Jean Grae & 9th Wonder - Jeanius Review
Posted by Phil Watts, Jr on 07.29.2008
In this issue, Jean faces the EVIL forces of the SAMPLE POLICE! Can she survive?!?!? [COMES WITH 4 VARIANT COVERS!! (and none of them by Greg Land!)]
(Recorded in 2004; Officially released on Blacksmith records, 2008)
There have been many shelved albums that people have spent years feinding for, like InI’s CENTER OF ATTENTION, J-Live’s THE BEST PART, Slum Village’s FANTASTIC vol. 1, KMD’s BLACK BASTARDS, and The Wascals’ GREATEST HITS, which would all eventually see the light of day. JEANIUS, the Jean Grae/9th Wonder colab album, takes its place among them.
People have waited years for the South African Fem-Cee sensation (and former Natural Resourse) to finally have an album featuring production that’s worthy of her, and with 9th’s buzz, and 4 hilarious tribute covers (check the liner notes!), you couldn’t go wrong. Since the album has been on the shelf for a while, they gave the kids a few treats, like “Don’t Rush Me” and “Supaluv” (both featured on Jean’s THIS WEEK album), as well as the third installment of “Crooklyn Dodgers” (which also featured Mos Def & Memph Bleek, for 9th’s DREAM MERCHANT 2 comp). Now, after years of downloads and bootlegs, JEANIUS has finally arrived…
…well, sorta.
There’s one major difference between JEANIUS and other declassified albums. When records like Slum Village’s FANTASTIC Vol. 1 were released, they were released the way it was intended, with the artist’s original vision intact. Talib Kweli, owner of Blacksmith Records, ran into a brick wall in his attempts at declassifying JEANIUS, as he couldn’t clear the samples in many of the songs. As a result, Kweli had to get some studio musicians to replay the samples as close as possible, all while keeping 9th’s drums intact (to give some illusion of his presence in the album).
Of course, the X-Men clip was a big no-no, so it was axed entirely. Take note of the fact that the sampled vocals had to be re-sung and the violins had to be redone via keyboard. The result: “eh…close enough.”
A lot of the replayed tunes range from “eh…close enough” to “ugh…”. “Don’t Rush Me” is definitely a head-scratcher, since it’s been given the replay treatment despite being included in the THIS WEEK album untouched! Even worse, it sounds like Kweli went to some of Brittany Spears’ people to redo the song (I swear to GOD…the synthesized piano in the replay reminds me too much of “Oops I Did It Again”. Scary.) Similarly, the replay of the Khrysis-produced “American Pimp” (a.k.a. “The Game”) sounds like the cheap, under-produced stuff you’d find in a mid-80’s Mallaco Records recording. Median’s verse doesn’t really do much for the song, either. Perhaps the worst example is “Think About It” (a.k.a., “Think About Me”). The musicians did a real hatchet-job of this track, turning it into a synthesized mess. As a result, what would’ve been the highlight of the album has now become one of the weakest songs in it.
Of all the replay attempts, only one of them actually works: The sex joint, “Love Thirst” (a.k.a. “So High”). While the original “So High” version does sound fly, it’s a little too busy and doesn’t compliment the vocals and the subject matter as well as the simpler replay version does.
Okay. That’s 5 tracks out of 13 that had to be reworked.
So what about the other 8?
“2 32’s” (a.k.a. “BNK”) has Jean getting busy with 32 bars of punch lines (Jean might soon find her name in Prodigy’s next MASSIVE BLOCK OF TEXT **IN ALL CAPS** blog about ‘rappers he don’t like’ for that “Mobb Deep/Booster chair” line). 9th provides some smooth soul-sample tracks that keeps the head nodding…unless you’re one of those people who belly-ache over him using THAT SNARE (lighten up, will you people?) However, it would’ve been better if it was Jean by herself, since guest rapper Daily Planet (?!?) doesn’t really do much. “The Time Is Now”, on the other hand , is a colab with 2/3 of Little Brother, as 9th provides a track that’s reminiscent of LB‘s “The Yo-Yo”, while Phonte’s presence gives Jean a much needed chance to lighten up (check the hilarious Ashford & Simpson impersonations--and a NEW JACK CITY reference--in the song’s closing moments!) “Billy Killer” (a.k.a. “He’s My Man”) has Jean tracking down her punk-ass no-good boyfriend. Unfortunately, the names have been edited out for some strange reason (even in the original version), which will throw some listeners off. She continues to keep it raw in joints like ”This World”, “Desperada”, and the Khrysis-produced “#8”. Too bad the inaptly named “Smashmouth” doesn’t do much as Justus League affiliates K-Hill, E.A.F., and Scudda all get outshined by Ms. Grae over a weak Fatin-produced track and a lame-ass hook..
Through all this, the one song that serves as the album’s centerpiece is “My Story” (a.k.a. “Please Forgive Me”). This is a deeply personal song where Jean goes over all the things she went through early in her life. Teen pregnancy, miscarriages, abortion, a heart murmur, her attempted suicide, and not being able to face her parents about any of this. Did I mention that she was in her mid-teens through early-20’s going through this shit?! It takes a true artist to take the pain in their lives and translate that pain through their music and that’s what she does here.
THE GOOD (Fire Incarnate!): “My Story”, “The Time Is Now”, “This World”, “LoveThirst”, “Desperada”, Track #8, “2 32’s”
THE BAD (“I knew I’d find my husband here in your head, Emma!”): The replays of “Don’t Rush Me”, “Think About It”, and “American Pimp”; “Smashmouth”
The 411: As much as I gripe about how much this album has been altered, I don’t really blame Kweli for doing what he did, especially considering the RIAA’s war on sampling and mixtapes. It was either a) make a half-assed version of this long awaited album, or b) have Jean face lawsuits for the rest of her life, with 9th getting dragged out of his house in cuffs with all of his beat tapes confiscated (you think it can’t happen? Ask DJ Drama!) Despite it all, I am thankful that he did put this out in some form or fashion, so that Jean & 9th gets some monetary gain out of it. Jean is still one of the fliest females in the Hip-hop world these days, and this album is a testament to that. My suggestion? Cop the album and put some pocket change in Jean’s and 9th’s pockets, because they deserve it. Then, download the REAL version.
