Rumors are swirling about that Jean Grae, one of the last well-known and respected female emcees in the past 10 years, has retired from the rap game. Jean, signed to Talib Kweli's label Blacksmith Records, had a album, Jeanius,  with 9th Wonder which had been stalled for over two years and was slated to be released this year. Plus, her video for slow grind banger "Love Thirst" was to be released around Valentine's Day. So what's the deal? According to her MySpace blog, Jean writes, "Thank you for letting me share what I could with you and sharing yourselves back, as you have really been the reason that I kept on...It's been amazing...thank you again." Her message sounds quite abrupt. The dearth of female emcees with talent who can battle their male counterparts and remain clothed are too few and far between these days. Hopefully this is an abrupt hiatus and not a final sayonara.