Jean Grae: Beyond Beats and Rhymes

According to Jean Grae’s Instagram biography, she’s “the Dread Pirate Roberts,” a magician, an atom manipulator, not who you want her to be and her mother’s daughter. Unless you still get all your music from the radio (in 2014!), you already know that she is also one of the most prolific underground MCs around. The child of of two internationally-known jazz musicians, her musical prowess should come as no surprise. Sadly, her mother, Sathima Bea Benjamin, passed last summer.

“My mom’s passing last year in August was a moment where it was like don’t wait for anything else. I know she always wanted me to go do other stuff. I remember calling her after the first stand-up gig and she was like, ‘Finally,'” the South African emcee tells EBONY.

At the time of her passing, Benjamin was still working on music and preparing for tours. Knowing that her mother was enjoying herself well into old age made Grae want to do more and work adamantly. “She was 76 years old and still thinking about her next album, writing music and organizing her own shows. That’s a pretty good role model to have, if at any point I feel tired and like I don’t want to do this and I don’t want to work. I’m going to do what I love until the very end,” Grae explained. “It was good that I found peace in the fact that she was having a really good time. She had just gotten a whole bunch of awards and they just did a really great movie on her. I never wanted to not be that. I don’t want to regret anything or feel like I didn’t work hard enough. I want to be as dedicated and passionate as she was. She was always like do that, but you have to be better than me.”

Last year, Grae expanded her horizons and appeared in Neil Drumming’s breakout film, Big Words, about a once-promising hip hop group who struggled with regret, disappointment and change in their late 30’s. That was followed by starring in, directing and writing her own web-based sitcom, “Life With Jeannie,” where the emcee plays herself. It premiered last Christmas. She can also be found in New York City doing comedy shows. Between recording music, performing live, acting, writing scripts and making folks laugh, one would wonder how she finds the time to do everything. The tattooed Jill-of-all trades has no clue. When asked how she balances it all, the “Kill Screen” rapper responded,”I have no idea. Vodka! (laughs) I never grew up with knowing what a normal 9-to-5 timetable would be. I like multitasking a lot. I try not to feel like a slacker. I had the flu about two weeks ago and I couldn’t get out of bed. I was like oh my god, what am I doing? I had to cancel two shows, which I never do. I also know it’s my body’s way of telling me to sit the fuck down and chill out for a second. I have no idea other than that, I might be a time lord, creating more hours in the day.”

Somehow, in between all of the multitasking, the 37-year-old is still able to whip up a good meal for herself and her friends, which she often proudly displays on Instagram. While chatting with EBONY, she was actually in the middle of cooking a tasty sounding meal of garlic chicken and corn tacos with cilantro, tomatoes and fresh guacamole. “I’ll go anywhere from Japanese to Thai to Italian. I really love doing roasts for Sunday dinner or Thanksgiving. I cook as healthy as possible during the rest of the year,” she said. “I try not to use butter and dairy, but if it hits Thanksgiving, we’re using everything. Anything that brings people together to sit around and have a meal, that’s my favorite thing to do.”

Read more at EBONY.

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