album Attack of the Attacking Things. With a heavy focus on lyricism and a cold delivery Attack of the Attacking Things left both critics and fans alike excited for what could possibly come next, and after only a little over a year we would get that release with her EP Bootleg of the Bootleg.

Album Review

Preface: I will be discussing tracks based on how they appear on the deluxe version of the album. Both the original and the deluxe share the same length the deluxe edition just splits the 45 minute long Chapter One: Destiny into 11 separate tracks.

As we discussed earlier one of the biggest motivating factors for Jean Grae is her competitive nature and tenacity to be the best. She makes no better case for this than on the opening track 'Haters Anthem'. We are instantly introduced to Jean Grae's exceptional ear for production bringing some killer boom bap percussion along with an excellent baseline before quickly hitting us with her punchy and cold style of rap she's known for. It's a song where Jean Grae is un-apologetically putting herself on top. At this point in her career she knows her talents are above that of her pupils and in true hip-hop fashion she's going to let everyone know.

While Jean Grae is certainly exceptional from a technical standpoint and loves to boast about her talents; she doesn't take long to get into the meat of some lyrical substance on the following track 'Take Me'. A track focused on Jean Grae's troubled relationship with God.

Lock and aim and I'm dropping my frame quick when I pop in the brain

And if God's omnipotent,

will he slip in and change

And move the pistol so it shoots out of range and the lead whistles?

(Baby) Maybe he's just playing; it'll ricochet

And cripple me strictly for questioning, give me life to the pain

'Take Me' offers the other side to the coin of 'Haters Anthem'. Instead of being a song of immense confidence it's instead a song of vulnerability where we find her in a deep depressive state where she feels self-destructive attitudes taking over her life afraid of how it could potentially lead to a shortened life. Frustration over the negativity surrounding her makes her question the meaning of life.

The sadness expressed on 'Take Me' gets complemented well a few tracks later on 'My Crew' which focuses on the love she has for those around me and her dream to see them succeed. Jean Grae is certainly at least somewhat disappointed in some of the decisions made by those around her, but above all else her goal is to give them the support they need to get over their inner demons.

All of this comes to a head on the track 'Chapter One: Destiny' where Jean Grae is playing the character of a contracted assassin and a piece of their story including the start of one of their jobs and the eventual betrayal by their contractors. This character is expanded upon a few more times in Jean Grae's discography on future tracks like 'Football Season is Over'.

After this point this album shifts into being heavily focused on her rapping beats that other rappers had previously made famous. Giving it more of the feeling of being a mixtape. Despite the change in styling it fits right in, and she performs as well on the production as you'd imagine from someone of Jean Grae's caliber.

One of the highlights on this part of the project includes 'High' which samples the beat off of Nas's track 'Purple'. Jean Grae takes a lot of the themes Nas built on around drug culture and builds upon it with her own thoughts with as much tact as we've come to expect throughout the tracklist.

Along with this we get her take on another classic artists materiel with the track You Don't Know (uses the same beat as Jay-Z's U Don't Know) where we get more insight of her view on media and how focused they are on putting artists like herself into categories rather than respecting them based strictly on ability. Which is something she has discussed a lot in interviews in speeches including her distaste for the terms 'female rapper' and 'FEMC'. Which is something that really isn't discussed much on the project outside of this. Whether or not the fact that she is a woman potentially puts her at a disadvantage in the industry her goal is to force people to respect her regardless because she wants her rap to speak for itself more than anything else.

Conclusion

Bootleg of the Bootleg is a fantastic project that really highlights Jean Grae's excecptional talents as an artist. Her lyrical ability and sharp one-liners can go up against anyone, and I believe this project is a great example of that. It's large variation of topics and sounds with incredibly rich and punchy production leaves it as one of my favorite hip-hop projects of the early 2000's.

Favorite Lines

No, Jean's not hard now, Jean hasn't changed

I was 18 on the first record, I've just experienced the game

Not a thug, not a drug seller, not a gun shooter

Not a stripper, sex symbol, or anything you're used to

Marketing nightmare, I don't fit into categories

I just rap, make beats and shit and sleep all these stories

You Don't Know

I represent for a nation. Thought we was in it together

But I guess it gets strange when money rains in sunny weather

Tougher than leather? We're weaker than glass

And shattered on the side of the road. Try to get a ride,

but pass each other fast

My Crew

Suppose you only used to chicks who use they tits to boost sales

And boot males who switch the crew they with but really fails

Cause rap fans are finicky, your approach is gimmicky

So your turn's over fast, like a young man's virginity

A Little Story

Discussion Questions

  • Is Jean Grae an artist you were aware of prior to ths write-up? If so what were your thoughts on her music? If you weren't aware of her music do you have plans to give it a shot?

  • Jean Grae's output in terms of music has slowed down in favor of other artistic endeavors including books, podcasts, directing, and more. If she were to ever return with a new full length solo-rap project what direction would you hope for?

  • Where do you see Jean Grae fitting in with other MCs in the early 2000's?

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Daily Discussion Thread 05/05/2020

Posted: 05 May 2020 01:31 PM PDT

Welcome to the /r/hiphopheads daily discussion thread!

This thread is for:

  • objective questions with right/wrong answers (e.g. "Does anyone know what is happening with MIXTAPE?", "What is the sample in SONG?")
  • general hip-hop discussion
  • meta posts...e.g. ideas for the sub

Thread Guidelines

  • Do not create a separate self post for these types of discussions outside of this thread - if you do, your post will be removed, as stated in the guidelines.

  • Please be helpful and friendly.

  • If a question has been asked many times before, provide a link to a thread that contains the answer.

Weekly/Monthly Threads

Other ways to interact

There are a number of other ways to interact with other members of HHH:

New to /r/hiphopheads or hip-hop in general?

Check out these:

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[FRESH VIDEO] JPEGMAFIA x DENZEL CURRY - BALD! REMIX

Posted: 05 May 2020 09:29 AM PDT

DaBaby Allegedly Attacked a Driver After Rapper Was Told to Not Smoke Inside Vehicle

Posted: 05 May 2020 01:26 PM PDT

Snoop Dogg Clout Chasers Theory

Posted: 05 May 2020 05:46 PM PDT

I'll get right into it. I have a theory, a Snoop Dogg theory. To my knowledge, I am the first person to bring this up. In July of 2018, it was reported in many places that Snoop Dogg cheated on his wife of 21 years, Shante Broadus, with Instagram star Celena Powell. Powell made public many screenshots of messages between the two, complete with photos from Snoop himself and a recording of her face-timing him. During the exchange, both shared photos of themselves half-dressed and they both sent messages which would lead people to believe they had sex, Powell also said publically on Twitter and Instagram too that they did engage sexually as well. (All her evidence for it taking place is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETCA3UbLQv8)

A few days later, Snoop put out this trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWQlsO75uUk The trailer is for an upcoming show he called 'Clout Chasers' in which the premise was to find people and bait them into exposing their intentions of being with famous people, Snoop in particular, only for personal social gain. Now, you probably didn't see this show, not even a single episode. That's because, despite the 'Premiering 2018' card at the end of the trailer, the show was never made. Not a single episode - even though Snoop promised episode one just a week after making an Instagram video on July 17th. (Evidence for that here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgSwMCUvFN0)

I propose to you that Snoop did, in fact, cheat on his wife, Shante Broadus, with Celena Powell and made this trailer in an attempt to make sure everything blows over and is forgotten about before new evidence is uncovered. What evidence do I have for this claim? If you look closely at the trailer, every single part of it is either stock footage, footage Powell made public, or footage that Snoop could have easily recorded anywhere at any time, including after the allegations transpired. AND, despite the show promising a whole series, the trailer only shows one 'clout chaser' - Celena Powell - who would likely only be the subject of one episode, showing the trailer was quickly cobbled together and Snoop only had enough footage just to disprove the cheating claims, not to make an entire show. Due to this lack of footage, the show never came out, as Snoop never recorded anything before these events transpired as he didn't believe it would go public so he only had stock footage, what Powell had put out, personal screenshots of text messages. And footage of himself which was likely recorded after.

People might also think the opposite, that the show perhaps didn't come out for other reasons (perhaps not finding a network which would run it, editing/budget issues. etc) and that it was, in fact, Powell who lied. This is because she had engaged with other notable rappers previously, claiming she was pregnant with Offset's baby, and that she had had sex with Cheef Keef and Fetty Wap. Although, this time with Snoop Dogg was the only one she had evidence for, and I personally believe that this is why Snoop Dogg cheated with her - the perfect crime. In essence - 'Nobody's going to believe someone who has lied about so many similar things all these times before.'.

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Nav announces tracklist for “Good Intentions”, dropping May 8th

Posted: 05 May 2020 08:18 PM PDT

https://imgur.com/a/sBIPt4q

Features: Lil Uzi Vert, Travis Scott, Young Thug, Gunna, Future, Pop Smoke, Don Toliver, Lil Durk

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Childish Gambino - This Is America (it was released today two years ago)

Posted: 05 May 2020 02:56 AM PDT

Denzel Curry Will Drop Three More Albums Before He Stops Rapping - (XXL Magazine Exclusive)

Posted: 05 May 2020 12:40 PM PDT

[FRESH] Little Simz - Drop 6 EP

Posted: 05 May 2020 04:04 PM PDT

[FRESH VIDEO] A$AP FERG x ONEFOUR - Say It Again

Posted: 05 May 2020 10:32 PM PDT

Kanye West goes shopping at the mall in Chicago after signing with Roc-A-Fella Records

Posted: 05 May 2020 08:57 AM PDT

Polo G is dropping his sophomore album 'The Goat' on 5/15

Posted: 05 May 2020 01:29 PM PDT

Rapper Kiing Shooter Dies, Allegedly Due To Covid-19

Posted: 05 May 2020 03:28 PM PDT

Joey Badass Talks New Album, Being Underrated, Pop Smoke, and More

Posted: 05 May 2020 08:09 AM PDT

[FRESH] A$AP FERG, ONEFOUR - Say It Again

Posted: 05 May 2020 04:08 PM PDT

Rapper Watsky to attempt to break the Guiness World Record for longest freestyle tomorrow by rapping for 33 hours

Posted: 05 May 2020 12:49 PM PDT

Gorillaz - Clint Eastwood (Official Video)

Posted: 05 May 2020 04:17 PM PDT

[FRESH] Chief Keef - 2nd Day Out (Prod By Zaytoven)

Posted: 05 May 2020 07:42 AM PDT

Mos Def, Black Thought, Eminem BET Cypher (Simpler Times)

Posted: 05 May 2020 07:05 PM PDT

The Weeknd - The Weeknd’s Dark Secret (American Dad)

Posted: 05 May 2020 09:18 PM PDT

[FRESH] Lupe Fiasco - LF95

Posted: 05 May 2020 12:03 PM PDT

21 Savage - Bank Account

Posted: 05 May 2020 05:02 AM PDT

Billboard Hot 100 Discussion - May 3-9 2020 | THE SCOTTS debuts at #1

Posted: 05 May 2020 08:33 AM PDT

Billboard Hot 100 chart

Position Title Artist ▲/▼ Last week Weeks Charting Peak
1 THE SCOTTS THE SCOTTS, Travis Scott & Kid Cudi ▲+100 [FRESH] 1 1
2 Blinding Lights The Weeknd ▼-1 1 22 1
3 Toosie Slide Drake ▼-1 2 4 1
4 Savage Megan Thee Stallion ▲+10 14 7 4
5 The Box Roddy Ricch ▼-2 3 21 1
6 Say So Doja Cat ▼-1 5 17 5
7 Don't Start Now Dua Lipa ▼-3 4 26 2
8 Circles Post Malone ▼-2 6 35 1
9 Intentions Justin Bieber Featuring Quavo ▼-1 8 12 8
10 Adore You Harry Styles ▼-3 7 21 6
11 Righteous Juice WRLD ▲+90 [FRESH] 1 11
12 Life Is Good Future Featuring Drake ▼-2 10 16 2
13 My Oh My Camila Cabello Featuring DaBaby ▼-1 12 21 12
14 ROCKSTAR DaBaby Featuring Roddy Ricch ▼-5 9 2 9
15 The Bones Maren Morris ▼-2 13 32 12
16 everything i wanted Billie Eilish ▼-5 11 25 8
17 Someone You Loved Lewis Capaldi ▼-2 15 51 1
18 Nobody But You Blake Shelton Duet With Gwen Stefani ▲+2 20 16 18
19 I Hope Gabby Barrett ▼-3 16 18 16
20 Blueberry Faygo Lil Mosey ▼-1 19 12 16
21 Memories Maroon 5 ▼-3 18 32 2
22 Chasin' You Morgan Wallen ▼-1 21 14 21
23 Roses (Imanbek Remix) SAINt JHN ▼-1 22 6 22
24 Falling Trevor Daniel ▼-1 23 24 22
25 High Fashion Roddy Ricch Featuring Mustard - 25 18 20
26 death bed Powfu Featuring beabadoobee ▲+1 27 7 26
27 Hot Girl Bummer blackbear ▼-3 24 33 11
28 Sunday Best Surfaces ▲+10 38 9 28
29 RITMO (Bad Boys For Life) The Black Eyed Peas X J Balvin ▲+5 34 23 26
30 Does To Me Luke Combs Featuring Eric Church ▲+10 40 7 30
31 Heart On Ice Rod Wave ▼-2 29 25 25
32 Ballin' Mustard & Roddy Ricch - 32 41 11
33 Roxanne Arizona Zervas ▼-7 26 26 4
34 Dance Monkey Tones And I ▼-3 31 30 4
35 WHATS POPPIN Jack Harlow ▲+2 37 12 35
36 Break My Heart Dua Lipa ▲+3 39 5 21
37 Heartless The Weeknd ▼-9 28 23 1
38 HIGHEST IN THE ROOM Travis Scott ▲+63 [FRESH] 22 1
39 I Hope You're Happy Now Carly Pearce & Lee Brice ▲+8 47 17 39
40 Beer Can't Fix Thomas Rhett Featuring Jon Pardi ▲+11 51 7 40
41 Level Of Concern twenty one pilots ▲+4 45 3 23
42 I Love Me Demi Lovato - 42 8 18
43 More Hearts Than Mine Ingrid Andress ▼-13 30 18 30
44 After A Few Travis Denning ▲+12 56 5 44
45 All In Lil Baby ▲+56 [FRESH] 1 45
46 10,000 Hours Dan + Shay & Justin Bieber ▼-5 41 30 4
47 Hard To Forget Sam Hunt ▲+2 49 5 40
48 Supalonely BENEE Featuring Gus Dapperton ▲+11 59 7 48
49 Goosebumps Travis Scott ▲+52 [FRESH] 35 32
50 Before You Go Lewis Capaldi ▲+7 57 13 50
51 In Your Eyes The Weeknd ▲+4 55 6 16
52 Dior Pop Smoke ▲+2 54 11 30
53 Sum 2 Prove Lil Baby ▲+7 60 16 16
54 Slide H.E.R. Featuring YG ▲+4 58 19 43
55 Catch Brett Young ▼-3 52 14 29
56 Walk Em Down NLE Choppa Featuring Roddy Ricch ▲+9 65 6 56
57 Heartless Diplo Presents Thomas Wesley Featuring Morgan Wallen ▲+10 67 14 57
58 JUMP DaBaby Featuring YoungBoy Never Broke Again ▼-41 17 2 17
59 If The World Was Ending JP Saxe Featuring Julia Michaels ▲+18 77 5 59
60 OUT WEST JACKBOYS Featuring Young Thug ▲+12 72 16 38
61 Stupid Love Lady Gaga ▼-15 46 9 5
62 Yo Perreo Sola Bad Bunny ▲+6 68 7 53
63 I'm Ready Sam Smith & Demi Lovato ▼-27 36 2 36
64 P*$$y Fairy (OTW) Jhene Aiko ▲+12 76 15 40
65 Sasuke Lil Uzi Vert ▲+36 [FRESH] 1 65
66 Godzilla Eminem Featuring Juice WRLD - 66 15 3
67 Find My Way DaBaby ▼-34 33 4 22
68 Cool Again Kane Brown ▲+33 [FRESH] 1 68
69 BELIEVE IT PARTYNEXTDOOR & Rihanna ▲+6 75 5 23
70 Bluebird Miranda Lambert ▲+12 82 4 70
71 Emotionally Scarred Lil Baby ▲+13 84 9 31
72 You should be sad Halsey ▲+8 80 16 26
73 Here And Now Kenny Chesney ▲+14 87 4 73
74 Turks NAV, Gunna & Travis Scott ▲+4 78 5 17
75 Be A Light Thomas Rhett Featuring Reba McEntire, Hillary Scott, Chris Tomlin & Keith Urban ▲+8 83 4 71
76 Slow Dance In A Parking Lot Jordan Davis ▼-3 73 17 37
77 Come Thru Summer Walker & Usher ▲+2 79 18 42
78 After Party Don Toliver ▲+14 92 2 78
79 Homemade Jake Owen ▲+2 81 14 39
80 Ride It. DJ Regard ▲+15 95 3 80
81 God Whispered Your Name Keith Urban ▲+16 97 2 81
82 In Between Scotty McCreery ▲+7 89 3 82
83 Ain't Easy YoungBoy Never Broke Again ▲+18 [FRESH] 1 83
84 Party Girl StaySolidRocky ▲+17 [FRESH] 1 84
85 Die From A Broken Heart Maddie & Tae ▲+9 94 3 80
86 Diamonds YoungBoy Never Broke Again ▲+15 [FRESH] 1 86
87 Myron Lil Uzi Vert ▲+1 88 7 13
88 July Noah Cyrus & Leon Bridges ▲+5 93 9 85
89 Captain Hook Megan Thee Stallion ▲+7 96 4 74
90 Bout My Business YoungBoy Never Broke Again Featuring Sherhonda Gaulden ▲+11 [FRESH] 1 90
91 That Way Lil Uzi Vert - 91 9 20
92 Rough Ryder YoungBoy Never Broke Again ▲+9 [FRESH] 1 92
93 B.S. Jhene Aiko Featuring H.E.R. ▲+8 [FRESH] 6 24
94 Underdog Alicia Keys ▲+7 [FRESH] 5 69
95 I Love My Country Florida Georgia Line ▲+6 [FRESH] 2 81
96 NASTY DaBaby Featuring Ashanti & Megan Thee Stallion ▼-46 50 2 50
97 Drinking Alone Carrie Underwood ▲+4 [FRESH] 1 97
98 PTSD G Herbo Featuring Chance The Rapper, Juice WRLD & Lil Uzi Vert - 98 5 38
99 Thug Of Spades YoungBoy Never Broke Again Featuring DaBaby ▲+2 [FRESH] 1 99
100 Safaera Bad Bunny, Jowell & Randy & Nengo Flow ▼-1 99 7 81

Notes

THE SCOTTS is Kid Cudi's first #1 song

Savage jumps up 10 positions to #4. It is now Megan Thee Stallion's highest charting song

Billboard 200 chart

Position Title Artist Sales Change Last week Weeks Charting
1 38 Baby 2 YoungBoy Never Broke Again 73,325 (3,994 pure) -- [FRESH] 1
2 BLAME IT ON BABY DaBaby 52,328 (954 pure) -59% 1 2
3 Eternal Atake Lil Uzi Vert 48,594 (560 pure) -11% 3 8
4 After Hours The Weeknd 48,884 (4,583 pure) -13% 2 6
5 My Turn Lil Baby 42,184 (863 pure) +6% 5 9
6 Hollywood's Bleeding Post Malone 36,011 (1,328 pure) +0% 6 34
7 YHLQMDLG Bad Bunny 34,991 (595 pure) -1% 7 9
8 Please Excuse Me For Being Antisocial Roddy Ricch 32,055 (327 pure) -2% 8 21
9 ASTROWORLD Travis Scott 28,258 (993 pure) +85% 30 91
10 Suga Megan Thee Stallion 19,398 (404 pure) +2% 21 8
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[FRESH] ICECOLDBISHOP x Kenny Beats - Dickies Suit

Posted: 05 May 2020 09:14 PM PDT

[FRESH VIDEO] The Weeknd - Blinding Lights (Chromatics Remix Music Video)

Posted: 05 May 2020 12:34 PM PDT

G Herbo - Catch Up (Ft. Chief Keef)

Posted: 05 May 2020 06:07 PM PDT
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