For women in R&B it is truly a competition on who has the best vocals and music. We have people like Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Sade, and more. Then there is Jhené Aiko, a Cali girl with so much soul, that she truly is sailing. Many may know Jhené from the vocals of a summer-hit song “July” featuring Drake. The song took blogs by storm and it truly introduced Jhené to the world. Miss Aiko has been in the music industry for quite some time now, when back in the day B2K was signed with Epic Records, she was signed as well. She served as the opening act for B2K on the Scream Tour 3.
Jhené was humble enough to open up to KillerHipHop.com and have a one-on-one conversation with Eric Kidd on what Miss Aiko has been up to, her new deal with producer NO I.D., Drake, Yeezy, her upcoming projects and so much more.
If your a music head like us, then most of you have already been hip to west coast songstress Jhene Aiko (Juh-nay. Ahh-ee-ko) since her appearances and songs with L.A boy band B2K during their era from 2001-2004.
Back then, she was mostly known as ‘Lil Fizz’s cousin’ –which turns out their not even related–and she was usually seen in the their music video’s hanging out with the guys.
In 2003 Jhene debut her first single and video for ‘No L.O.V.E’ on 106 & Park at the age of 15, however due to label issues her album never came out.
Fast forward to 2008, Jhene had been out of the spotlight for a few years, no longer a signed artist, and was now a new mother to a babygirl she named Namiko Love. Soon after the birth of her daughter, Jhene began working on her now classic mix-tape ‘Sailing Souls’ which was released in March 2011. The wild success of her mixtape began to bring lots of attention to her music and solidified her spot as the lone female in the bubbling L.A music scene dubbed ‘The New West”.
Two weeks ago, Jhene surprised her fans with the news that she had officially signed a deal with Grammy award-winning producer No I.D and his Artium label through Def Jam records.
Right before the holidays, we got the chance to congratulate and speak with Jhene about her new record deal, the new album, and we got her reaction to fan concerns that her music will change now that she’s signed.
Every now and then an artist comes along and makes a big splash. Sometimes they’re new, other times they’re a bit seasoned and are showing a side listeners have never seen. This is the case with Cali songstress Jhené Aiko—who most recently was known as the girl with snippets and surprise songs on the defunct R&B group B2K’s albums.
Now re-launched into the spotlight — thanks to the success of her mixtape Sailing Soul(s) — Aiko’s future has never looked brighter. Pushing the less traveled ambient soul music genre with a distinguished voice and an unbreakable indie mindset, Aiko is headed in the right direction to uphold the hype.
