Ms Jade

Posted on 03.25.2004

8 comment(s)

Ms Jade
Real Name : Chevon Young
Birthday : August 3, 1979
Hometown : Philadelphia

Female rap phenom Ms. Jade doesn’t have to flash her cleavage or talk about how she’d please a guy sexually to grab people’s attention.

The reason ? Unlike many of today’s young female music stars - from rap to pop to R&B - Ms. Jade draws you in with her genuine skills on the mic, a flow that few can match and lyrics that she culls from her life experiences and innermost thoughts.

The tracks she’s put together for Girl Interrupted, her full-length debut album on BeatClub/Interscope Records, make it obvious why super-producer Timbaland signed her to his Beat Club imprint. He describes her as “a cross between a female B.I.G. and a harder version of Roxanne Shante.” Due out in the first quarter of 2002, the album features the first single “Feel the Girl,” a Timbaland-produced cut that showcases Ms. Jade’s mellow vocals over a dance beat. “It’s like the first little hot song,” the youthful yet savvy 22-year-old rapper explained. “Tim is doing some crazy stuff in the background. I sound relaxed on the track.”

Make no mistake, though. Ms. Jade is anything but soft. She lashes out with a vengeance at an ex-lover who played her on “Why U Tell Me,” where she repeats the line “You toyed with my teenage years and my womanhood. I hate you, I hope I made it understood.” And she comes hard on “She’s A Gangsta,” another of the nine tracks that Timbaland produced for the album. “My rap style is gangsta and cocky,” Ms. Jade said. “I’m about to take over, so I’m gangsta with it. It’s a street song.”

Ms. Jade was born Chevon Young on Aug. 3, 1979. Her mother is a dietary assistant, while her father works in a tile and rug factory. Her parents struggled financially at times, but they never let their only child want for anything. Ms. Jade grew up in a section of Philly called Nicetown, which incidentally didn’t live up to its name. “No, it wasn’t a nice town at all,” Ms. Jade said of the area, which actually wasn’t as bad as its reputation. “It was a small little neighborhood where everybody knew everybody. Everyone went to the same school. I lived there all my life. I never moved.”

Ms. Jade’s parents had an appreciation for music, one that she soon picked up on. As a youngster, Ms. Jade got into the work of rocker Pat Benetar and would memorize theme songs from her favorite television commercials. By the time she was 9, however, she fell in love with Janet Jackson’s music, particularly the dance-pop diva’s 1986 “Control” album. Soon after her mother bought her Jackson’s cassette, Ms. Jade memorized the lyrics and sang her favorite songs in school talent shows.

Three years later, Ms. Jade heard female rappers MC Lyte and Queen Latifah on the radio. It was, in effect, her introduction to rap music. And she loved it. “I remember I memorized Queen Latifah’s song ‘Ladies First’ before it even came out,” Ms. Jade recalled. “I would sing it the whole lunch period. People would come up to me to ask me to sing it and I would be gloating like I wrote it.” When her mother bought her an MC Lyte tape for Christmas, Ms. Jade played it often, rewinding it until she had written all the words down. “I was totally into it,” she said. “I just wanted to learn every word, word for word. I wanted to learn the ‘uhs’ and the ‘ahs’ - everything.”

During her years at Abraham Lincoln High School in Northeast Philadelphia, Ms. Jade found English and music to be her favorite subjects. As a junior, she won first place in the school’s talent show for her rendition of “How Could You Call Her Baby” from the “Waiting to Exhale” soundtrack. Although she had only written a handful of raps by the time she graduated in 1997, Ms. Jade listened to Lil’ Kim, Foxy Brown, Mase and the Notorious B.I.G.

While studying to become a hair stylist at Gordon Phillips Beauty School in downtown Philly’s Center City, Ms. Jade earned a side job recording background vocals for then-local rapper Meek Mills in an area studio. Ms. Jade eventually wrote a rap of her own and read it to producer Dean Murda, who liked what he heard and encouraged her to write more. “After that, I would write more every day because I had a lot to say,” said Ms. Jade, whose rap name comes from a female fighter from the “Mortal Kombat” movie. “I didn’t tell anybody I was writing raps. I just did it. It wasn’t hard. It just came naturally, so that’s why I wrote more. Stuff kept popping into my head, so I’d write it down.”

Ms. Jade wrote raps at work and, on five occasions, took bus trips to New York City to meet with Craig King, who had a production deal with Atlantic Records. King featured Ms. Jade on his artists’ albums, but none of the material ended up being released. Ms. Jade kept on writing raps, even after she graduated from beauty school in 1999. By that time, she was working with her current manager, Terrance Glasgow. Ms. Jade recorded four solo tracks, including “Take it on the Chin,” a song that was later revamped to appear on Ms. Jade’s Interscope release as “Why U Tell Me.”

Looking to increase her street credibility, Ms. Jade joined ciphers - groups of neighborhood rappers who battle each other rhyme-for-rhyme. Ms. Jade would rap for people on the spot with her aggressive no holds bar lyrics like, “I hate a jo jo bitch, a no doe bitch, a try to test my skills, now that’s a no no bitch, a fake brag bitch, a switch tag bitch...” from her most popular freestyle rhyme “The Bitch Rap.”

Later Glasgow introduced Ms. Jade to Will Smith’s assistant, Charlie Mack, a Philly native who was immortalized in the 1988 DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince song “Charlie Mack - The First Out The Limo.” Together Mack, Glasgow and Overbrook Entertainment A&R representative Omar Rambert joined forces and signed Ms. Jade to their newly created production company 215 Entertainment.

After recording eight or nine tracks with Philly producer Staxx, Ms. Jade landed a meeting with Jay Brown of Elektra Entertainment at his New York office. After she spit a pair of raps for Brown, he brought her upstairs to meet rapper Missy Elliott, who listened and immediately got Timbaland on the speakerphone. “She was like, ‘What did y’all come up here for ?’ ” Ms. Jade said. “I was like, ‘For a deal.’ She was like, ‘You’ve got it.’ ”

Elliott called Ms. Jade the next week to record some material. One song, the Timbaland-produced “Slap ! Slap ! Slap !” appeared on Elliott’s 2001 album, “Miss E ... So Addictive.” Ms. Jade also rapped on a remix for Lil’ Mo’s song “Superwoman.” “My head was going crazy because I was really nervous and happy,” said Ms. Jade, who writes all of her own lyrics. “I was nervous most of all, though. The whole Missy-Timbaland thing was throwing me off. But then I was real happy because everything I did came out real good.”

From there, Ms. Jade went to Los Angeles for three weeks and recorded the song “In Time” for the 2001 Timbaland & Magoo album Indecent Proposal. Ms. Jade also began recording tracks for her own album while out in L.A., putting in a 12-hour session that lasted until 6 o’clock in the morning. “She’s a very aggressive strong woman” reveals Timbaland. Learning to flow to Timbaland’s patented style of beats wasn’t easy at first, but Tim and rapper Petey Pablo helped Ms. Jade get her timing down pat.

Ms. Jade, who officially signed to Timbaland’s new Beat Club label in August 2000, was part of the package when Interscope signed Beat Club. She spent 2001 putting the finishing touches on her album, as well as rapping on Timbaland’s remixes of Nelly Furtado’s song “Turn Off the Light” and Beat Club labelmate Bubba Sparxxx’s hit “Ugly.”

But Ms. Jade’s main focus these days is her Girl Interrupted album, which includes a guest appearance from rapper Jay-Z on the head-bobbing party song “Count It Off.” Meanwhile, Ms. Jade gets deep and spiritual on the track “Keep Your Head Up,” which features production by the Beat Brokerz and guest vocals by Philly R&B singer and longtime friend Rhonesha. “It’s telling the stories of three girls’ lives,” Ms. Jade said of the cut. “It’s saying that even when stuff goes wrong, keep your head up.” The Beat Brokerz - Staxx, Jeremy and Don - produced three other songs on Girl Interrupted.

Ms. Jade’s delivery is at its tightest on the song “Ching Ching Ching,” which features Furtado and happens to be Ms. Jade’s favorite song on the album. North Carolina rapper Petey Pablo joins Ms. Jade on the Timbaland-produced “Watch It.” Ms. Jade uses the track to talk about what she plans to do in the rap game. And Philly rapper R.L is featured on “How We Ball.”

“I just want to go straight to the top,” said Ms. Jade, who hopes her music career will lead to eventual movie roles, allow her to take care of her family financially and give her a chance to open an international line of boutiques. Ms. Jade also wants to set another example of how, through hard work, people can get whatever they want out of life. “I’ve never been the type of person to fit in,” Ms. Jade added. “I’m not into the sexual bandwagon. I want somebody to listen to my music because they like it, not because they think I’ve got nice breasts and a big butt. I want them to like my music because I’m nice. It’s as simple as that. I’m not a copycat. There’s not another female rapper like me. I’m nice, so respect it.”

Ms Jade Discography :

Ms Jade albums :
2002 : Girl Interrupted

Ms Jade EPs and singles :
2002 : "Big Head"
2002 : "Ching, Ching" featuring Nelly Furtado
2002 : "Feel The Girl"

for more infos, see Ms Jade Official site : www.msjade.com

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Ms Jade, by chriss [2008-05-23 19:24:10]

U can rap like ya should be along.side queen l lyte andem

Ms Jade, by chriss [2008-05-23 19:07:25]

Noboby raps good wit the team puta on yamean could have felt a little closer to her style to makeit to wanna become her poster child though.and its good she has her thing in motion.I see u.