Jean Grae @ The Basement, Sydney (03/09/05)

It says something about Jean Grae, the New York ‘femcee’ formally ripping mics under the guise of What?What?, when she can pack out shows an Australian tour after barely even registering commercially. But she is of course, one of the greatest cameo rappers of the last few years, and this in the genre that the cameo was born for. As she said herself last night, ‘When you hear the girl rap, that’s me.’

There was a hell of a line up of supports on the bill, and although the basement was apparently sold out for the last city of the tour, it was still a little empty when Macromantics took to the stage for her unique brand of quasi-spoken word madness, which I for one was definitely feeling, especially as it took Maya Jupiter off stage for a second. Ok, I’m being harsh, but whenever she’s there to ‘MC’ some gig (in the way someone MCs a bingo night), she never actually raps, so maybe it’s just that the whole celebrity factor (‘hey, she’s on JJJ!’) is lost on me. Anyway, Macromantics was refreshing, especially considering her reworked ‘MCs act like they don’t know’ plus ode to early Wu-Tang at the end. Following this, battle champ Anecdote and hype man did their slightly more jiggy thing, and although his style definitely is more suited to, well, battling, he has more than a few killer punch-lines up his baggy sleeves to get people that little bit more warmed up.

I was, and am, still recovering from a nasty bout of illness and would have appreciated Jean taking to the stage there and then, but there was still a set from Josie Styles to come with a bit of the old hip hop realness to it, as well as a fucking great set from Kavi-R, who managed to throw down numerous classic bangers which you couldn’t quite put your finger on. It was a top set heavy on the early 90s, and it’s good to see a DJ who puts as much effort into his mix and blend as his track selection. So yeah, all things said we were all properly hanging for the lady in question by this stage, and when she finally took to it (the stage) with her DJ Bizarre, there was the sort of cheer you might expect from the diverse crowd in attendance. Loads of hip hop heads, plus trendy folk and boys and girls alike were here to watch the lady with the charismatic, quirky, monotone flow, and she was about to have as much fun as them.

Starting with some early stuff, the diminutive and laid back lass explained how she’d downed a little too much Hennessy on stage in Brisbane last night, but it didn’t stop her stooping back and forth across the stage and bantering with people in such a friendly way it felt more like a mate performing at a house party half of the time. One minute she’s making her dj down shots, next minute she’s getting the whole club to follow her dance steps. It was a great vibe, and totally down to the fact that Ms Grae left any outstanding ego at the door. At one point she even got Macromantics and Anecdote back on the stage for a bit of old-fashioned mic sharing, followed by a bit of classic crowd call-and response which was enthusiastically dwelled upon by the increasingly raucous mass on the dance floor. Of particular and amusing note was her and Bizarre’s hoe-down to an old Ice Cube tune they had been playing while on the road (sometimes personal jokes can be amusing for all).

When she finally did make it to the end of the set, she seemed to be approaching exhaustion; merely due to the fact she’d given her all, as opposed to any lack of energy or will. It’s cliché, but Jean Grae was a ‘true performer’. Positivity, charm, and importantly, top-notch mic control. Thanks for that.