“When I was growing up, my mother would take me to plays and museums, and we’d talk about life. Those times helped shape who I became.” -Jill Scott
Jill Scott. A voice like sweet honey and warm milk mixed into one. A down-to-earth woman and a soul so tranquil you feel like you just found peace forever. The list can go on, but that would be beside the point. The point is Jill Scott is like this for a reason. All that she says and does, what she’s inspired by, and how she interprets the world are all based on her roots. So, who is Miss Jill Scott, and how did she become the woman she is today?
Who Is Jill Scott?
Jill Scott was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on April 4, 1972, to her mother, Joyce Scott. For a minute, those days were dark for mother and daughter. Jill’s stepfather was abusive, so her mother did what was best for the two. It was off to grandma’s, where heaps of mashed potatoes, potato souffles, and potato pancakes were to be expected, and that was okay because that was the place filled with love, encouragement, and strength.
Since Jill was an only child and didn’t have access to much (being in the ghetto), her grandma and mother tried to make the best out of what they had. She recalls in an interview with the Guardian,
“I was treated as a princess with room service… We didn’t have much, and they found a way to treat me as special as possible.”
Unfortunately, having little can lead to having the electricity cut off, which Jill has faced. She said they ate by candlelight when they didn’t have electricity. However, lucky for her, one light didn’t get knocked out. Her mother and grandma encouraged her to nourish her artistic side. The music of Philadelphia gave us the Jill Scott we know today. Scott told NPR how her mother exposed her to music,
“She took me to Ortlieb’s, which is a jazz spot in Philly, and I wasn’t supposed to be there, but she put me behind a chair and kinda hid me. I watched great musicians be great musicians.”
Scott also learned from the experience that being a musician is challenging, and the audience will let you know just how good you’re actually doing, especially in Philadelphia. She states,
“If they don’t like it, they’ll let you know, and it’s more than a boo; you might have to duck in Philly.”
Her mother did more than take her to the jazz club, where she could watch artists like Patti Labelle, Teddy Pendergrass, and Gladys Knight and the Pips Live. Her mother introduced her to the radio station WDA’s- FM, which so happened to play powerful retro music. All these things that Jill absorbed made her Jill Scott, but anyone who knows the woman knows that Philadelphia’s music wasn’t the only culprit.
Poetry
It was just another year at Albert M. Greenfield Middle School and another day. Ms. Fran Danish knew that in her English class, some students were slipping while others were doing fine. That didn’t matter because extra credit was being handed out, and whoever wanted it was free to take it. ‘Til this day, I doubt Ms. Danish knew she would ignite a fire in little Jill Scott and create what we have today. Why? Because it was just another day.
Before poetry hit the scene, Scott was already journaling from 12. She says,
“…You know there were so many new nuances to my existence. My body was changing. Friendships were changing. Lots of things were happening, and I wanted to document them in a sense…”
Now, it was the eighth grade, and we are still discovering ourselves at this age. Jill Scott took that extra credit assignment and, by fate, wrote an essay on the poet Nikki Giovanni. I say by fate because Jill selected Giovanni by swinging her finger and closing her eyes. Giovanni opened her eyes and liberated her from the bubble around her. Scott has been quoted saying on Oprah’s website,
“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 the eighth grade. Her writing has a musical energy with pulse and rhythm like jazz or hip hop.”
She has also said in her book,
“By reading these [Nikki Giovanni] poems, I felt I was a part of something big instead of just a ghetto girl in a fancy school. I felt riveted to read something close to my own experiences… Nikki Giovanni’s poetry felt specifically designed for me.”
Not too long later, Scott would discover poets like Gil Scott-Heron and Langston Hughes. It was then that writing poetry became another world for her to escape to. Those days came to a halt, though, when her cousins decided to sneak into her room one summer and read her poetry to the boys in the neighborhood. She was so humiliated that she put the pencil down and let the creativity flow stop right where it was. It would be a bit before she picks up on writing again. It took her heart plummeting to the ground before she picked up the pencil again. She had to get the feelings out somehow and knew where.
The Game Plan
After graduating from Philadelphia High School for Girls, Scott went to Temple University to study education to become a high school English teacher. In Scott’s heart, she felt she had to give to students just like Ms. Fran Danish gave to her. She wanted to be that light. However, there’s a turn of events in the story.
For a while, she was a teacher aide, and that experience is what shut down her career. Scott wanted to incorporate singing and melody into her teaching to help with memorization. Her fellow professors constantly shot her down and gave her negative feedback. Finally, she quit the job.
Scott got a job at French Connection (a clothing store), and it was there that she was introduced to another poet named Tiffany Clarke. Together, they became “Clark and Scott.” They made a name for themselves in the community by reading their poetry everywhere they could, but eventually, that train had to stop. Nothing sinister happened. It was just time to part ways. Clarke went to California while Scott stayed in Philly. Scott still had more to do. She practiced and continued to grow with the other poets around her.
It was only a matter of time until Scott flipped to the next chapter in her life. A friend helped her join a local theater, and from there, she stepped into a world that would eventually give us the Jill Scott we know.