Jean Grae: ‘Let Female Emcees Co-Exist’ | Civilized Talk
June 17, 2010 by M. Gosho Oakes
Filed under Blogs
“I’m usually the worst person to ask about female emcees in Hip Hop…”
Gender being an irrelevant factor when enjoying someone’s work, lyricist Jean Grae speaks on women in Hip Hop for Karen Civil’s Civilized Talk feature.
“The bigger picture: there’s tons of female emcees out there and there always have been. It’s a really difficult job because yes, it’s a male dominated business,” she says. “Other than that, the rap business – not being funded or having a machine behind you – just in general is a difficult fucking job.
“As women… there’s a lot of aspects that we have to deal with that men don’t. Rather than take it as a weakness, I see the advantage of it – I see the advantage in the topics, I see the advantage in the marketing and I see the advantage in all of that. I think what our problem is, just as a society, is we choose one person when it’s time for something.”
Receiving daily tweets from fans assuming Jean regards Young Money Barbie Nicki Minaj as a force to be destroyed, Jean responds: “Check this out: I don’t hate Nicki Minaj. Seriously, I’m fine with what she does. Let Nicki do what she does and let me do what I do – and let Invincible do what she does….
“Let us all actually be out there and let us co-exist … It’s no fun being the only person if there’s no sparring, if there’s no competition, if there’s no diversity. The consumers do it to the artists.”