Gracious Bears
The Gracious Bears are a rap duo consisting of J-Cray-Z (JCZ) aka Swanny (real name James Mannings) and Krusty G aka K2G (real name Chris Gent).
They are based in the North West of England.
They first met in Trinity High School, Manchester in 1996.
The Gracious Bears have also been known to be called the GB's, The Bears and the Grizzle B's
Formation
It is fair to say that the Bears would not have come together had it not been for two very important people. The first being a man named Kwesi who the two members knew in high school. They always swore that one day they would write a song paradying him. But more on this later.
The second person, one Matthew Culshaw, was the one to really start it off. James met Matthew, soon to become MC Cully, in his second high school (Mosslands in Wallasey) in 2000. Over the next few years they put together three albums and put them out under the name of MC Cully.
When this came to a close James decided that he wanted to make his own record. Though the album was never actually finished it did spawn one song that still stands today. The song was called Lovable Gangsta. For the song James re-united with Chris and, finally, they wrote the song that they had always intended to do.
The name "Gracious Bears" was first uttered in early 2005. During a heavy drinking session in Wallasey, Merseyside, James and Chris thought up a Gorillaz-style band concept, consisting of 9 imaginary members. The name given to this project was .... Gracious Bears. No one knows where this name came from, or which one of the lads said it first, but its a great name innit ey?!?
After forgetting the project entirely by the next week, the time passed, until August '05, when it was decided that the band should change from an imaginary 9-piece, to a very real 2-piece.
First EP
James and Chris sat down on a warm August night, the 15th, to be exact and they started writing lyrics and music from scratch at around 11:30pm. By 8am they had recorded all the music. They went to bed and got up around 3pm and recorded the vocals. That was it. In 17 hours, their debut EP, Too Much To Bear, was written, recorded and burned to CD.
Following the success of the ep, Chris decided he would put on a live show to be named Krustfest which would open with a set from the Gracious Bears so that the two Bears could end it all on a high note. Before this event though there would have to be a test run.
On the 23rd of December 2006, the Bears performed live for the very first time. The response was INCredible. Pushed by the love they had been shown they decided that is was time to get themselves into the studio at least one more time to show the world what they could really do.
All songs from the EP can be found at http://www.soundclick.com/graciousbears
First LP
In February, 2007 they visited the studio for the first time. With them they took books filled with lyrics, data filled with beats and open minds. By the end of the session they had the makings of 5 songs.
Over the year they continued to get into the studio as often as they could with each visit bringing more and more original and fresh sounding material. Along the way they have also collaborated with artists such as MC Cully, One Of Many (a band in which Krusty is the drummer), Claire Brookes and the Predator Prey duo of Jalporte and Dave Rogers.
At this current time the record is very near to completion and is expected to be released this coming December under the name of The Picnic.
Tracks that are expected to be released on the album at this time include:
Song |
Artist(s) |
Writer(s) |
Producer(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
Intro |
Gracious Bears |
n/a |
Gracious Bears |
The Rebirth |
Gracious Bears |
J. Mannings, C. Gent |
K2G |
Introducing The Bears |
Gracious Bears feat. MC Cully |
J. Mannings, M. Culshaw, C. Gent |
K2G |
Keep Smiling |
Gracious Bears |
J. Mannings |
Gracious Bears |
Dirty Jazz [...] |
Gracious Bears |
C. Gent, J. Mannings |
Gracious Bears |
Dementia |
J-Cray-Z |
J. Mannings |
JCZ |
K2G On The Set |
Krusty G |
C. Gent |
K2G |
Stars |
Gracious Bears |
J. Mannings |
K2G |
Bear Fury |
Gracious Bears feat. One Of Many |
J. Mannings, C. Gent |
K2G |
Get Up |
Gracious Bears feat. Jalporte |
J. Mannings, S. Jalporte |
JCZ |
The Picnic |
Gracious Bears feat. Dave Rogers |
J. Mannings, D. Rogers |
Dave Rogers |
Lovable Gangsta |
Gracious Bears |
J. Mannings, C. Gent |
K2G |
Save You |
Gracious Bears feat. Claire Brookes |
J. Mannings |
JCZ |
Life Is Death |
Gracious Bears |
J. Mannings, C. Gent |
K2G |
As the Bears currently don't have an official website they release all information regarding the LP and other projects and events through http://www.myspace.com/graciousbears
Discography
Album Name |
Release Date |
Track Listing |
|---|---|---|
Too Much To Bear (EP) |
16th August, 2005 |
1) Intro |
The Picnic (LP) |
TBA, 2007 |
TBA |
Other Songs featuring Gracious Bears
Song Name |
Artist(s) |
Album |
Year |
|---|---|---|---|
ig og |
MC Cully feat. MC Hammer, Paul D & J-Cray-Z |
The Nodger LP |
2001 |
Dirty Pervert Baby |
MC Cully feat. Porno Lady & J-Cray-Z |
The Nodger LP |
2001 |
Nodger |
MC Cully feat. Paul D, J-Cray-Z & P.O |
The Nodger LP |
2001 |
No Sense Nonsense |
MC Cully feat. P. Lyons, K. Steedman & J-Cray-Z |
The Nodger LP |
2001 |
Jail Brake |
MC Cully feat. J-Cray-Z |
Nodger With Avengeance |
2002 |
Sailing On A Ship |
MC Cully feat. J-Cray-Z |
Nodger With Avengeance |
2002 |
Helifish |
MC Cully feat. J-Cray-Z & Barclays |
Nodger With Avengeance |
2002 |
Duel |
MC Cully feat. J-Cray-Z |
Nodger With Avengeance |
2002 |
Fear Not (Interlude) |
MC Cully feat. J-Cray-Z |
Nodger With Avengeance |
2002 |
Lyrical Maturity |
MC Cully feat. J-Cray-Z |
Nodgermania |
2003 |
Robocop |
MC Cully feat. Cake Or Death (JCZ plays bass in Cake Or Death) |
Nodgermania |
2003 |
Shopping |
MC Cully feat. Cake Or Death |
Nodgermania |
2003 |
Guilty Conscience |
MC Cully feat. J-Cray-Z |
Nodgermania |
2003 |
You Gon' Die |
MC Cully feat. J-Cray-Z |
Nodgermania |
2003 |
Lovable Gangsta |
J-Cray-Z feat. Krusty G |
Flirting With Destruction (Unreleased) |
2004 |
Ode To Phil |
Randonation (Randonation is a crew that includes J-Cray-Z & Krusty G) |
Randonation: The Movie OST (Unreleased) |
2004 |
My Mind's An Antelope |
Karlos Bandragos feat. J-Cray-Z |
n/a |
2006 |
Lesson 2 (I'm Better Than You |
J-Cray-Z feat. Krusty G |
The Tale Of Murda B |
2006 |
We're Massive, We're Huge (Muse - Supermassive Black Hole Dub) |
Gracious Bears |
Dubniverse |
2007 |
The Rebirth (Produced by K2G) |
Gracious Bears |
Dubniverse |
2007 |
Reality Check (Busta Rhymes - Get You Some Dub) |
J-Cray-Z feat. Krusty G & Curly B |
Dubniverse |
2007 |
Beefs
The Bears have managed to stay pretty clear of conflict during their time all but for one other rapper.
Murda B was first attacked by J-Cray-Z after J heard him and didn't like what he heard. Murda stopped rapping and shut down his operation after J released the track "Who The [...] Is Murda B?"
It wasn't long though before Murda resurfaced with a new name and a diss track of his own. Under the name of Dafayo he put out the song "Jay Is Crazy" in which he rapped that J wanted to be black, had [...] with sheep and jacked off to 2Pac.
This time it was the Gracious Bears that responded with a song entitled "Lesson 2: I'm Better Than You". It was a continuous track with no breaks or hooks in which James and Chris alternated verses and put an end to the battle. Dafayo once again stopped rapping and shut down.
No one knows where he is today.
The whole saga was later released as a solo EP by J which was entitled The Tale Of Murda B. It can be found at http://www.soundclick.com/jcrayz