Powerful, strong, bright—sun goddesses don’t only exist in Greek mythology. Hailing from the City of Wind, song-slash-rap sunbeam Jean Deaux’s mystical superpower lies in her music. The magic flows when she picks up a pen and doesn’t stop until the sound of her creamy voice hits the speakers. It’s original, it’s distinctive, it deviates far from the norm, and it’s something that’s uniquely characteristic of someone who doesn’t buy into conventionally accepted thoughts or practices just because others do. With music so original it could never fit in a box, the curly-haired beauty is a rare breed—highly intelligent, subtly brawn, outspoken (when asked), and unapologetically different. She’s in a class all her own and serves up some serious knowledge and sass in the form of hot, stormy expression through ice-cold lyrics.
Jean is the quintessential artsy musician, but in no way is she the average. For Jean, it’s all about words—their power, their strength, and the poetic rhythms that result from their complex combinations. Her music says something, and the insane talent that exudes from every song is a true sign of natural maturity and awareness. At just 19-years-old, it’s hard to believe that such a young artist could have so much heart, but Jean is wise beyond her years. Whether she’s speaking out against the B.S. of the world or serving as guardian and protector of her baby sisters, she contains a rare sophistication that places her in a class all by herself.
Full of fast-moving non-stop hustlers, Jean’s hometown of Chicago has definitely contributed to her city-smart wits, but even in the heart of America, she’s unlike the rest. With drill music as a preferred favorite of the city’s Gen Z, Jean, along with her crew, stand out from the crowd as individualized musicians that have recognizable sounds instead of falling in the all-too-easy realm of guns and violence. Real life is interpreted through art, but instead of celebrating the perpetuated ignorance that plagues the city, she stands apart from it, creating her own element.
Evolution and growth led to Jean finding her voice—the natural progression from girl to goddess—and her upcoming project, Soular System, will be a reflection of what happens when she pours her soul on record. The rising star sits down with Pure DOPE’s Arionne Alyssa in Obama’s ‘hood of Hyde Park for a mini State of Hip-Hop Address.
Written by Arionne Alyssa
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(Arionne Alyssa: AA) How did you start in music?
(Jean Deaux: Jean) I’ve always been a writer and in middle school, I started doing poetry. My friend, Kembe, posted a remix to Kanye’s “Drive Slow,” and I said, “Oh my God! Put me on this track.” I wrote the corniest thing I’ve ever heard (Laughs). I just fell in love with it. It was like, “Man, I could do this for the rest of my life.” Not only that, but the stuff I was making was good. When I turned 18, I signed a publishing deal and that lined me up for everything. It gave me room to not only be on my own, but to just travel. Ever since I started recording, I just haven’t wanted to stop. People spend years trying to figure out what they want to do and who they want to be. I feel blessed to know already.
(AA) What drives you?
(Jean) I have three sisters and everything I do, I think about them seeing it. At no point can I just give up on music tomorrow and go do a job that I hate for the rest of my life because they would see that and say, “So if I find something that I’m passionate about and if it doesn’t come as easy to me, then I should just leave it alone and do something else?” I want all of them to do whatever they want to do with their lives. Everything I do is for my family.
(AA) Is that why you work so hard?
(Jean) Yeah, I really don’t have a choice. When I was growing up we didn’t have anything. I’m glad that my sisters are in a much better place than I was. Their world is completely different than mine as a kid—that makes me happy already—but I can’t have them worrying about anything. If there’s anything that I can do to make life easier for them, then I’ll do it. That’s what drives me. I love doing this and at some point, I’ll be able to get them anything that they need. That’s the point of it all.
(AA) Would you categorize yourself as a dream-chaser?
(Jean) No, I think dream-chasing is just a term. It’s kind of negative. Chasing infers that you’ll probably never catch it. I feel like I’m floating in a dream. What people would think is unrealistic, is my life, and I’m trying to kill all of these fake beliefs that anybody that goes after what they love is a dream-chaser. That’s fake. That’s not true. Dream-chasing is something you know is not for you and you probably can’t ever get it—the dudes that really can’t rap, that suck at music, but that are out there every day selling those mixtapes for three dollars, when they really know how to fix cars really well and that’s what they need to be doing, not pushing those mixtapes. Most legends will say, “I never planned to come this far.” For me, I was just doing what I loved and opening doors became easier and easier. I never knew I’d get this far. I feel their hard work. But they’re working on the wrong thing.
(AA) Sometimes music can end up being a whole lot of following trends and no originality.
(Jean) A lot of famous people suck, especially in this generation.
(AA) Exactly. They do. So how do you stay away from the hype and create your own path?
(Jean) I think that with anything you do, you have to keep growing in order to get better. You have to take a step back and figure out everything you’re doing wrong and I think the reason that a lot of people sound the same is because they aren’t taking the time to see what they’re really doing. Instead, they’re looking at everyone else and trying to be like them: “Let me be like him and I’ll be richer.” With most artists in our generation, they get the “get it done part,” but it’s like, “What are you doing? What are you actually getting done?” You’re doing all of these things but you’re not selling and if you are, the music can still be bad. A lot of bullsh!t is being sold and a lot of it is being bought. The fact that I can literally sit next to some of my peers and see them eating up some bullsh!t, I just don’t understand, I don’t get it.
(AA) As a DOPE artist, how does it feel to be different?
(Jean) I don’t sound like anybody that’s out right now, and I’m not saying that I’m better than anyone, but I know for a fact that I’m an individual. Once you realize that as an individual you can’t be anybody else, just biologically, the only way you can sound like somebody else is when you’re trying to sound like someone other than you. When I’m compared to people that are fake, that are putting on a façade, or that just aren’t good, I know that I’m not like them. The most talented people will get their credit—that’s what I hope—and if not, I don’t think they do it for the credit anyway.
(AA) Is it frustrating to see that going on?
(Jean) The amount of people that will buy crappy music is at an all-time high right now. So, you sell through those charts and put all of these people on your songs to make them hits, you can do all of that but at the end of the day you and I both know that you ain’t real, even if you’re getting money. It’s like, Hello! Hitler had money… and so do most of these politicians that are put here. They have hella money so what does that mean?
(AA) Right. All money ain’t good money… So, being from Chicago, we usually have a certain hustle that everyone doesn’t have. How did the city prepare you for this industry?
(Jean) I think that it was definitely more evident to me once I started living on my own, but I’ve always had this mindset that you have to get it done. Although Chicago is a place to live in, it’s never been easy for me at any point in my life. I’ve been homeless when I was little so being my age and taking care of myself, I know that I have to get it done. I don’t know how long I’m going to be doing music, doing features, performing and getting decent money, so I do what I have to do. I also have a (regular) job and I’m trying to save up so that I can be straight for the future. I’m not going to say that I’m too good to work. I hate my job just as much as the next person, but I have to get it done. If it’s a way to get it done, I’m going to do it.
(AA) Out of everything, what means the world to you?
(Jean) My sisters, definitely. There aren’t a lot of things that I care about and they mean the world to me. They’re so young and I feel like I have such a big role in helping decide who they’re going to be and at some point, they’re going to be my age and older. They’re going to be great; they have to be. That’s all I care about. That’s a legacy to me. Whatever they go out and do in the world, I’d have be a part of. As much as I would like to influence and help my peers, I know that there’s so much going on in the world that it’s hard to do. So what I do is start at home, teaching my sisters the importance of looking out for other people.
(AA) What do you think the world needs the most?
(Jean) So much! I’ve come to terms with the fact that the world is a wicked place. There’s a balance with everything, there’s a balance in the universe. What’s unbalanced is the world itself, and that’s why it’s so corrupt. Where the balance in the universe comes in is that there are a lot of good people, but everybody that has any type of major power in this world is wicked. Therefore, this world is going to be whatever they make it. “If I ruled the world, I’d give it to my sons,” and yeah, I would indeed do that, but the world ain’t mine. It’s evident everywhere I go. So the world needs way too much. And if I had everything the world needed, I wouldn’t even give it to the world. They wouldn’t know what to do with it. If I gave everybody food, everybody a house, a job, a steady income, and an opportunity to go higher than other people, the imbalance would start all over again.
(AA) Your upcoming project is called “Soular System”. How do you think it is representative of you?
(Jean) When I first came up with “Soular System,” it was literally an idea—an epiphany—and that was when I started making music three years ago. I wrote songs for it and they were corny, but when I got older, I started learning more about who we are spiritually. Just like there is a scientific and mathematical explanation for everything, there’s a spiritual explanation for everything. And that’s what a soul is – it’s a spiritual explanation of who you are. I think that over three years, my personal growth was about figuring out who I was. My poetry used to always have characters in the stories. I would write about other people to avoid writing about myself. With music, I started off like that, but it became easier and easier to talk about who I am. It just flowed out from the soul. It’s like I just turned the faucet on and now, it just spills out.
(AA) Music, your art. What is it to you?
(Jean) My whole life I’ve been looking for a way to just… speak. As a person, I can be very shy. I’m very reserved, very quiet. I’m not for small talk and if I don’t have anything to say, I won’t say anything at all. I was kind of bullied a lot, so I would fight a lot in school when I got tired of people bullying me. I was just always looking for a way to find my voice. For a long time, violence was my answer to everything. Because I couldn’t speak out vocally, I lashed out at anyone that I thought was out to get me. I was on the defensive all the time, very guarded, and hard to be around. Poetry was my first wind, but it was still hard. I was on a (poetry) slam team and people would always say, “Why don’t you ever write about yourself? We want to hear about you.” I was scared to see who I am come out on paper and have everyone hear me say this. My last two years being on the team were the most rewarding because I’d come so far and I started writing these beautiful pieces about the darkest moments of my life. After that, going into music, I took that into writing songs. You can literally take nothing—just a thought—and turn it into something crazy that only you came up with. And then collaborate with other people that are equally as crazy (Laughs!). It’s the voice I was always asking for.
Follow Jean Deaux on Twitter
Listen to Jean Deaux‘s Music
Watch Jean Deaux‘s Video for “Escape”
Watch Jean Deaux‘s Video for “Grape Soda”
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