Jean Grae is a legend of the New York Underground, with a career going back twenty years. In recent years, she began collaborating more and more with producer/emcee Quelle Chris, originally from Detroit, but now based in New York. Just last December, the two announced that it was not just a creative partnership, they had gotten engaged. Now, they come forward with their first full-length album as a couple, Everything’s Fine.

The title of the album comes from an inquiry as to why it’s our natural reaction in society to answer the question, “How’s it going?” with “Everything’s fine,” despite the fact that there are a million things going wrong at any given moment. It could money problems, relationship problems, or other issues going on in your life, but if you were walking down the street and someone asked you how you’re doing, chances are you’d just say that you’re doing fine. Jean Grae and Quelle Chris thought that this phenomenon was weird, so they decided to explore this on their first official album as a duo. Producing the album together, they have concocted a sound that’s somewhere between P-Funk and Madlib, with a lot of psychedelic funk, backpack hip hop, and constantly shifting focus creating this unique style that makes for a wild listening experience. It’s incredibly weird and funky in the best way possible, but it’s also very ADD in the way that we don’t get a lot of straight pop songs. We’ll get the beginning of one, but we rarely stop on one long enough to get repetition of verses and choruses to make a traditional pop composition. Lyrically, we get this approach of absurdism and ironic detachment that serves as a bridge to talking about some very serious issues that are plaguing our society. This could be the way we overmedicate ourselves, or how hard it is to find a job with decent pay and benefits, or the fact that our current political administration wants to walk back any progress we’ve made on race, gender, sexuality, or other issues. It’s all on the table, and Quelle Chris and Jean Grae are trying to get us all to talk about what’s really bothering us. They might be doing so in a way that’s a little unorthodox, but when things aren’t working, you try a different approach. We get plenty of guests along the way, Big Tone, Anna Wise, Jonathan Hoard, Ashok “Dap” Kondabolu, Denmark Vessey, Your Old Droog, and Mosel, who all add to the contained circus feel of the album. We also get a couple of appearances by comedians Hannibal Burress, John Hodgman, Michael Che, and Nick Offerman, but the way they are used isn’t as effective, since they don’t really get the space to be all that funny or bring their own unique perspective the way that other vocalists and emcees do on this album. With all that said, and with all that’s great about this album, the biggest problem I have with Everything’s Fine is that we don’t get enough time to just let Jean Grae spit on the mic. I get that there’s a bigger picture to the album, but when she does get a moment, such as on “Zero,” you’re reminded that she’s one of the baddest to ever pick up a mic, and we just don’t hear her enough of this wildly creative and passionate emcee for my taste.

Everything’s Fine is a very ambitious and unique album from a very creative couple in hip hop. It’s not perfect, but there’s so much to absorb on this album and so many risks taken, you won’t care all that much that not every single thing worked out to its full potential. Let’s keep taking chances, aiming for the moon, and talking about the bad as well as the good.