Jean Grae

Jean Grae (born Tsidi Ibrahim, November 26, 1976), formerly known as What? What?, is an American hip hop recording artist, actress, and comedian from Brooklyn, New York City. She rose to prominence in the underground hip hop scene in New York City and has since built an international fanbase. 2Early life Jean Grae was born Tsidi Ibrahim, in Cape Town, South Africa, on November 26, 1976. The daughter of South African jazz musicians Sathima Bea Benjamin and Abdullah Ibrahim, she was raised in New York City, where her parents relocated after her birth. She studied Vocal Performance at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School, before majoring in Music Business at New York University. She dropped out after three weeks of class. 2Musical career 31996–98: Career beginnings In 1995, she was discovered by George Rithm Martinez, when he recruited her for a five-song demo under the name of his group, Ground Zero. Their demo was critically acclaimed and earned the duo "Unsigned Hype" honors in The Source in March 1996. She later joined a hip hop group called Natural Resource, along with fellow rapper Ocean and disc jockey James "AGGIE" Barret