Jill Scott

On her debut, Who Is Jill Scott?, the titular Philly native pens love-themed sonnets that could get her hired as a writer for Hallmark's Mahogany line. However, as the title of her album suggests, it's difficult to pigeonhole Scott, who also spews lines such as I been a lady up till now/Don't know how much more I can take/Queens shouldn't swing (if you know what I mean)/But I'm 'bout ta take my earrings off/Get me some Vaseline. Tough talk from someone who revels in dreamy imagery of "places where butterflies rest easy," but Scott is a diverse artist, in terms of delivery as well as subject matter. Over jazz-inflected backdrops so spiritual they're damn near gospel, Scott shifts seamlessly from verse to song, occasionally engaging in jazz-diva-style scatting and crooning. This relentlessly romantic album borders on redundancy, but hearing Scott gush is far more intriguing than listening to R&B's court jesters argue endlessly about failed relationships.