The Real Thing

Jill Scott is a strong lyricist, a treat really in modern R&B.

Unlike Angie Stone, the other modern R&B singer who actually understands the value of soul's roots (and whose singing can be a blend of creaminess and feistiness rather than some manufactured powerplay), Jill Scott rarely sticks to a lover's rhythm.

She can do some grind, a bit of North African a la Somali-Canadian rapper K'naan [Kaynaan], touches of hip-hop and pre-disco subtle grooves. Don't worry, smooth operators looking for music to seduce by, as she says in Come See Me, Scott is still up for some "passion and desire, innumerable fires", plenty of it actually (a woman is not a camel, etc, etc) but there's more on the go here than that.

The Real Thing is a quasi-concept album tracing the course of a relationship which ends badly and the rediscovery of optimism and desire - yes, the Celibacy Blues is not a permanent state. As the harsh Hate On Me and the contemplative How It Make You Feel show at either end of the spectrum, Scott is a strong lyricist, a treat really in modern R&B. It's why she brings something more to the show than mood and feel. The Real Thing won't change your world but it does nice work.

Source: SMH