Jill Scott: To Whom This May Concern

Jill Scott’s back and she doesn’t give a fuck To Whom This May Concern. On the string-orchestrated blues, “Pay U on Tuesday,” she tells it like it is, “You’s a ign’ant motherfucker, yup, facts is just facts / I don’t want no more [Negro] blues.” Even as a satirical blues, Scott’s delivery is spot on.

With social media these days, Scott is aware of people talking about her body image on IG. Again, she doesn’t give a flying fuck. Over the smooth, funk “Don’t Play,” she sings about sex with confidence: “You just been humping me / Shallowly, superficially / Baby, don’t close your eyes / You can see and feel at the same time.” She goes on, “Touch me all over, squeeze my meat / Everything on me got feeling / Change the position up / Give me Afrobeats.” Yes, squeeze them meat.

Scott is also aware of the “Pressha.” She sings softly on the chorus, “Pretty and cosmetic / Elementary, alphabetic / So much pressure to appear just like them.” For a song about pressure, the beat is quite laid back. On “Offdaback,” she sings casually, “On this fine day, I can go to the bookstore, buy a book (Bill Drummond) and read it.” I just love the fact that she includes books in her lyrics.

On “BPOTY” (Biggest Player Of The Year), she calls out the pharmaceutical industry “got me dying to heal / Keep me in the hospital, bills sky high / Suppress my symptoms (’Til I die).” She continues over the funkified rhythm, “With a little pill (’Til I die) / What you tryna do to me? / Keep me coming back like a ho on a track and that’s a fact.”

With 19 tracks with a diverse range of sonics and lyrics, TWTMC is a fascinating experimental album. Scott knows she can “Be Great”: “Let the load lift, let the words shift / I ain’t herе to live in fear or just plain ol’ exist.” I loved her music and got a kick out of the punchline: “You’re like an aloe to my cut.”