[EP] JEAN GRAE - "Gotham Down: Cycle III"

I remember my main man Kaddu (R.I.P. brother) giving me an advance copy of  Jean Grae's 2002 debut "Attack Of The Attacking Things" and we both had our jaws to the floor at the dopeness of this chick and her beat selection. Hip-Hop is no doubt a man's dominated culture, but when a ill female comes along she usually can hang with the best (think early Bahamadia, Heather B.... and Jean Grae). Since then I must admit I have lost track of much of her material, some of it have been incredible, some are not at all my type of ish but I'm always willing to give her a fair chance. 

Between October 5 and November 9 of this year, Grae has released a trilogy of EP:s called "Gotham Down" which features a somewhat darker, more digitized sound than what we perhaps are used to hearing from her. There's a lot of heat on all volumes though, and now that the third and final cycle of "Gotham Down" (which is given the undertitle "The Artemis Epoch") the circle is complete and you can play the entire 16 track Gotham inspired album if you choose, though they all work nice as individual records as well. The dark and foreboding beats are stripped down to their bare essentials while our hero emcee  gets busy like she was born to spit on these joints; playing a lot with different flows and tongue-twisting lyrics. Each installment in the series can be bought for $8, but also comes with a free streaming option so what are you waiting for?! (here's direct links to "Gotham Down: Cycle I", "Cycle II: Leviathan" and "Cycle III: The Artemis Epoch").