Jill Scott: To Whom This May Concern

"A blend of nostalgic soul, funk, and spoken-word poetry, it hums before it speaks, swaying before it testifies. Since her debut album in 2000, Who Is Jill Scott? Words and Sounds Vol. 1, Scott has given Blackness-and her native North Philadelphia-the foundational centering it deserves: the fragrance of cocoa butter warming on brown skin, potato salad on white styrofoam plates, the humidity thick on summer evenings while the sun goes down. Her voice gathers these recollections."

"It calls in the cousins from the sidewalk, tells the uncles to mind the grill, lets the older women finish their stories without interruption. It is community scribbled in the pages of a notebook. But Scott's Blackness is also kinetic: It sounds like double-dutch rhythms on pavement, rope slapping concrete in perfect time while sneakers tap the block. Her cadences pivot and play, bending phrases into jazz-informed stretches, turning seemingly mundane occurrences into bright melody."

Jill Scott's music embodies Black memory with a persistent bassline, blending nostalgic soul, funk, and spoken-word poetry. The music centers Blackness and North Philadelphia through sensory images like cocoa butter, potato salad, and humid summer evenings. Her voice gathers recollections, summons family from the sidewalk, and lets elders finish their stories. The sound is kinetic as well, evoking double-dutch rhythms, rope slaps, and sneakers tapping, with cadences that stretch into jazz-informed phrasing. The new album synthesizes '70s groove, '90s hip-hop, big band swing, and neo-soul, with lush basslines, head-nodding beats, and live percussion that recalls Sunday morning praise. The record links earlier albums while evoking the past without fully retracing it.

Read at Pitchfork