Jabee

Oklahoma City Rapper Jabee Teams with Chuck D for 'Monument': Premiere - Billboard

Jabee belongs to a strong, proud, and (considering the state of the US right now) essential lineage of rap music–conscious hip hop. This Oklahoma emcee has been dropping music that brings a smile to the faces of legends like Chuck D and Murs since his debut on the scene in 2008. If you need proof, Chuck D has stated, “Jabee’s music has the potential to change the world,” and Murs’ label 3:16 released his 2013 album, Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt. Cuts like “Dreams 2014” and “Ghetto” have solidified his position as an informed lyricist and proficient educator.

With just over a week until the release of his latest opus, Black Future, Mass Appeal brings you Jabee’s powerful new single, “By Any Means.” With taut strings jabbing at a dusty drum loop and heavy synths wailing over the top, Jabee sets the tone for what you can expect on the upcoming album. He tackles America’s racist underbelly and the struggle of the 99% on this 4 minute plus track with hard hitting lyrics like: “Mind of Mandela, heart of Mike Tyson/call upon the spirits of slaves just to write this…” Let me put it this way: this cut would be comfortable on a mixtape next to something off dead prez’ debut. - Mass Appeal

With its abundance of country and folk music, Oklahoma isn't typically celebrated for its hip-hop musicians. But when Chuck D compared Jabee to fellow Okie Woody Guthrie in a recent interview, it may have changed how some listeners view the Oklahoma City rapper. The common thread of illuminating social injustice through song is present on Black Future, with Jabee referencing the stories of Sandra Bland, Freddie Gray and Trayvon Martin. The Hannibal King-produced "Monument" has Chuck D acting as a mentor, dispensing encouraging words to Jabee. "You know what to do, you know what to say," the Public Enemy founder raps. "I know you can spit and I know you can bring everybody together." Throughout the album, Jabee — who has toured with Run The Jewels and Murs — drops powerful lyrics that touch on police brutality, complacency among his peers, and his own regrets and struggles. With strong words, top-notch production and a little push from Chuck D, Jabee's Black Future looks bright. - NPR.org

Last week, XXL showcased Jabee’s “Stephanie (Super Ugly).” Now, this week, Jabee’s back with a full video, which goes into further detail on the premise of the song. The Oklahoma City MC recollects on his childhood days as an outcast, and getting picked on by Stephanie and her crew of girl misfits. He must feel pleasant looking back to see where his career’s taking him, while Steph is probably still chilling on the same porch. Check out the Steve Jones-directed video above. (And notice how Jabee’s homies are deadpan nonchalant until the very end.)

Read More: Jabee ft. Carlitta Durand “Stephanie (Super Ugly)” [Video Premiere] - XXL | http://www.xxlmag.com/rap-music/new-music/2012/12/jabee-ft-carlitta-durand-stephanie-super-ugly-video-premiere/?trackback=tsmclip - XXL

Jabee “Exhausted” Produced by Statik Selektah - Allhiphop

Shortly after wrapping up some opening dates on El-P and Killer Mike‘s Run The Jewels Tour, Oklahoma City emcee Jabee is back with a new maxi single. The two-track release, The Adventures of Mud Bone The Cartoon, was entirely produced by our guy Blu and has a feature from Charlie Smartz of Kooley High. Blu provides that raw lo-fi production we’ve grown to love from him, while Jabee continues to show why he’s an emcee on the rise to check for. Stream/purchase it, below - Okayplayer

There hasn’t been much said on newcomer Jabee, but recently he has been blowing up in his Oklahoma City hometown. He has teamed up with Thelonious Martin for a rapper-producer collaboration album, As It Is In Heaven. They brought their first single, “Catch That Feeling,” back in April and followed up with the full EP last night. - Complex

Emmy Award Winner Jabee’s new album Black Future is being pushed back to Aug 12th. To hold fans over, he drops “Word of Mouth,” featuring Queens rappers ARXV, Noble Nobu, and Bub Styles.

Black Future garners guest appearances from Hip Hop legend Chuck D, Brother Ali, and a special cameo from Killer Mike, with production from Statik Selektah, J57, Hannibal King, and M Stacks.

Catch Jabee on tour with Murs & Propaganda this summer. - HipHopDX

Name: Jabee Williams

Age:29

Hometown: Oklahoma City , OK

I grew up listening to: Gospel like Willie Neal Johnson. Old school stuff like The Ohio Players and the Chi-lites. In terms of Rap music I listed to 2pac, Company Flow , E-40, MF Doom. Of course Jackson 5 and Michael Jackson. My dad always played old school hip hop too. Whodini, Grandmaster Flash , Melle Mel.

Most people don’t know I:Like to draw, or that I’ve done mission work in Ecuador. Most people dont know I have a tattoos of 2pac, Lauryn hill, and Huey P. Newton on my chest.

My style’s been compared to: I think I sound like Oklahoma! People always try to find simularities though. I’ve heard everything from Too Short, Nas, Kanye, MF Doom, Mos Def, to Brother Ali.

My standout records and/or moments to date have been: The “Stephanie” song with EL-P and him letting me jump on some of his tour dates. The video for that was a standout. Also getting props from Chuck D stands out as well. I’ve got some great things coming so I’m just trying to keep pushing.

My goal in Hip-Hop is: To be myself, be honest and make a living. To put on for Oklahoma and make music that will help inspire and that people will love.

I’m gonna be the next: I don’t plan on being the next anything or anybody. I just wanna be the best Jabee… ACTUALLY I WANNA BE RAVEN SYMONES NEXT BOYFIREND!

To check out more of my music: Follow me on Twitter @MyNameIsJabee. Also check me out at iamjabee.bandcamp.com , soundcloud.com/Jabee-Williams , and Facebook.com/jabeemusic - XXL

Jabee — Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt
By Joshua Boydston | December 30, 2013
Jabee has, in turn, proven to be a worthy ambassador for the state and to its youth, one who has been chomping at the bit to stretch his legs beyond its borders. That turn comes with Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt, released nationally through the Murs 316 imprint, owned by renowned LA emcee Murs. The underdog steps up to the plate, too, delivering a polished effort as adept at hip-hop touchstones as pushing the envelope in new directions.

Jubilant, R&B-tinged opener “EWBANH” plays by the book, but its successor, “Dreams,” rolls the dice a little more liberally with a classical piano riff pierced with timeless rap percussion. “G’s Era” and “Don’t Love Back” bear a similar sonic flavor, one that “Knock Knock” and the El-P-produced “Stephanie” crunch up into club-friendly bangers. The latter is especially potent.

However, “Push” and “Uncle Curtis” might be the true highlights; they’re dark, smoky selections that twist the blues into modern times much in the way The Black Keys and Friends (Raekwon, RZA and more) did with recording project Blakroc.

The genre-defying “On My Way to Heaven” ― built upon a folk song written by Horse Thief’s Cameron Neal ― brings the album to a close on a brave note, one that feels all too appropriate for Jabee as he gets his long-deserved chance to play beyond Oklahoma, championing its sensibilities all the same.

Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt is available now on iTunes. - OK gazette

Emmy award-winning Oklahoma City rapper Jabee presents the video of his recent freestyle on Sway In The Morning. Jabee was invited on Thursday afternoon and was in NYC that night. Freestyling here alongside rapper Joe Parker over beats by The Mekanics, Jabee recently won an Emmy for his writing and performance in a commercial for Science Museum Oklahoma (watch). Jabee recently released his album Everything Was Beautiful And Nothing Hurt on Murs’ new 3:16 label. The album features singles “Dreams” (watch the video) and “Stephanie” (watch the video), produced by El-P. Jabee was already one of URB Magazine’s Next 1000 when his DJ Vadim-produced Blood Is The New Black mixtape dropped in 2008. His Must Be Nice mixtape collaboration with Terry Urban and Mick Boogie featured Green Lantern, 9th Wonder, Blu and Oddisee. His 2011 Lucky Me mixtape clocked 40,000 downloads. Jabee contributed a track to the official Boondocks Season 3 mixtape, and was the opener for El-P and Killer Mike’s Run The Jewels Tour last year. Chuck D of Public Enemy says “Jabee’s music has the potential to change the world.” His next release will be an EP produced by Theory Hazit. - Dunn Deal

With an Emmy to his name, recognition from hip-hop pioneer Chuck D, and signed to a label owned by hip hop legend Murs, Oklahoma City’s own Jabee is considered to be among the greatest in the underground. His debut album Everything Was Beautiful And Nothing Hurt, represents what Jabee does best.

Being lyrically honest all the way throughout is the best part of this album. In every song he paints a vivid picture to the point where it’s almost like a movie without the visuals, complete with a story arch. That being said he’s not perfect. Every once in a while, he’ll rap a filler lyric such as “Fake, fake, fake, man they all fake. Hate, hate, hate, man they all hate!” He repeats this lyric twice in the song “To Whom It May Concern”, but these instances are rare.

MC’s outside of the mainstream trying to show off their lyrical skills often focus on the words, but their beats and hooks tend to suffer. That isn’t the case with Jabee because he doesn’t attempt to do his own production, but brings in help, specifically Kadence from Air Tight Productions who did almost every song. The title tack sets up the tone with a lullaby type production with really somber pianos and instruments that compliment each other. Taylor McKenzie delivers a beautiful hook which isn’t in your face like Mariah Carey, but also isn’t soft and airy.

I was surprised to see that underground powerhouse EL-P stepped in to produce “Stephanie”. The instrumentals fit the topic he’s rapping about very well. Most of the hooks were good and some of them were just instrumentals, which usually works fine.

On the album’s weakest track, “knock knock”, the hook is still a beautifully scored, influential bit of music consisting of wonderful pianos and string instruments. But the verses are completely unrelated, most of the words are just kind of the same typical lyrics you could hear anyone else spit. The beat on the verses isn’t that good either, consisting of a lot of dirty synthesizers that don’t mix well at all. It is jarring that the hook has a victory anthem feel, but the production changes out of nowhere for the verses. It just makes you wish for what could have been. The song isn’t bad on its own, it’s just not up to the same level of quality seen on the rest of EWBANH.

Overall, I think this album is amazing. Jabee is one of my favorite rappers to pick up a microphone. The sound that he raps over is really engaging with songs like “EWBANH” and “Push” which sounds like it could have been on Ghostface Killah’s TWELVE REASONS TO DIE. Every time I listen to this album, I always get the feeling that Jabee tried as hard as he could to make sure that every track was great. Is it a perfect album? No, it has its flaws, but they never get in the way of what Jabee was trying to do. Jabee’s debut album “Everything Was Beautiful And Nothing Hurt” is A worthwhile project and you can get the album for only $13 on Jabee’s website HERE. - Red Dirt Report