NEWS
EVENTS
One to recommend: Jhené Aiko
RnB/Hip Hop | Wednesday 18th December 2013 | Chenda
Singer-songwriter from Los Angeles California began her musical career with several vocal contributions to boy band B2K’s releases in 2002, when she was first introduced as member Lil Fizz’s cousin. She also featured in numerous music videos and released a video for her song NO L.O.V.E which debuted on BET’s 106 & Park when she was just 15 years old! After having returned to school to complete her studies, Aiko made her comeback in 2007, and commented in an interview “Shortly before I conceived my daughter, I stepped back into the field and took a meeting with a label head. In this meeting, I was innocently told, to ‘sell’ myself when walking into these meetings. That’s when I decided I would ‘sail’ myself rather than sell myself.”
This lead to the release of her mixtape entitled ‘Sailing Soul(s)’ which was released via her official website. The mixtape features collaborations from the likes of Miguel, Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West, Schooboy Q and Ab-Soul to name a few. Jhene’s vocals on the album have been described as ‘gentle’ ‘sensually sweet’, performed over hip-hop-centric beats. Jhene revealed that whilst writing and recording for her debut mixtape she was under the influence of cannabis which she cites as inspiration for her music.
In November, 2013 Aiko released her debut EP entitled ‘Sail Out’, with ‘Bed Peace’ featuring Childish Gambino as the album’s lead single. She was also featured on J. Cole’s ‘Born Sinner’ album on the track ‘Sparks Will Fly’, Drake’s ‘From Time’ track on ‘Nothing Was the Same’ and Big Sean’s ‘Beware' on 'Hall of Fame', earlier this year. She cites John Mayer as one of her major musical influences.
Jhene describes her writing style as ‘freestyle’ where she writes according to how she feels, randomly playing with vocals which could take her up to a month to complete. She’s praised for her soft gentle, melodic tone and simple, graceful stage presence which has lead to comparisons to singer Sade.
