Beef (rapper)
Clifton Grefe (born October 12, 1989), also known by the name Beef or Beefy, is an American rapper, singer, record producer, songwriter, author, sociologist and journalist from Madison, Wisconsin.[1]
Career
Growing up in Madison, Wisconsin, Beef began writing poetry, performing spoken word, singing, whistling and dancing at a young age. He started rapping over industry tunes during his early teens.[2][3]
Grefe attended University of Wisconsin–Madison in the Fall of 2008.[4] During his time in college, he also worked for 93.1 JAMZ (WJQM) as a part-time on-air personality and producer, for The Badger Herald as a staff writer,[5] for Wisconsin Union Theater as a marketing intern,[6] and a bartender for several bars in downtown Madison. He graduated in the spring of 2013 with degrees in Sociology and Spanish.
Grefe received national notoriety for his debut single, "Coastie Song (What's A Coastie)."[7] The record, although intended to be flirtatious towards coasties, offended many.[8] Some called the song "xenophobic" and others – "anti-Semitic."[9][10][11][12][13][14] Beef and producer Quincy Kwalae adopted the name Zooniversity Music,[2] following their premiere. The group's next release, "My Biddy," was also met with questions.[15][16] Rich Albertoni of The Isthmus said that some would find the love song to the lesbian chancellor "funny," while others would see it as "offensive."[17] Zooniversity would eventually drop their debut mixtape, The Red Zebra Exhibit, on May 17, 2010.[18]
Later that year, the group premiered their first music video "Teach Me How To Bucky" during the 2010 UW Homecoming game. The song was a remix to Cali Swag District's popular "Teach Me How to Dougie" record. Within 24 hours of the release, the song was No. 6 on YouTube for most viewed music videos.[2] Its popularity sparked a trend and others followed with pride songs about schools, teams, cities, and states.[2] Madison Area Music Awards named "Teach Me How To Bucky" the video of the year for 2011.[19] After disputes within the group, Zooniversity came to an end.
Grefe dropped his first solo mixtape Chapter 1: The Sun & Moon on October 31, 2011. The artist then launched the website for Basement Made, his production and publication company, in mid-August 2012. He coined the slogan "it all started in the basement..." around this time. He followed the double-sided indie album up with The GRIME TAPE EP on April 8, 2013. Beef was nominated for song of the year for the 2014 Wisconsin Area Music Industry Awards as a featured artist on Anthony Lamarr's "Elevation."[20][21]
Grefe relocated to California in early 2015 for an editorial internship at HipHopDX. After 3 months, he was offered a freelance contributor position there (#1 contributor).[22] Shortly after, Grefe re-launched the Basement Made website and wrote the company's mission statement, expressing his desire to better represent the independent art, urban and rural culture of Wisconsin, the Midwest and the north.[23]
From March 2015 to March 2017, the artist resided in Los Angeles, working, and gearing up to release his 27-track concept album Chapter II: Double Major, along with other music.[24] Clifton announced that he'd be releasing the project as separate EP's that compose the full project – one every month. The first called Chapter II: The Hustle premiered on January 15, 2016. The artist then debuted his Chapter II: The Fall In a month later on February 22, 2016.[25] The next project, called Chapter II: The Depression, was released on April 16, 2016, and Chapter II: The Bars followed on June 9, 2016. About a year later, the artist dropped the rest of the EPs. Beef released the full album on July 5, 2017.
Grefe published a critical article about Midwest Hip Hop on November 9, 2015 called Madison Hip Hop Needs Renaissance To Pop. Then another on March 24, 2016 named The Wisconsin Soul: The Best Rappers Out Of The Badger State. The artist became an author on January 20, 2017, when he published his first book through Basement Made, entitled Why Wisconsin Voted For Donald Trump: The Coastie Privilege.
Shortly after the release, Grefe returned to his hometown, where he started writing his second book and autobiography The Life of Cliff G: DOG. The artist and webmaster published his progress live to his website for several months. Beef delivered the first set of tracks for his largely freestyled, multilingual Chapter III: God album on January 31, 2019.[26] He continued to add records to the project after the initial release date, and produced over 500 songs for the one project.
Discography
EPs
| Title | Album details |
|---|---|
| The Red Zebra Exhibit (with Zooniversity) |
|
| The Hustle |
|
| The Fall In |
|
| The Depression |
|
| The Bars |
|
| The Fall Out |
|
| The Producer |
|
| The Move Out West |
|
| The Home State |
|
| The Remixes |
|
Mixtapes/Albums
| Title | Album details |
|---|---|
| Chapter 1: The Sun & Moon |
|
| The GRIME TAPE |
|
| Chapter II: Double Major |
|
| Chapter III: God |
|
| The MAD TAPE |
|
References
- ^ "Clifton Grefe Resume". Linkedin.
- ^ a b c d "Zooniversity's UW-themed hip-hop is a social networking smash". Isthmus Newspaper. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
- ^ "Beef f. Anthony Lamarr – "Outer Space" [Prod. Michael Cooper]". HipHopDX. Retrieved October 16, 2015.
- ^ "University of Wisconsin Jewish groups irked by 'Coastie Song'". USA Today. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
- ^ "Cliff Grefe, Author at The Badger Herald". The Badger Herald. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
- ^ "The Green Room • The Street Team". The Green Room. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
- ^ Cisar, Katjusa. "Dane of My Existence: 'What's a Coastie?' song circulating on campus". Madison.com. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
- ^ "'Coastie Song' stirs up U. of Wisconsin campus". Boston Globe. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
- ^ "'Coastie Song' stirs up U. of Wisconsin campus". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved October 16, 2015.
- ^ "What's a Coastie? – the latest "JAP" attack | Jewish Women's Archive". Jwa.org. Retrieved October 16, 2015.
- ^ "Help! I Don't Want My Daughter To Be a 'Coastie' – The Bintel Brief". The Forward. Retrieved October 16, 2015.
- ^ "'Coastie' song, video spark debate at UW". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved October 16, 2015.
- ^ "Depends on Who's Offended". The Washington Monthly. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved October 16, 2015.
- ^ "Community Post: 40 Signs You Went To The University Of Wisconsin-Madison". BuzzFeed. Retrieved October 16, 2015.
- ^ Deborah, Ziff. "On Campus: Student group serenades UW chancellor on YouTube". Wisconsin State Journal. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
- ^ "Baby be my Biddy: Student song serenades chancellor". The Badger Herald. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
- ^ "Class acts: UW-Madison bands are back in a big way". Isthmus Newspaper. Retrieved October 16, 2015.
- ^ "Zooniversity, Quincy Kwalae, Clifton Beefy, Sam Petricca, JK, Brice Fox – The Red Zebra Exhibit". DatPiff. Retrieved October 16, 2015.
- ^ "Winners of the 2011 Madison Area Music Awards". Isthmus | Madison, Wisconsin. June 5, 2011. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
- ^ Rytlewski, Evan (March 13, 2014). "Here's The Complete List of 2014 WAMI Nominees". Shepherd Express. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
- ^ Anthony Lamarr: Elevation (Official Music Video) [Number Twenty Films], retrieved August 20, 2019
- ^ "Clifton Grefe". HipHopDX. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
- ^ "Basement Made | Mission". Basement Made. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
- ^ "UW alum Beef takes on West Coast with poetic hip-hop". The Badger Herald. Retrieved October 16, 2015.
- ^ Taylor, Denzel. "Clifton Grefe brings Beef to the West Coast". The Daily Cardinal. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
- ^ "Clifton Beef Soundcloud". Soundcloud.
- 1989 births
- Living people
- American male journalists
- Musicians from Madison, Wisconsin
- Journalists from Wisconsin
- University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni
- Rappers from Wisconsin
- Singers from Wisconsin
- Record producers from Wisconsin
- Writers from Wisconsin
- Midwest hip hop musicians
- 21st-century American rappers
- African-American male rappers
- 21st-century American male musicians
- 21st-century African-American musicians
- 20th-century African-American people