Jill Scott brought the storm to town. The wind was wild and the rain was as torrential as it comes. Nevertheless, folks in their best came out to witness the Queen in her element. The auditorium of The Mahaffey Theater was speckled with colorful Dashiki patterns, black button-ups, fresh hairdos, and prim dresses all pressed nicely into red velvet seats beneath a ceiling that towered above with bright lighting. And then all went dark.
Out of nowhere a booming voice came over the room as Kevin Gate's song "Really Really" started bumping out of the speakers. Georgia Me The Poet came swaggin' out onto the stage like a boss, inspiring immediate head nods of approval. Her thing is spoken word poetry and comedy, and like many other creative beings her passion is sharing her artistry with people as honestly as possible. That said, Georgia's set was LIT! Her poetry was real, ratchet, raunchy, sexual, wild, and yet empowering people to embrace themselves as they are no matter what they look like or where they're from. The Atlanta native shattered the portrayed images of beauty, and stood up for the "big girls" while also touching on hard knock issues of ignorance in the hood and a need for people to practice safe sex in the spirit of self-preservation. Georgia Me The Poet is the truth, and got a room full of finger snaps to prove it.
After a brief intermission the Queen was finally ready to make her grand appearance. From the moment that her first footstep glided into the audience's view, the entire room exploded with energy. It was amazing to feel that kind of tangible respect and adoration for an artist before she'd even made it through the first song. From that point on it was almost as if the Mahaffey were enveloped in its own time capsule that didn't operate within the normal time parameters as the rest of the world. What passed by like minutes was actually almost two hours of spectacular music and showmanship. Jill knows how to put on a show!
There wasn't an ounce of herself that seemed put on. It's truly remarkable to be able to experience an artist of this caliber, one who knows who she is and doesn't front about it. We were all captivated by Jill's voice, but possibly even more by her constant smile, like a mouthful of stars beaming with every single note she sang. Her joy and passion for music was absolutely contagious, uplifting, and inspiring to behold. She sang about self-love, family dynamics, intimacies with that special somebody, and stepping up bravely to be a warrior for tomorrow. All of these powerful topics pulled us closer into Jill's world, and by the time it was all over you felt as if you'd been left with something that was meant just for you. For everyone it was different, but for me it was a reminder of the power of words and music.
To be able to have a platform of that magnitude and use it to help inspire joy, love, and positive change in others is no small matter, and that's exactly what Jill Scott did. It was Spiderman's Uncle Ben who said, "With great power comes great responsibility," so who knows — maybe Ms. Scott got the memo.
Love,
DEA & SAINT
This article appears in Sep 1-8, 2016.