Jill Scott is best known for her music, but that’s certainly not all she has to offer.
But notoriety was never the goal for Scott.
“I do what I do because I love to do what I do.
It belongs to me, and those are the reasons why I do it.
Fame was never even a thought,” she said (viaJet).
This same sentiment was also echoed by her mother: “She was a very loved child.
Her food was given to her with love.
She never had a diaper rash.
This baby knew that she was loved” (viaRolling Stone).
It makes you stronger and makes you willing to try," Scott expressed (viaJet).
She was destined for fame
From an early age, Jill Scott was a performer.
But this wasn’t exactly the case for Jill Scott she planned on becoming an English teacher.
“I could hear music playing in the background of works by certain authors, like Poe and Shakespeare.
And I discovered Nikki Giovanni when I was in eighth grade.
“That’s the way that I learned how to spell,” she said (viaRolling Stone).
“I made a melody out of the words.”
According toRolling Stone, she quit college and teaching in the same day.
But by the time I got home the phone was ringin',” she said.
As it turned out, her impulsive choice paid off!
Questlove asked Scott if she wrote songs, and thinking on her feet she said “yes.”
Her accomplished career took off soon after she dropped her first album “Who Is Jill Scott?
Words and Sounds Vol.
1” in 2000.
This early triumph was only the beginning for Scott.
Over the years, she’s released a total of seven albums, each one critically acclaimed.
It’s simple, whimsical, very dreamy.
… She makes me cry.
She makes me feel me" (viaRolling Stone).
I hold this body of work very close to me" (viaTwitter).
Despite it all, Scott has stayed humble.
In fact, she doesn’t identify much with fame at all.
“I’m not a celebrity,” she said in an interview with Jamele Hill (viaYouTube).
“I know what I’ve done.
But I don’t feel that way in my heart.
I feel like I’m an artist.”
Some of her most well-known works include “Why Did I Get Married?”
in 2007 and the 2019 TV series “First Wives Club.”
In 2007, she was told to gain 30 pounds for a role in aTyler Perrymovie (viaPeople).
“I gained 30 for this role,” she said.
“I’m taking walks …
I don’t put a lot of stress on myself to lose weight.
This was a shock, a complete and utter shock to me,” she said (viaPeople).
And when the two of them aren’t together?
It helps me settle in, wherever I am in the world," Scott said (viaOprah).
she said (viaUs Weekly).
“I’d walk up nine steps and be out of breath!”
Scott made some lifestyle changes to support her health.
She even brought her son Jett along for some of the workouts.
“We have fun!”
“It’s music.
It’s being a woman an African American woman.
Being a daughter, a sister, a grandchild and a Godmother.
It’s deeper than what I know.
It’s bigger than what I can see.
I guess it’s a dive into the human spirit.”
It’s safe to say that Scott’s poetry collection is a similar deep dive into humanity.
“She walked away with nothing …
It taught me that when life is being cruel to you, you have to do something about it.
But her actions let me know I don’t have to suffer in silence.
I don’t have to stay in a place that is harmful to my spirit or my body.”
Despite it all, she remembers to keep her head up.
“Positivity and peace is not a bus stop you get off at.
Words and Sounds Vol.
1,” celebrating 23 years since the album’s release.
Relive your favorite moments.
It’s a lot of love here."
“Thank you so much.
I’m going to do it.
We are going back on the road,” she wrote.
