Revisiting "Who Is Jill Scott...", the Album That Introduced Me to Sex

I was 13 years old, and I was riding in the front seat of my auntie’s car when Jill Scott’s “Golden” came on the radio. My auntie immediately blasted the song to the car’s maximum volume and accompanied it with a “Jill Scott is the truth” comment. I wasn’t sure if that was directed toward me or just a general statement, but it urged me to discover the artistry of Jill Scott. Before that, I had only vaguely knew about her music.  Regardless of whether my aunt’s statement was directed toward me, I knew that it was a hint that Jill Scott was an artist that I should be listening to because it had  my auntie’s famous seal of approval. She said something similar when she blasted “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” while I was riding in the car with her the year before, which prompted me to download the album on my MP3 player. So I knew that I needed to do the same thing with “Who Is Jill Scott? Words and Sounds Vol. 1”, Jill Scott’s debut album that really introduced me to sex.

Hi. I sing/act out all kinds of stories. You should cum to my shows. After a Jill Scott show, most people get splendidly laid by whoever they came with😁👍🏽🎶🤪🎉 #iftheydontFitup #stopfrontinusuckdicktoo
They also usually go on 2happier, more productive, focused, wealthy lives.

— ⭐Jill Scott⭐ (@missjillscott) November 13, 2018

Now, obviously, I had some clue of what sex was prior to listening to Jill Scott’s album. I had watched the sex scene in “Love & Basketball” plenty of times.  But listening to Jill Scott was the first time I heard an artist speak about sex beyond just the physical act. Scott introduced me to the joy, pain, insecurity, the indescribable bliss and other emotions that are attached to sex.

Although it took me some time to really understand the nuances of what the hell Jill Scott was talking about, my naive 13-year-old ears at least knew that it had something to do with sex because she mentions it, makes culinary allusions to it and worships it all throughout  the album. So when I recently saw a video of Ms. Jilly from Philly posing like she was giving felatio to a mic during one of her concerts and the subsequent sex shaming from people on the Internet, I was confused because this—— the unapologetically sex-positive individual—— is the Jill Scott I was introduced to when I was 13.

Bruh why is Jill Scot sucking air dick pic.twitter.com/nNxlDKyKUY

— Tony. (@SoLyrical) November 13, 2018

At least that’s who listeners were introduced on “Exclusively”, the album’s second track. The record is a spoken word piece on which Scott details her happiness from a post-coital experience (“This morning, my man exclusively introduced me/ to some extra good lovin’/he was lickin’ and suckin’ on everything/ just the way he should). Scott’s bliss during the morning after is at such an all-time high that she goes to store to pick up food for her and her man in hopes of getting some more sex when she returns. However, during her time in the store, she ponders the all but too familiar thought of how exclusive her experience with her man is when she sees a pretty woman at the counter (“The new girl at the counter was cute, not as fine as me/ was this some kind of women’s intuition, some kind of insecurity?”). But at the end, as the woman at the counter recognizes the smell of Jill Scott’s lover, she realizes that her extra lovin’ in the morning is as exclusive as she thought.

With “The Way”, Scott shows listeners how badly she wants sex from her man. It’s the morning after having some good sex again, and Scott trades in a night with a girls for a another night of sex from her man (“Woke up this morning with a smile on my face/ jumped out of bed, took a shower, dressed, cleaned up my place/ made some breakfast, toast, 2 scrambled eggs, grits”). But it’s on the next track “Honey Molasses” that Scott poetically describes her sexual experience with her man. As she contemplates calling him after their night of passion, she describes her magical, time-travelling sexual experience (You were in my home my body/my dome/ in a circle of passion we/ Paris Italy/Japan Africa Rome/ We made music/We trombone). When she finally musters up the courage to call him, she decides to leave a heartwarming voice message, but to her surprise, he answers.

In between those previously mentioned songs about sex, Scott talks about love, being heartbroken and growing up as a black girl from Philadelphia, which creates the aesthetic of “Who Is Jill Scott…”. She unapologetically sings and rhymes about her desires and the bliss she feels from pleasure in a soothing and matter-of-fact way that makes the coming-of-age album even more listenable. Thus, sex, along with the appeal and wanting of it, is a part of who Jill Scott is, She didn’t sugarcoat that in any way on her debut album, and she continued that trend throughout the rest of her career. So the next time people become perplexed about her sexual innuendos during concert, “Who Is Jill Scott? Words and Vol. 1” is always available on Spotify and Apple Music.

'Insecure' Season 3, Episode 1 Recap

In case you were wondering, Issa’s life is still fucked up. The third season premiere, appropriately titled “Better-Like”, of HBO’s “Insecure” started off right where the previous season ended—— Issa being at Daniel’s house. But this time, Issa is awakened out of her sleep by the sound of Daniel having sex in his room, which becomes the main storyline throughout the episode. Very annoyed with the loud ass moaning in Daniel’s room, Issa decides to answer Lyft requests to kill some time, our first introduction to this season’s side hustle.. It makes sense that Issa’s picked up a side hustle, considering she’s practically homeless and has two weeks left to stay at Daniel’s crib. Issa picks up her first rider, and within seconds, he throws up all over her car. That pretty much describes Issa’s life for the rest of the episode—a huge pile of throw up.

Meanwhile, Molly’s life is the total opposite. She’s living her best life on some island while having a man cater to her. It’s when she returns that she decides that in order for her to continue to live her best life, she’ll have to be on some know better, do better shit ( a mood she describes to Issa as “bloopin, bloppin and blammin”). That mood dies down when she gets a call from Dro. And it becomes clear that Molly might not be ready to know better and do better with her relationship with him.

The next scene turns to Daniel in the studio with a new artist (played by singer Dawn Richard) who he calls “hella trash.” She happens to also be the cousin of a producer whom Daniel wants to work with . Remember that scene in “Brown Sugar” when Dre had to manage a wack ass duo who called themselves the hip-hop dalmatians. Daniel’s situation with this new artist is the exact same thing: going against his taste for the security of his job. Just add Richard’s character’s loud ass pants to the mix.

Daniel goes to get his guitar from his sister’s house. It’s during this scene that viewers are introduced to this season’s show within a show, “Kev’yn”. Starring Erika Alexander “Living Single” and Darryl Bell from “A Different World”, the show acts as a 90’s black sitcom reboot dream come true. Meanwhile, Daniel informs his sister that Issa is still staying at his house when she asks if he could watch his niece. That’s when his sister plants the idea (and this episode’s million dollar question) in Daniel’s head about the intentions behind Issa staying at his crib.

Wanna see my 90’s rebooted @insecurehbo sitcom Kevyn? Here it is!! https://t.co/UqPnmAL6Ap @IssaRae #funnygirls @BILLBELLAMY #darrylbell#writersroom

— Erika Alexander (@EAlexTheGreat) August 14, 2018

Issa is still in hot water in her position at the non-profit, We Got Y’all. She’s stuck on desk duty and under heavy surveillance from Joanne, her boss, and co-worker Frieda, who recently got promoted. While making follow-up calls to various schools about their partnership with We Got Y’all, Issa learns that schools refuse to work with the nonprofit because it’s viewed as racist—  from complaints of a eurocentric curriculum to complaints of there being only one black employee (Issa) — information that Issa relays to Joanne, who totally shuts her down. It becomes abundantly clear in this scene that We Got Y’all don’t “got” Issa or any of the students of color that they serve, for that matter. And hopefully this white savior nonprofit sham storyline is revealed throughout the remainder of the season, and hopefully Issa decides to quit.

While Daniel is awkwardly jamming to his music at home, Issa walks in and acts in her usual awkwardly adorable behavior and sort of flirts with him. Daniel reciprocates the energy and leans in for a kiss, but Issa curves him, letting him know that they shouldn’t do it. Then, Daniel asks that question that viewers have been trying to figure out the entire episode: Out of all the places she could’ve stayed, why the hell is Issa staying with Daniel?

Issa said that she came there as a friend and his crib is closer to her job. She then informs him that she would like a head-up the next time he has sex. RUDE.

Meanwhile, it seems like Molly isn’t ready to know better and do better as she’s seen receiving head from him the night she returns from her trip. The morning after, Dro receives a call from Candice and tells her that she’s with Molly. Although it was hard for some to understand that this was the way of the show’s writers showing that Dro is indeed in an open marriage (because: niggas lie), Natasha Rothwell (Kelly) made it clear on Twitter Sunday night.

I hope this clears it up: Dro's wife KNOWS about Molly. He's not shady, he's poly. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ #INSECUREHBO

— Natasha Rothwell (@natasharothwell) August 13, 2018

It’s clear that Molly is upset after Dro hang up the phone with his wife. That’s why she suggests that they have boundaries and only be acquaintances that fuck. However, it doesn’t seem like that’s all she wants from him when she agrees to go to dinner with him the next day.

Issa invites Molly to her“party Lyft” to save time while Daniel has sex again. During their trip, Issa and Molly pick up a fine nigga named Nathan who’s not from L.A. and a fat nigga who starts rolling a blunt in the car. When Issa tells dude to not smoke in her car, he responds with a blatant nonchalant, “nah, you good” and continues to smoke. Nathan comes to the rescue and throws his blunt out the window, beats the fat nigga’s ass and runs off, leaving Molly and Issa to care for the fat nigga. And Daniel never informed Issa if it was safe for her to come home.

Molly comes home and, to her surprise, Dro is there. He let himself in with his own key because Molly wasn’t responding to his messages. Then, Molly requests for her key back and informs Dro that she doesn’t want to be involved in the mess that he and his wife are in. Dro gets mad and leave, and Molly sits there looking stupid.

Issa returns to Daniel’s crib after the long ass night she’s had and picks a fight with Daniel because he never texted her back. Issa also tells Daniel that she still has feelings for him and cares about who he’s fucking. She also reveals that she’s staying at his crib because she knew he would be there for her. Daniel appropriately responds with an “Alright”, goes to his room, and shuts the door. Issa is left sitting on the couch.

The episodes ends with Issa watching “Kev’yn” on the couch and Daniel informs Issa that she’ll have the crib to herself for the night, adhering to Issa’s wishes.

My thoughts:

Issa is fucking up

Issa is wrong for so many reasons. The main issue is that she shouldn’t be upset with Daniel fucking someone else in his OWN crib. It’s his house. He shouldn’t have to walk on eggshells because she has feelings for him. If that’s the case, which she did reveal during the episode, then she shouldn’t be living there or she should’ve been upfront about her feelings when she first moved in. Instead, she told him two weeks later that she moved there because his crib was closer to her job. That was beyond rude. And when he acted on that energy that were hinting around, she declined. WHAT DO YOU WANT, SIS?  She can’t have it your way, and you’re certainly not in the position to do that. You waited too damn late to tell Daniel how you really feel about it, so his behavior is completely understandable. He’s done nothing wrong.

Molly is fucking up, too

I’m not sure why Molly is upset with Dro. It’s as if she’s mad because she now has some sort of proof that Candice is still in the picture and she knows about Molly. I’m not sure why Molly was confused about that, considering that Dro told her about his open marriage at Kiss-n-Grind. Now is not the time for Molly to be dictating borders and boundaries because it’s pretty clear that this open marriage shit is something she shouldn’t be doing. Molly has feeling for Dro, and continuing to be in this relationship will only leave her feeling heartbroken, so hopefully she plans on not being with him, but it seems like it’s too late for that.