“Pretend to not have the patience,
Pretending there is enough time for waiting,
Remembering when we kept it a basic,
I wanna go back so that I could taste it
What do I care for?
you were not there anymore
I was not careful,
That is all your fault,
You let me fall”

(juh-nay. ahh-ee-ko)

I have a crush on this woman, there’s no lie in that, there’s no denying that. I’ve known about her since the B2K days, but she’s really come to light over the past year or so, but that still doesn’t take away the fact that she’s one beautiful woman, but let me stop being a mushy fan, and actually talk about the woman in a professional manner.

Aside from back in the day when she was on tracks with B2K posing as Lil Fizz’s ‘cousin,’ that was the first glimpse of Jhene that a small audience got to view. She could sing, but it wasn’t anything special at the time, because back in those days, I wasn’t really paying attention to her voice; mainly her face, but when you fast forward a few years, I heard her on a song with Drake (July), and in the beginning of the song and throughout, I was like “damn, this girl’s voice is soulful.” Little did I know that it was the same Jhene Aiko that I used to see in their videos. I was truly dumbfounded, because she had grown up (had a daughter), and was really focused in on her music.

The song that caught me the most, however, was when I started listening to Kendrick Lamar (of course), and when I heard her on ‘Growing Apart,’ I literally felt my heart melt and the chills slither down my back. It was so beautiful to hear, and even her collaboration with ScHoolboy Q on ‘Fantasy‘ from his ‘Setbacks‘ mixtape was soulful. But, the mystery of me finding her music was still unsolved, until I discovered her twitter page (@JheneAiko). On her site, she has a link to her mixtape ‘Sailing Souls‘ and when I first heard it, I really couldn’t stop playing it for a few months. I’m not one that’s huge on R&B, but this is one mixtape that I couldn’t stop listening to, and she’s one artist that quickly became one of my favourites.

She has had many comparisons to Cassie (I didn’t listen to Cassie a lot, so I can’t say the same) as far as vocals and whatnot, but her flow, her style, and her overall lyrical skill puts her past that comparison, because really, Cassie is just a trophy piece for Diddy to show off, let’s be real. Jhene’s vocals isn’t up there with Jordin Sparks or Jennifer Hudson, but there are different dynamics of vocal strengths, and for hers, she makes it work, because she has that cool, chilled out, relaxed voice, she makes it enjoyable to listen to. People need to really understand that no one is trying to belt out Mariah notes, because that’s just not what everyone wants these days, and not many can achieve that feat.

Even though she only has one mixtape out (patiently awaiting Souled Out), her buzz has grown, and more people are finding out about her because of her features with Top Dawg Entertainment (most recently was on Terrorist Threats with Ab-Soul). She’s a singer that will be heard about a lot in the near future, because she has talent, she has a beautiful voice, and if you’re an R&B head, I wouldn’t sleep on her. I even used one of her songs for a video I edited, just because her music is that good. Check her out, and enjoy.

 That’s My Word & It STiXX