Blacksmith Music will release the highly anticipated album by Jean Grae ‘Jeanius’ slated for a July 8th release. The production bar has been raised, this will be the record taking her out of the underground and into the mainstream. Produced by 9th Wonder (Mary J Blige, Jay-Z and Destiny’s Child), ‘Jeanius’ proves Jean Grae is arguably one of the most gifted and critically received rappers of the past decade.

‘JEANIUS’ TRACK LISTING:
1. Intro
2. 2-32s
3. Don’t Rush Me
4. My Story
5. The Time Is Now
6. Billy Killer
7. Think About It
8. #8
9. American Pimp
10. This World
11. Love Thirst
12. Desperada
13. Smashmouth

“The underground’s premier female rapper.” – VIBE

“Some of the best emceeing ever heard male or female. Grae’s flow is flawless and she spits lyrics with convincing anger.” — BLENDER

“Jean Grea is a talented MC who operates in gray areas & flexes some serious gray matter slinging disses confessions, boasts & love songs, swinging her sense of humor like a scytheÅ ” – SPIN

“Backed by intricate & musical beats, Grae stands as a hip-hop she-ro one whose mission unlike so many of her contemporaries… is to inspire thought…” – INTERVIEW

MORE ON JEAN GRAE:
Born in South Africa, Jean Grae grew up in a home full of music. Both parents were independent artists, creative souls, and jazz musicians. At 13 years old, she became the youngest person to be a part of Alvin Ailey’s second company. She also attended the LaGuardia School of the Arts and Performing Arts (made famous by the show Fame). When she finally came out of her shell, she formed a music group with a friend. This move into music making eventually landed her into a crew called Natural Resources. While in Natural Resources she honed her rhyming skills and beat making skills. After a short but successful stint, Natural Resources disbanded in 1999, leaving Jean to make her own path. It wasn’t until she was asked to participate in Mr. Len’s solo LP (ex-Company Flow) that her skills were made known to a larger listening public. She followed her Len appearance up with an impressive full length, entitled ‘Attack Of The Attacking Things’. In late 2003, she followed up with another head-turning EP, ‘The Bootleg of the Bootleg EP’ followed soon after by the acclaimed ‘This Week’. In 2005, she signed with Talib Kweli’s Blacksmith Records. Recently, Jean has toured Europe with Talib Kweli in summer 2007, was on the 2007 Rock The Bells tour, and was a coach on MTV’s “I Wanna Be A Rapper” show.

LOS ANGELES — In a move that reflects the anarchy sweeping the music business, the superstar rapper Jay-Z, who released his latest album to lukewarm sales five months ago, is on the verge of closing a deal with a concert promoter that rivals the biggest music contracts ever awarded.
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Rahav Segev for The New York Times

Before getting up on stage at a club in Oslo, 50 Cent gave an interview. In it he denied taking coke on live TV in Zagreb and then dropped a file-sharing bombshell: “What is important for the music industry to understand is that this really doesn`t hurt the artists!” Wow. No-one cares about the coke now.

50 CentCurtis James Jackson III, aka 50 Cent has been a drug dealer, he’s been shot, he’s a hugely successful artist – selling over 20 million albums – and he even has his own label, G-Unit Records.