The best-kept secret on New York's indie-hip-hop scene - Rolling Stone Is the Artist Formerly Known as What What the elusive "complete" emcee with ovaries you’ve been looking for since Lauryn Hill’s post-Miseducation meltdown? Well, in an industry plagued with 6th-rate Lil Kim knock-offs, honestly, Grae might be as close as it gets. On the battle rhyme "Hater’s Anthem," you get a small taste of the attributes that rank her alongside Bahamadia as far as smart wordy flows and rewind-able punch lines go. Here, Grae promises to take out all "…lame dames that couldn’t be felt with Braille scripture." Sure, the refrain that repeats on the hook is unnecessarily coarse, but "Take Me" sees Grae going morally deeper over a vastly overused sample flipping a one-on-one-with-God soliloquy that’s stylishly provocative. Cannibal Ox’s off-kilter cerebral rhymes and a perfectly-placed mesmeric flute loop help to break up the pace of Bootlegs on "Swing Blades" for listeners who might tire of Grae’s fairly monotone rapid-fire flow. Conceptually, "Chapter One: Destiny" rates as next level because it ends leaving the listener with the option of determining the fate of a fictional unnamed assassin. Beats-wise Bootlegs is slightly above average although Grae junkies will be happy to know that the alleged last track actually segues into a 45-minute collection of her ripping verses over familiar beats from popular Eminem and Scarface cuts among others. When she’s not doing that, she’s performing equal opportunity remakes of popular Jay-Z tunes like "Excuse Me Miss." Whether the new material on Bootleg has cemented Grae’s position as the next best femcee only a full-length release and time will tell. Until then, you can enjoy the inclusion of some of her back catalog singles with Natural Resource ("Negro League Baseball") on here. --Dalton Higgins SOURCE: http://www.amazon.com WEBSITE: http://www.jean-grae.com The Bootleg Of The Bootleg EP Jean Grae $9.98