You want to see the children?
Yeah.
You want to see babies?
I want to see.
I got some babies.
You made babies.
Look.
Good job.
That's so beautiful.
Can you spell your name?
Oh.
S-E-F-A-S-I.
Yay.
Yes, mama.
Oh, yes.
Yay.
You should be so proud of yourself.
A-B-C's.
That was such a good time.
Miss it.
Grandbaby's next.
Who?
Well, I mean, in some time.
In much, much, much, much, much time.
Oh, by the way, this is the Ebro show.
This is Jill Scott.
We're talking about children.
And she was telling me about... conversation she has had with her young man, her son.
But yeah, my grandmother used to tell me to you smell the back of a girl's neck.
My mother used to say if his neck is dirty, then a lot of them is.
There you go.
See, similar.
And my grandma would go as far as say if it smells like conch fritters, then you know.
Conch fritters.
It's fried food to her.
She was like, if you could smell the fried food in her hair, she ain't.
Huh.
No.
I had an interesting moment not too long ago.
I did a film, and they gave me a hat.
I call these hats, hair hats.
It's not my hair.
It's my hat.
I can change hats as much as I want.
So I got this hat, and it smells.
It smells, you know, that burning smell, like that burning hair smell?
But it also smelled like what I recall poverty to smell like.
And it fucked me.
Really?
It bothered my mind.
I couldn't center.
I couldn't focus.
I smelled like poverty.
And I was like, to me, to me, the scent smells like cooking grease.
Yep.
Conch fritters.
Old dirt and road spray.
And it's the combination of those three.
And it freaked me out.
I had to get myself all the way together and have them take that hat off.
Had to know was this for?
I don't want to say what it was for.
We won't do that, nah.
Nah, I like how you stop.
They rectified it quick.
Like the lady didn't even have lunch.
She felt so bad.
She washed the hair, you know, during lunch and then had me hooked up and I was like thank you so much, cuz you don't know what's going to trigger you.
You know, I think about it now, like even my, my parent.
My mother is in a wonderful space, her home.
I am so privileged to be able to do that for her.
It's, it's fountains and stuff.
You know what I mean?
This indoor pool with salt water.
You know, it made me feel good to do these kinds of things for her.
But I noticed that she was putting like, her cane up against the front door.
To block somebody from coming in the door.
Right.
Like this is a new life.
The life before that was always concerned about, you know, close the blinds.
Deadbolts, locks, this, that, that.
Right, right.
Make sure nobody can get in.
That kind of thing.
Like we're so, we're like an inch off of being triggered for a thing.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think everybody can relate to that sentiment in one way, shape or form.
In this album To Whom It May Concern.
We were having a convo before we sat down and started talking.
I've listened to the album four or five times now.
I've had it for a little while.
I had to, first I turned the album on and ran through it.
Obviously it opens up, you open up with a poet I was not familiar with.
Maha Adachi Earth.
You got it.
Which I Googled her and represent Miami, Florida, I think.
Met her at a WAC poetry reading.
It was whack.
She was great.
It's like, hey, easy enough.
Years later, I asked her to come to the studio with me just because I loved her writing.
Come to the studio with me.
And she did.
Went to see DJ Premier in his studio.
And we wrote a bunch of things together.
But that poem, she had done it on her own.
And I heard it and I was like, that's what I want to say.
That's how I feel.
You have represented this space of time for me perfectly.
May I please?
Right.
And she said yes.
And Preem put music to it.
It was very good.
I needed something else to go with it.
Last minute I got Andre Harris, a producer out of Philadelphia, who is just congratulations.
He just got a Grammy for Folded Kehlani's album.
I'm so proud of him.
But he worked on, you've known him since, who was Joe Scott, though?
Yes, yes.
That's Dre.
That's right, Zarty.
Hi, Zarty.
Yeah, so he came in and he created some music for me, along with a producer that did Golden, Anthony Bell.
All this is to say that one thing begat another, and I really wasn't driving.
I just went along for the ride.
And I like this life.
So I was going to say, that must be new for you a little bit.
I like this life.
Because the album from the artwork on the cover you brought up Premiere.
There's a number of other producers Trombone Shorty, Adam Blackstone.
Shout out to Adam.
Shout out.
And then the flow and the sequencing of all the songs, which we'll get into a little bit more.
Like I was saying, i went through it looking at for songs and uh, you know what are the songs that most people may gravitate to, looking for singles, and then it dawned on me that the way you sequenced this was kind of in in sections right telling uh, talking to different people or different entities or different energies or different scenarios.
So then i went back and i was like oh, to whom it may concern, like this is She's writing to people, including herself.
Just knowing that what you intended is actually how it's perceived, how it's felt, is mind blowing to me.
Like I've been.
I've been pouring stuff into a pot for a long time and stirring and adding another thing for a long time and to know it's cooked and offer it and to watch my family enjoy it.
And I'm like, is that parsley?
Cinnamon?
I'm excited about the discourse between my family, between my people.
I'm really excited to see what happens here.
No, I think... Yes.
As a matter of fact, I know.
Look, the drums are big.
The bass lines are solid.
The lyrics are fire.
Like I was saying, the sequencing is giving you something to really, really, really lock in on.
And then I found myself screaming at people a little too much after Bad Bunny performed at the Super Bowl.
Why?
I saw people who I feel like don't really have a purpose other than the hustle and to get money.
And so they watched the Super Bowl and missed the purpose.
And when I think of an album like this, there's a purpose.
Yes, it's great music.
Yes, it feels good.
Yes, there's something in it for community and family and love and all that.
But I feel like what often is missing in the consumption of content today because I don't want to just put it on music, but content in general is its purpose.
And I feel like you know, because we consume so much stuff from swiping, and so I mean 150000 songs come out every day and ah ah ah, like people rush.
They just in a hurry, they're just rushing through it.
To shape it.
Right.
To call it a thing.
What did I get called?
The music was big areola music.
That's what I heard.
And I was like, eh.
I like that music.
And I'm here for it, whatever you call it.
It's a lot of things.
It's that too.
I'll say it's that too.
It's for thinkers, dreamers, implementers, people who self-reflect, that make changes.
It's for people who are glowing from the inside.
That's why I wrote Beautiful People.
But don't gloss.
Even that we was talking before we came in here about social media and how I process, what I see and how I respond.
I wasn't glossing shit.
Yeah, how it's just a bunch of people talking shit.
But in there, if you understand your purpose and yourself, even that comment, big areola music.
Yeah, that's for nurturing, that's for feeding people, that's for, like you know what i mean really giving food and really giving you something.
That's, you know wisdom, thank you, you know what i'm saying.
Like that's that's, but i sometimes it sounds like shade, but people are dysfunctional.
So even when they're showing love, sometimes it comes from a, comes from a place of like, dysfunction and toxicity sometimes, and they don't know how to like not be that person or that ain't funny enough.
So let me go ahead and say something slide some, slide some toxicity poison.
Yeah, you know what i'm saying.
So even in that, thank you for that perspective.
Yeah, because they don't know how they don't, they don't think about how many people you know, family members included, that weren't given the tools So they function low vibrationally, because that's easy.
And it takes practice to do work.
You know what I'm saying?
It takes you got to actually.
You know that's something that you have to every day want to perfect.
The craft of showing love and being in a positive space.
It is a practice.
I would like to take away giving up.
You take what you want out of this life.
You look around and you don't like your environment, you don't like the people that you spend most of your time with.
Make a change.
I'm not saying that it's always gonna be comfortable.
It's probably gonna be very uncomfortable, but make a change.
You cannot do what they do.
If you want something else, If you haven't seen anything, then maybe you want to go see something.
Atlantic City was a big deal when I was growing up.
You mean they got ocean?
I can put my feet in it?
What?
And what is this Laffy Taffy stuff?
You know, a whole other experience.
It's the little things that add up to make you want more, to create a palette.
And I've been really, really... happy about sharing my palette with my kid.
This is the kind of, this is what I want for us.
The rest of what was the beauty of North Philly was the people and still is.
The energy, the easiness of community.
We definitely had the, hey, girl, hey, I'm going to sweep your front for you.
Thank you.
We had it.
I was there.
I recall it.
These are the things I hold on to.
These are the things I bring into my motherhood.
These are the things that I bring into my music.
The rest of it, I'm tired.
I don't want any more.
I'm over it not doing it.
I'm not, I can't, it doesn't suit me.
I found out that I found out that a jacuzzi in the winter is a wonderful night's rest, that your body is so hot when you're walking back to the, to your room or to your house.
It's so nice.
I found out that the grass under feet is literally a lifesaver.
It's all the therapy you need.
Grounding.
Grounding.
Being connected.
I found out.
We can find out.
My mother took me to a restaurant called Bookbinders.
And she would get us one cup of snapper soup.
And we would share that snapper soup.
Who in the hood is eating turtles?
But it was delicious.
But it's that kind of the nurturing and exposure, but I also had to want it.
And she had to want it for me.
And that's what I'm saying.
The people that want it, Those are the people that I'm attracting.
And it's fantastic when I say manifesting brilliant, beautiful people that will assist me on the path that I see for myself.
And I can assist them too, because that mutual is yum, yum.
So yeah, pay you on Tuesday.
Well, we got to get to, before we get to pay you on Tuesday, Northside.
Okay.
Right, because you was just talking about it.
And you and Tierra Whack get to these bars.
Yes.
You pop your shit.
Yes.
A, did you guys know each other before this song?
I know the answer, but I'm going to ask it for the audience.
And I love Tierra Whack and have asked her about you.
And we've celebrated her here at Apple Music a lot.
But I would love to hear you talk about her and the importance of this song.
I started seeing videos of hers and I thought she was just so damn creative.
I didn't know she was from North Philly.
I just thought she was dope.
And that's just in the back of my mind.
Tierra Whack is dope.
That's there.
Primo, who I met in Japan, looking at fans, he said, I want to do an album with you, Jelly.
And I said, yeah, I'd love that.
So we started working and he gave me that track, North Philly.
I was like, this feel like...
This, this feel like, like MC light.
Yeah.
This feels like classic hip hop.
Ooh, free.
I can't sing on this.
This, this story requires me to do something else.
So I did and I liked it.
I liked it a lot.
Um, I was looking for another verse, so I didn't have anybody.
So I wrote a third verse.
And I still don't have anybody in the middle.
And I was like, okay, I'll wait.
And then in the kitchen like most things Jet, my son was like Mom, why don't you use Tierra Whack?
Call Tierra Whack.
I was like, she doesn't like me.
She did a video and she was like, I'm taking my freedom.
It's like how Jill Skye sounds.
And I was like, I said.
He was like, Mom, she's just being funny.
She loves you.
And I was like, so I DM'd her.
And she hit me back.
And we called each other, and we talked.
And I sent her that, and she said, like work.
And I was like, I knew it.
Yeah.
And she came back and killed it.
Easy.
When I talked to her about you, she definitely loves you and definitely talked about just North Philly and what you meant to North Philly and her as a young girl.
What?
Yeah, for sure.
She never told me anything like that.
Well, yeah, she definitely.
So do you guys keep in touch now?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I call and be like, what you doing?
She's so silly.
I don't know what you're doing.
It's a Philly exit.
It just pops in as soon as I hear her voice.
It's easy.
Me too.
Now on that note, because just a second ago you was talking about I'm over it.
You know, I'm not doing it with y'all.
Nope.
All that.
All that.
I want to thank you for wanting to come back outside and play.
Because I would think someone like yourself writes and records often.
And you just haven't shared it with us.
Um, what's going on with Jill right now?
That gave you the uh desire patience you know to to, to put this out.
My cup was full.
I have um a lot of music and I I think uh, at one point I couldn't sleep because I had to finish the things.
Then I did sleep.
And then I couldn't sleep because nobody was hearing it.
Like, it's time, you know.
It's time.
You got to let the baby out.
I have thought about not much else for quite some time now.
How long had you been working on it?
I'm going to say 18 months.
Okay.
So that it's in Grammy contention.
That's what I'm going to say.
There it goes.
There it goes.
I think you definitely will be look if this conversation and the support that we can help muster around this project.
I definitely hope that that's a reality.
I'd like to see it.
I know it'll be a reality.
I saw it.
Once again, I think the construction of the album, the execution from the album artwork to the title and everything in between is a complete thought.
Know what i mean?
And you really, you really put you, really put your time in here.
Um you, after north side, you get to a disclaimer which is basically like, if what?
If what you're about to hear gets you smacked up, it ain't my fault at all.
Zero responsibility no nil right, you know, because that's on you.
Yeah, i'm telling you straight up right now right, that if you choose to do that, It's probably not a mic.
Right.
Somebody going to smack the shit out you.
That's right.
Don't do that.
You can hum.
You can sing it at home because I know you do.
Right.
You know, but don't do that in concert.
You're talking about pay you on Tuesday.
Pay you on Tuesday.
Don't do that.
Yeah.
That's not for you.
And I would love to know what, What made you put that in this album?
What are you seeing that made you address the N-word like that and people using the N-word, or the comfort that people seem to have?
I actually called D Smoke about using the word at all, because I had written the song and it just stayed in my mind.
It wouldn't go away.
And I was like, ugh, don't be such an asshole.
Like, go away.
But it wouldn't.
Had to do it.
It worried me because I've never used it.
I think maybe once 10 years ago or something like that, but very, very rarely.
Um, which is why I made the disclaimer.
I felt like I needed to like, all right.
I said it just cause I said it, you already know who I'm talking about.
You know who I'm talking about?
Cause I'm talking to you.
You get it?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'm talking to us.
I'm talking to us.
I've been waiting to be this age.
I've been waiting to feel this way my whole life.
I'm 53.
I like this.
I wanted to be an auntie.
I wanted to talk to you about some things that you need to know, or some things that you need to think about deeply.
I don't know if we have the kind of family that we had before, that will pull you aside and say what needs to be said.
Do we even have that anymore?
Well, you do now.
And that's my job.
I'm going to continue to be your auntie until I'm out of here.
I'm going to tell you what I see, what I've learned, where I failed, what gets me back up, and I'm going to do it real, musically.
Because there's a lot of genres of music, which is why, you know, pay you on Tuesday is the blues and Adam Blackstone blasted.
It's so musical.
And I wanted to inspire, I want and intend on inspiring young people to pick up instruments.
Do you want music to continue or don't you?
I hope you do.
Cause our voice is really, really powerful when we put, when we put intent and love into an instrument.
We could change the space, we can change the trajectory.
If we allow it.
We can love harder deeper, more intensely, more passionately, and we we deserve that.
I think a lot of the music is just like Bucking.
Like two little kids humping on each other.
They don't even know what you're doing.
It's not real.
They don't even know what you're doing.
They don't even know.
You're just getting dirty.
You know what I mean?
That's how I feel.
There's so much more.
Right.
And I want us to experience that.
That takes me back to what we were just talking about, about being equipped with the tools and doing the work.
Because what you're talking about once again is people A having somebody in their atmosphere that's willing to hold them accountable.
Give them the tools on a daily basis, remind them over an extended period of time, like you would do when you're nurturing, raising a child.
You don't just tell your child something one time.
You don't.
And expect it to, you know.
You don't?
Seep in and become practice.
Practice is a routine, right?
And so I think what I hear you saying, too, is A, we're going to hear from you a lot more.
And B when we hear from you you're going to help us hopefully, stay on our square a little bit, like you've done with this album.
I think that's the plan.
I think that's the mission from the beginning, from 26 years ago to now.
You know I asked the question initially.
Who is Jill Scott?
And I'm learning all about me and about the world and about what I want for my humanity.
I learned, you know, all kinfolk ain't skinfolk.
I learned that, like you did earlier for me just then.
If you look for the joy in any situation that you're in, you're gonna keep moving forward.
If you wallow in the mud, you're just gonna stay there.
Gotta get up, gotta keep moving, gotta keep growing.
I know it might just sound like, Soft words coming from my soft lips.
But it's coming from my heart.
And it's not soft.
My heart is not soft.
It is a fist.
It is a bomb.
My mind and my spirit, they are warriors.
I see it.
I feel it all over me.
And I'm so happy to finally get here.
I've been waiting for this my whole life.
I knew she was coming.
I just didn't know what she was going to look like or be like, you know.
I'm very pleased to be this Jill Scott.
Very focused.
We are too.
We're very pleased that you're this Jill Scott.
Thank you.
We're very happy.
I see so much reverence.
When the word of your even album dropping, you're seeing the love, right?
You're like really seeing it.
So big.
And the people are bright.
Yes.
Those are the beautiful people.
I've been calling you.
I'm calling you.
I'm calling you.
I'm calling you.
And I see them and they're showing up and they're so bright.
Yes.
Ugh.
I met a couple last night.
They were so pretty.
They loved each other so strong.
I was like, oh, I loved it.
I love to see.
Yes, y'all.
And don't let the algorithm trick you now.
Hmm.
It's very important.
Conquering all algorithms and wicked, wicked systems of things.
That's right.
Because in real life.
It's a lot of great things going on.
It is.
It's a lot of great things going on.
And the chaos and the negativity is there because it creates a reaction.
It creates a destabilization, in a way, of people's emotions and their ability to focus and their ability to find connections with each other.
You have to practice arming yourself with that knowledge.
Like this is a distraction.
That person's a liar.
They're doing that because they algorithm hustling.
They don't really believe like that.
They don't really think like that.
That's not, you know what I mean?
Like you have to be able to confidently know that's bullshit with the way things are today.
And I know you feel love constantly.
I can't imagine there's a place that you go where you even see negativity in anything you're doing.
I'm going to be honest with you.
My kid and I were coming from school and he says, Mommy, I think everybody loves you.
And I was like, You love me.
Nene loves me.
Pop-Pop loves me.
This other love is fickle.
Fleeting.
Fleeting.
Watery.
It can fall right through the cracks of your fingers.
If I do anything you don't like, then it's gone.
Poof.
I'm only interested in the love that sustains.
That's all I want.
That's all I'm asking for.
That's all I'm calling.
It's to whom this may concern.
And I am also to whom this may concern.
The rest of it, I don't even know where I would put it.
I can't carry it.
Where would I put it?
Where would I put something like that?
Angry, mad, no hope, no light, cruel even, ugly spirited.
Where would I put it?
Not on my nice table.
Not in my beautiful kitchen.
Not in my spirit.
It just amazes me.
It's like anthropology.
And I'm looking at a study of a people I do not know.
I know happy couples.
They be dancing and laughing and cracking jokes on each other and looking good and like fucking.
You know what I'm saying.
Like, yes.
I'm like, I see this.
This is where I am in this life.
And I'm like, come with me.
This is way better than that.
I promise.
It's way better.
Yeah.
I mean, you keep doing that and they some people will figure it out and I hope that more do.
But when you, when you set the example, You walk your path.
People will try to follow.
They try.
They might try.
They may not try.
They may not think it's for them.
They may, once again, back to the tools.
They may not be equipped with the tools or the habits.
That's not your responsibility.
It is not.
And that is, they're not my concern.
This is to whom it may concern.
Right.
Then, listen, you come when you get here.
You know what I mean?
You come when you come.
Come on.
Yeah.
But for the energy that I'm pulling out and pushing out into the universe.
What's coming back at me when I say I'm manifesting?
Oh my goodness.
That frightens people.
If that frightens you, please check out The Celestine Prophecy.
I read it all the time.
It's my favorite book.
It gives you insights on how to live.
It's a story.
It's like a mystery story, if you will.
If you read it like that.
It's simple language, but it's well written.
And it gives you nine insights on how to live.
And I live by this book.
You know, I continue to find beauty in everything and everywhere I go.
If it's flowers, I stop and I smell them.
If it's a tree that's pretty, I flirt with it.
You know what I'm saying?
Like, I am living exactly the way I want to.
And it feels really, really good.
And I know that I'm not alone.
I'm calling my people.
What's up?
Yeah.
We got stuff to do.
We got things to see.
You see what's happening.
Come on.
With that, Me4.
Okay.
And A Universe.
Those songs back to back, to back um, feel like self-love, feels like positive vibrations and energy.
Am i interpreting it correctly?
I would say yes okay um, but there's also some some dirt sprinkled in the music.
I like that.
I like um.
Uh, what's the word?
I'm looking for grit.
You can see the grit.
Definitely some grit, but also things that are juxtaposed.
I like that, musically.
I like an alternate rhythm.
You know what happens?
People don't just do this.
Somebody's like, and somebody over here, they got a whole other thing going on.
That's what I wanted to create with the music.
Um, I, this is what I, I have my note where my notes at.
Hang on.
I'm gonna read my notes.
All right.
I took notes.
Y'all there's certain interviews in your life.
If you're out here and you're, you're doing interviews or want to do interviews, some interviews you could, you'll be able to just walk into, Hey, what's goody.
And certain people like Jill Scott, you sit down.
You better have some notes and see if you doing the right thing.
So this is what I got much appreciated.
Tracks one through four.
Did you hear what I said?
Oh, what'd you say?
Thank you.
Oh, my pleasure.
And you're welcome.
I'm sorry.
You see that?
I almost fucked up the whole interview right there.
Tracks one through four.
Uplifting, affirming, and embracing us.
All of us.
The beautiful people.
All of that.
At Northside, though the album switches gears and starts calling people out talking a little shit.
The nature of hip hop.
Absolutely.
And the nature of us.
Our community is about accountability.
It's about letting people know where you stand.
It's about letting people know where you come from.
Then, owed to nikki, nikki giovanni yes um, talking about breaking cycles and trying to like free years, free yourself from some of the uh behaviors and things that may have held you back or stopped you from loving yourself fully or even, in that process, loving someone else fully because of.
For me, it is saying what I am and what we are.
It's not about anything that we're not, it's about what we are.
Everything that is said.
We're not living in a perpetual box.
Right.
We're not sitting on the same concrete wishing.
That's right.
Right.
She is swinging her hammock, feeling the breeze, self-motivational, self-satisfaction.
It's an affirmation again to all the things that we are.
And it ain't rocket science either.
Either is easy, easy, easy, easy.
And then you close out the album where you start talking about stop playing, letting things go uh, almost moving things out of the way, taking your time.
Um, where did i screw up?
What did i get right?
I don't okay.
I think you i got whatever you wanted to get right.
You got right.
What did you want me to get or us to get?
I want you to get a personal revolution okay, I don't know how.
I don't know what people when they listen to it.
I don't know what they're gonna think about anything.
I don't know that part.
But I pray that they think, that they question, am I loving my partner right?
Am I squeezing their God darn meat?
All of a person that you love, right?
Kissing eyeballs, like come on, you're missing so much good stuff.
You miss it so much and I don't want that for you.
I want you to enjoy all of it.
I left.
I'll be back.
I'm here.
What'd you say?
Who or how?
Let's go with how.
You asked me how did you get it wrong.
No, no, no.
I was about to go somewhere else.
Good, good, good.
I was actually going to go to.
You've achieved a higher plane of feeling and thinking and knowing yourself.
And I feel like or at least are constantly working on it, not afraid to work on it and not afraid to explore and not afraid to even and just watching you right there talk about how deeply in love you can be with someone.
I just want to know who equipped you with the tools.
Who started, who, how, I'm assuming mom, grandmother, the atmosphere you grew up in.
You know, because for other people it might take them a little bit more work to peel back whatever calluses and inhibitions or, you know barriers, that they have to find that level of joy.
Right?
Like there's so much work that some people have to do.
So just somebody like yourself, we all see you as somebody who's got it.
And that may not be the truth, but that's how we see it.
From the very, very beginning of my existence, I've had an incredible relationship with Jehovah God.
This has been my best friend since the beginning.
Truly.
My sister, my brother, my cousin, anybody who was going to fight for me and love me from the very beginning.
I grew up as an only child, so I spent my time, it was me and Jehovah.
We made songs.
We wrote stories.
We pretended, you know, in the mirror.
I've had shit too.
My mother was married to a horrible man.
He killed my daughter.
I had a summer where all the guys I knew around the world were murdered.
One after another.
In one summer.
In North Philly.
I had a guy punch me in the face so hard he knocked my jaw off the hinge.
And I caught the bus and nobody even bothered to give me a seat.
My jaw was hanging down to here. it ain't, you know, it ain't easy.
It took me 20 years to get my degree.
It ain't, it ain't easy.
What it is is constantly finding what is the joy in everything.
What is it?
What is it?
If you've got a hunt scratch, what is it?
My mother's a dental hygienist.
She came into the house.
She left work before I got punched in the face.
It was an uppercut.
I saw it coming and couldn't do shit.
I was like fighting three other girls.
The guy grabbed me by my shirt, lifted me up and uppercutted me with my god darn jaw.
My mother left work before it happened.
And by the time I got there, she was bursting in the door talking about, what happened?
Connected.
This love is beyond something I say.
My mother put my jaw, she grabbed my jaw and had to feel around to put it back on the hinge.
And when she put it back on the hinge it said like that I passed out, I passed out, had two black eyes and I went to school and I sang in the choir.
And then in the choir we sang Latin, we sang Gregorian chant.
Introduced me to Kathleen battle, a beautiful African-American opera singer who smiled the whole time she sang.
It's never, ever going to be like shits and giggles for everybody or anybody, and definitely not for me.
But I keep looking for it and I keep finding it.
Follow that spirit, follow it.
It might seem so silly to speak to that lady, but just something you were saying to say hi, say hi.
You never know what that person is going to offer you.
You never know what kind of road it's going to take you on.
This is my, this is who I am.
This is how I've managed to survive.
Did I marry a bitch?
I did.
I didn't know.
I went too fast when I should've went slow.
Yeah, I picked the wrong one, but I ain't going backwards.
I'm living this thing.
And I'm, you know, I'm not perfect.
What is that?
What is perfect?
What is even that?
We're flawed from the gate.
That's right.
You got to get cut to come out.
You got to get cut away from your mother.
You got a belly button.
You already got a scar.
Yeah, yeah.
Why?
Because everybody got the same scars, okay?
Right.
We're flawed.
That's right.
And fallible and fragile.
Super.
So what's holding us back from just the desire to...
Be happier.
Fear?
I can't do it anymore.
I can't do fear.
I'm fairly proficient with my weaponry.
I'm very good with a machete.
Small knives, I like those.
And you got words, and you got words.
They say that's more powerful than the sword.
Listen, but these are the things that I had to do to make me feel better.
I come from a house where there was a mean man in there.
So I had to learn to defend myself.
Yeah.
I feel better because I know how to defend myself.
He died.
I didn't.
My mother didn't.
We survived and we thrived.
Look at us now.
Anything that's like the struggle, the trouble, you know.
You look at that thing and try to work on it.
I'm in the middle of menopause.
This is not fun.
I didn't want to be in the middle of menopause when this album came out.
But guess what?
I am.
Fear?
What am I going to do with it?
What am I going to do?
I can't carry that.
I just have to move forward because this is what my soul says.
Yes. too hard and loud in my ear and in my sleep.
And when I'm in a tub trying to mind my business, songs come, ideas come, shows come, and I can't wait to see my people.
I cannot wait.
I cannot wait.
I cannot wait.
I cannot wait.
They think they, they think they miss me.
They think they miss me.
I've been crying all the time.
It feels so good to let this baby out, holding it for so long.
On the artwork, it says, I'm free.
And who's the artist?
Marcellus Lovejoy.
Okay.
Yes.
I was looking for something.
I had something in mind.
And it was a great, great piece by Patrick Dower.
Loved it.
Couldn't clear it.
At the last minute, devastated.
What am I going to do?
Because it's always been that picture.
I called my homeboy, Pete.
Pete.
I was like, Pete.
My homeboy from college, I was like, yo, man, I don't know.
I'm looking for this art, man.
I don't know.
I got like three days.
I got to pick something.
And he sent me a bunch of Instagram artists that he checks out because he's that guy.
And I went down the list, and I'm looking, looking, looking, looking, and I saw her.
And I was like, hi.
Like, that's you.
You're saying everything that I want to say.
You're the shape of your face.
Everything about you says what I want.
So I was like, that's it.
And folks were like, oh, no, you can't have the areolas out.
I said, don't everybody have areolas?
Everybody.
Don't they all have it?
What's the problem here?
That's right.
That's right.
I've seen so much.
Wait a minute.
This lyric said something about a booty hole.
This lyric said something about licking a booty hole.
This, this, wait a minute.
Wait a minute.
I'm nasty.
I'm nasty.
Wow.
How Sway?
Huh?
How?
It doesn't make any sense to me.
I didn't even think from the picture that that would have been controversial.
I wouldn't think so either.
But there were many discussions about how they wouldn't show that picture.
And I'm like, somebody's hanging it up on their wall.
What are you talking about?
Put it in a frame and hang it.
Well, the part I was most focused on was the I'm free part.
Yes.
Right there on top of the third eye.
Yes.
Square on the forehead.
Do you feel free with this album?
Or just even before this album?
Or did this album help you get to a new place?
Probably.
Okay.
Probably, but I'm on my way.
I'm just on my way to the most resounding joy I could possibly feel.
That's my goal to get there.
I want to be just dumb giddy.
Huh?
Giggling.
Giggling and then fall asleep in the sun.
Huh, that's it.
You know this is.
I just want that, yeah.
So yeah maybe, i mean, maybe this is a part of everything, is a part of the journey.
So i'm assuming you know the album helped me to get to this place and hopefully i'll.
You know, do no dumb shit.
You won't.
I hope not.
You know i'm a people.
I mean, you know i'm a people, but i have learned quite a bit and i do like you're very thoughtful, you're not Sometimes.
Most of the time.
True.
Yeah, most of the time things are intentional and thoughtful.
This album was.
Yeah, very much so.
Very much so.
Every single thing about it.
A couple things I learned today that I loved hearing.
How you collaborated and walked with others into this album and through this album.
I loved hearing that for you and the joy that you found in that.
I think that's amazing.
It also just for for future creations and collaborations.
This is a great place to be.
Some of the greatest art and music and things that we have ever heard seen come from collaboration, so i love that.
Yeah, you know what i'm saying.
Um, i also loved hearing that you know where you are in your life.
The age and everything is like an arrival.
Like you were, like yo, I couldn't wait to be this age and at this space.
I relate to that.
I oftentimes hear people talk about, you know, the fear of the next birthday or being 50 or whatever.
And I'm like, yo, that's exciting for me, man.
Like I'm excited to be 50.
Like I love that.
Like I'm into it.
There's so much clarity.
You know what I mean?
It's so much like.
Click.
Light on.
Yeah.
Think slow down.
It's not fast.
It's not fast.
You don't have to jackhammer.
What do you say?
Right.
Facts.
Right.
Facts.
And throughout, not in just one area.
That's right.
Throughout.
That's right.
I love this book.
It's called Women Who Run With the Wolves.
And she talks about how a woman can put her desires in many things.
And that's one of the parts.
You have daughters.
You should probably read this book that they can have.
They're going to have desires, period.
They're human beings right, um?
But they can put that desire in baking a cake, or making some curtains, i notice, i know or writing a symphony or um, winning the olympics um it's, it's all desire and it's you know.
You can use it in so many different ways.
It's a superpower um, i've learned that.
Uh, can i ask you a question?
Yeah, just because i do have daughters and you're a woman and i'm not uh, did you feel like, as a woman growing up, that that was not okay, is that?
Oh, they'll shame you to half death, shame me for everything, shame me for growing breasts, Shame you for having some booty.
Shame you for wearing shorts too short.
Shame you if you get caught in the kitchen kissing a boy.
Shame you.
Beat down a woman's sexuality as much as possible.
Celebrate a young man's.
All the stuff, but a young woman?
No, being human, being human, being human, very little guidance in the thing.
This is why books like women who run with the wolves are so important.
It discusses the folklore.
However, it talks about the magic of being a woman.
And that book has really helped me to, to arrive here as well.
It pulls apart the stories and how so many things about a woman is vilified because Cause she likes to have sex.
Right.
Now, what if you give her the tools on how to choose lovers?
That's more important.
And the reason I asked you that question was because I have an 11 year old who, you know, I've been talking with about being a young girl and perceptions and these things, and reassuring her of the freedom that she should have as a human being and that some of the things that she's attempted or brought up to me or whatever, is completely normal.
Right?
Or feelings, things that she's heard seen, things she has questions about.
You don't ever have to be afraid of those things.
But I was also raised by women.
So I was raised by a very strong, outspoken, unafraid woman.
And then all my aunts... Shout out to the aunties.
It was all of the energy you're talking about.
So I guess oftentimes I ask because when you bring that book up, I ask because I do believe there are women who Society has its programming and then your community and your family may have different programming.
Hopefully that makes you feel more free or makes you feel more accepted for just being human and whatever.
You know mistakes or uh, bad choices or whatever.
Whatever it is, it's just a part of the journey as a human being.
Yes, you know what i mean.
And giving all of the um, Telling the stories,
That's right.
We need to hear the stories.
That's right.
This is how I got played.
This is how I got left at an amusement park in 1973.
You know what I mean?
All the stories, they help you to navigate.
It's a griot.
That's right.
You sit around and you listen to somebody tell a story, and you learn.
You learn about your community.
You learn about yourself.
It's what was before the Bible and the Torah and the Holy Quran.
We talked.
We listened to stories.
These things are innate to us.
They still matter.
And they still have weight in our society.
I would consider myself a Creole.
I was just going to say.
It's only February.
We're going to celebrate this album for a minute and study it and unpack it.
Play it again.
So I want to figure out how we can keep that going.
That's my intention.
Yeah.
I like a marathon.
I'm with it.
And I think this album deserves it.
It's the classes for me.
I love when universities teach classes about things.
I write that right there definitely gets me a little.
You know, i'm saying like you feel real good.
I love when that happens.
Yeah, this is gonna do that, though.
This is definitely gonna do that.
I love when that happens.
Yeah man, listen.
So good.
We um, We didn't get into you having Too Short JID Ab Soul Trombone Shorty.
We shouted out.
We talked about Tierra Whack.
But when I saw Too Short listed here on Biggest Pimp of the Year, I didn't know what it sounded like.
So I was like, is she using like a Bay area about like, where is this going?
But once again, you leaned in on the funk blues soul thing.
Um, too short talking that shit.
We got in the studio and I heard the music.
The music is from a young producer.
He was a kid when I met him in the studio.
Young bull, you tend to go get a Coke or something.
Give me something.
This young man has become such a phenomenal musician.
He's scoring right now for movies and film and things like that.
But he decided to give me some music.
And he played every instrument on it.
Everything you hear, he played.
What on earth is that?
There's a lot of that in this album.
I love that.
The musicianship on the album.
I mean, it's live music.
I was going to ask you, was it played then sampled?
Was it, you know, but it definitely, you hear the live music all the way through.
For sure.
He played every instrument on this one.
And when I heard it, it just sounded like a player's ball.
And I was, you know, what would I want to talk about?
These pimps.
Pool pit, politicians, all of it.
Yep.
Yep.
Pharmaceutical industry.
They pampering us.
Yeah.
And I thought for a second, I was like, ooh, they're going to be mad.
So?
It's okay.
It's okay.
It's okay.
That's why I had to go get an aficionado.
I had to go get too short to let you know what pimping is.
There's no wiggle room in that.
There's no wiggle room.
Sometimes you're going to be the pimp.
Sometimes you're going to be the hoe.
Straight up.
Peace to Ice-T on that one.
Thank you, man, for sharing that.
Yo, Ice, man, thank you, man.
How did you meet or connect with J.I.D.?
Did you know him?
Was it just for this album?
Jet told me that I should call J.I.D.
I just saw him.
I just saw him moving around.
I saw him with J. Cole.
I saw him with, I think it was Conway.
I just saw him moving around.
He's that guy.
And with Ab Soul, too.
And when I heard Crazier, Crazier, I was like, man, this guy, these dudes big.
Yes, yes.
I mean, they still out here.
Jill, they still out here.
Oh, it's delicious.
Some of you can just bite this.
Oh, nibble is wonderful.
I was like, yes.
Um, but we had been playing this in the kitchen, me and jet talking about stuff.
And I was like, man, I've been trying to, I called a lot of MCs facts.
I called a lot of them and nobody you know knew what to do or you know it wasn't.
They didn't move.
Like it was exciting.
So I was like, ah, and then, um, Hit JID in his DMs.
The DMs are all right.
Yes understand, it's done.
A lot gets done.
It's i like this direct messaging business.
Okay, i'm a little antiquated, but nonetheless i like that.
I hit him up, he hit me right back.
Oh snap, he was online.
Oh, now daddy is talking to me, jet.
He's like yeah mom, and i sent him the track and within 24 hours he sent me that verse, And it was exactly exactly what I hoped for, what I heard all along.
And then he ended his verse with, may my lyrics please you.
I was like, is there anything more romantic you can do?
Right.
You're going to write me a hard-ass verse where I can see colors.
We're on a picnic.
It's so nice.
It's so nice, me and you.
Oh, man.
We're going to read some books.
Oh, shit.
I like you so much.
And then, may my lyrics please you?
Sir, paint the picture.
Paint the picture.
Be my friend.
Be my friend.
And that's what the song is about.
And I hope, and I know, I don't even hope, I know.
When that bass line drops.
People gonna get with it.
What?
And I made it long enough.
Yeah.
So you could like fool around in the beginning.
Little foreplay.
And then get that thing.
And get that thing.
Get that thing.
To be honest.
Yes.
Yeah, this record's fire.
And, by the way, it's why you have to consume the entire To Whom It May Concern, because you can't just jump in in the beginning and think that you got the whole gist of what's trying to be conveyed here.
Thank you.
This record don't pop up until track 16.
So you have to live with this.
Take the journey.
Yeah.
Take the journey.
A long walk? ah, look at what I did there.
You see that?
You saw that?
Yeah.
That's 26, almost 26 years ago.
It was a long walk.
Yeah.
It's all one gigantic story.
And now it's, everything else is going to make even more sense when you go backwards.
I was thinking.
You got Easter eggs?
Now, um, Uh, we talked briefly about Nikki Giovanni and we talked briefly about, um, uh, O to Nikki.
Yeah.
But we didn't get into what she means to you.
Hmm.
Um, and why you chose Abseil to partner with you on this song.
First, I chose Abseil because he is a poet.
Yeah.
Real, like he is a God MC.
If you ask me, when I look at the way he writes and the, the planes in which he writes on.
It's three or four things at the same time.
And I just, I like that.
You're messing with my vision.
I appreciate that.
That was one.
Nikki Giovanni messed with my vision too.
My English teacher, Fran Danish, introduced her to me in the eighth grade.
And I had never seen myself written on paper before, ever.
Like, what did I read?
I had read The Bluest Eye.
You know, that's sad as hell.
One of the saddest books I ever read in my life.
But Nikki Giovanni, she was in my community.
She was in my house.
She wore my grandmother's slippers.
Like, lady, how do you know me so well?
How do you have me sitting in between my grandmother's legs getting my hair greased, my scalp greased?
Ma'am, how do you say these things in such a way that I can literally see myself?
And that was the beginning for me, like the beginning of loving writing.
And as you know, we just recently lost her.
I tried to get in her class.
She was teaching, as she was a professor at Temple University while I was there, but I couldn't get in and I tried everything I could.
I really did.
But that class was gone.
Yeah.
Quick.
Filt.
I was like, I'll stand in the back.
No standing room.
Yeah.
I love that.
I want that for me.
You want to teach?
Yeah.
I want to teach.
Where is there a particular place where where if, if they called, maybe they saw this conversation and they were like would you do a class for us?
Is there a place where you would absolutely make yourself available?
I don't know where that is yet.
Cause I, this just occurred just now.
Okay.
Hey, you know, this is just one of those gazillion ideas and dreams that I have for myself.
I'm like, I want that.
Yeah.
You know, like, oh, this, this is really pretty.
This, this Greek aisle.
I want that.
Yeah.
You know, and because it's also attainable, that's right.
You know, I would love to teach.
Well, and you love where you are in your life right now.
So there's a level of clarity and a renewed, would you say a renewed purpose?
Renewed purpose, yes.
I think I forgot my way for a minute.
I think there's, you know, fame is a motherfucker, man.
Fucks you up.
It's just not my thing.
And just trying to navigate that, you know, I don't know what to do with it.
So I would shy away thinking that I would push the people off for a while.
But that doesn't work out.
What's meant for me is meant for me.
There's nothing I can do about the love.
There's nothing I can do about us having the time we have in a concert.
There's nothing I can do about that.
I'm a victim to it.
But I had to go home, I think.
I just had to go back to North Philly.
I had to be around people who speak with that accent.
It just reminded me of all the things that I survived, all the things that I did.
I really did some dope shit, even as a kid.
I remember myself on my little bike.
It had a basket in the front with some flowers on that, right?
And it had the, what's those two things on the side?
The little pegs that people stand on?
No, on your bike, it's got a kick, not a kickstand, training wheels.
Oh, training wheels.
I don't know how to ride the bike yet.
Oh, okay.
So you're little, little.
I'm little.
Yeah.
And I would pack my lunch.
And I would get my bike, and I would put it inside my basket, and I would ride to work.
I was only allowed to go around the block, as far as I could go.
But I would ride to work, which was any house that I picked, depending.
And I would go to work, and I would figure something to do by myself.
And then I would go in my bag and I would color for a while and you know, i put it back and then i would drive away and you know drive, drive away around the block and i would sit on somebody else's steps and i would have my lunch and i would make it so nice for me and i'll have my lunch and i'll watch the buses go by.
It was great.
And somebody say, come out the house like oh hey jill hi, nobody bothered me.
I didn't bother anybody, That kind of just.
It was a magical in the middle of the hood.
In the middle of the hood, my mom got me loafers and put dimes in them.
And fresh flowers sometimes.
I don't know where she got them from, but she did.
Like it's that kind of stuff that makes me me.
And I don't, I wouldn't trade anything.
All my failures, all my mistakes, all my misgivings.
Mm.
None of it.
Not even getting punched in the face by a stranger man trying to steal my chain with his three homegirls.
I don't even know what that was about.
They didn't steal none of the good stuff.
None of it.
I had a Benetton book bag.
And they didn't steal your jewelry, neither.
No.
They didn't steal my cousin's earrings.
They just stole a little chain that some boy gave me with an Italian horn on it.
Suckers.
Y'all some suckers.
Place yourself.
You didn't even get the heat.
You didn't even get the heat.
You could have got my cousin's earrings, but no.
Place yourself.
You know, listen.
No, listen.
And watching you light up over even that story about being a little girl and your imaginary commute to work, the joy that you still have and the beauty and that youthful spirit and energy.
You know, I think that's what we all love so much, because the seriousness while also being playful, right.
Your hip hop while also being, you know, almost like the culmination of black music, from gospel and blues to soul and jazz and funk.
And you've done all of that.
You know what I mean?
I like it.
We love it.
Yes.
We love it.
And we're so happy to have you back.
Thank you.
It's a pleasure.
And I hope you feel the love.
You know what I mean?
I hope you feel the love.
And I'm thinking there's more love on the way, right?
Because Ella, you want to talk about Ella and all of the accolades that are probably headed your way from that fabulous short film.
I feel a way about talking about Ella.
Tell me why.
I'm shy about it.
I lost myself.
I left myself for a while.
I mean.
And I can't even watch it.
They tell me about it.
They tell me about it.
I wasn't there.
I heard.
That's all.
And they're like, oh, you got nominated for an NAACP image award.
And I think that's great.
But I don't know what happened.
I don't know what happened.
And it's scary a little bit.
You scare yourself sometimes.
A little bit.
That one scared me.
Because I don't know.
But you understood the assignment though.
I did.
And you had to tap into something to bring her to life.
She's a very important, powerful entity.
It's Ella Fitzgerald.
That's what I'm saying.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Scary.
Super scary.
Mm-hmm.
It's okay.
But you did it.
Yeah, I mean, it's something about being afraid.
It's something about having fear and then walking through it.
That's right.
But that's respect, though.
That fear is because you respect it.
Acting, too.
I respect acting.
I love it when a director directs.
I wait for those moments.
Oftentimes, like social media, it's...
They'll hire you based on how many likes or how many followers you have.
They won't audition.
You just get cast to do a thing.
And then you make the best out of it, happy to get a paycheck, because this life you know actor's life is really feast or famine.
Yeah.
And I treat them different.
The music lives over here.
The actor lives over here.
They got two different lifestyles.
So anytime I can get a director that will direct, challenge me, press, I'm here for it.
I love that.
That makes me better.
Yep.
That's what I'm waiting for.
That's what I'm waiting for.
I need that.
Come on, somebody.
Yeah.
I like that.
Director, direct, leader, lead.
Please.
Point me in the right direction.
Please.
Please.
It's good to have mentors.
Sometimes you the hoe.
Sometimes you the pimp.
Sometimes you the pimp.
That's it.
And in that particular position, I feel like I'm the hoe.
And I got to do what daddy say.
You say you want me to tell a story.
Where I'm laughing and crying at the same time, one out of joy and the other out of severe grief at the same time.
That's what you want?
That's what you want from me?
Yeah.
And I'm laughing?
What?
And I got a cramp in my leg?
What?
Give it to me, please.
Because I'm about to get on my bike and pack my lunch and ride around the block and act like I'm going to work.
That little girl gets to play all the imagination.
Yep.
Riding right by crackheads.
Don't even care.
Hi, Miss Gina.
Why you put Miss Gina business out there?
Well, that wasn't her name.
Okay, I'm just checking.
I didn't.
But I would get dressed up too.
I had a favorite yellow dress.
I would wear it on my bike.
Ride around until my mother gave my yellow dress to the neighbor girl down the street.
And I saw her in my Goddard dress.
And she was playing football with the boys.
Wait, hold up.
Hold up.
Let me find out.
That's the first time I've ever been angry at my mother.
Like how?
Let me find out this whole time, He Loves Me was about the yellow dress.
Unbelievable.
And that girl took my yellow dress.
No, it wasn't.
I know it wasn't.
Damn.
No, it wasn't.
We tried, though.
He was like, I'm going to spin this back around because she was on the yellow dress.
I didn't really want to ask what He Loves Me was really about.
I've always wanted to know.
What do you mean?
Or who it was about.
Not what it was about, but who it was about.
It was about my first husband, and it was also about Jehovah.
I told you, we always been cool.
Always been cool.
Yeah.
So I mixed some of my ex-husband in there so that he could have a human form.
You know, your hands, your cologne.
That's right, that's right.
Yeah.
So it's a combination of the two.
Amazing.
I love that song.
It's one of your biggest songs.
I noticed.
People are singing it all the time.
I mean I'm glad you you know how many artists I sit down with their biggest song they like.
I don't even like that song.
It happens.
I'm glad you still love it.
I love Long Walk.
I love Golden.
Yeah.
Yeah.
The Way.
Yeah, I love The Way.
The Waves.
Yeah, I love whatever.
I love watching me.
I mean, it depends on the day.
It depends on the day of which album I'm listening to.
I might need something or remember something.
I listen to me.
Well, look, to whom it may concern, Jill Scott is on Apple Music right now.
Yep.
It's been a phenomenal conversation.
Thank you.
Thank you.
