Los Angeles based songstress Jhene Aiko has been making music for over a decade.   As part of TUG Street Team (B2K), Aiko released her first single, “No Love” and was set to release her debut album, Jhene Is My Name, however, the project was never released.

Years later, Aiko returned to the scene with her first full length project, Sailing Soul(s), a project featuring just a handful of features, great writing from Aiko herself, and great production.  The project gained Aiko an immense level of buzz and notoriety, and she is set to release the follow up to the project soon in the form of Souled Out. 

I got the chance to speak with Aiko during the sound check at her first San Francisco headlining tour at 330 Ritch (you can read my concert review via The Examiner here).  I spoke with Aiko about the concept behind the Sailing Soul(s) album title, specific tracks from the album in the form of: “Hoe” and “Do Better Blues.”  I also spoke with her about her upcoming release, Souled Out, a possible collaborative project with H.O.P.E and if it’s easier or harder for her to establish herself amongst the hip-hop boys club that is The New West Movement. Download Sailing Souls, here, and check out the videos and pictures I took at the show as well here.

Who is Jhene as an artist?

I was signed to Epic when I was 12 years old and it was during the whole B2K thing—I went on tour with them and I got a lot of experience with that.  I write my own songs.

I heard that your latest project title, Sailing Soul(s) was inspired around the idea of record labels saying that you had to essentially “sell yourself” but you rather “sail” yourself.  In your words, what exactly is “Sailing?”

“Sailing” yourself is the same thing as freeing your spirit type of thing and not being bound to anything and just being a free sprit.  A lot of times in society,  we have to conform to different things and you have to compromise a lot of yourself and your beliefs. “Sailing” means just be yourself especially with the record label thing, a lot of people say that a lot of artists sell their selves in a sense and give up so much of their creativity and stuff like that.  To me, you’re not an artist if you have to give up yourself.  “Selling” your soul is the complete opposite of “Sailing” your soul.

And did you know when you released the project that it was going to have such a huge buzz surrounding the release?

No.  I really just put it out because there were a lot of fans from B2K days that wanted to hear a full project from me so it was a feeling type thing.  I didn’t really have any plans or expectations.

Okay, so two of my favorite songs on the project are “Hoe” featuring Miguel and “Do Better Blues” featuring H.O.P.E.  I wanted to know what was the creative process like for those tracks.

Miguel and I were working with the same producer Fisticuffs who did “Quickie”  for Miguel and a few other songs on his album. When I was working with him he was like me and Miguel have a song and you should get on it.  Miguel already had that hook idea.   I just wanted to do it from a female perspective because you don’t really hear females talk about that kind of thing and so, that’s how that one came about and I actually wrote around his concept that he got from an Outkast interlude.

“Do Better Blues” that song pretty much—I don’t even remember writing it, it just came about so naturally at a session.  We like canceled the session and we all went to the beach all three of us and forgot about work and we came back in and did that song.

Speaking of H.O.P.E, I heard that you guys were doing a collaborative project together—is there any truth to that?

We’re trying to work on that, something like another mixtape type thing like The Best of Both Worlds.

I heard that you were also going to release “Souled Out” which is the follow-up to Sailing Souls soon, what can people expect from that and when is it coming out?

We’re trying for like sometime now but right now with everything going on and touring we aren’t sure.  I’ve been recording and having meetings and stuff like that so hopefully soon.

Okay so one of my last questions is, you’re coming out during the New West Movement, and essentially there’s really a lack of female representation and R&B females at that.  With that being said, has it been easier or harder for you coming out of the region?

I think it’s the same for everybody really but because I am friends with a lot of the underground LA rappers I’ve known them aside from music so it’s been easy for me to be like “oh, I want you on this song,” or I’ll be on their song.  For me, I think it’s been a little bit easier just because I have a history in the music industry so that’s the only thing that makes it easier.  I think that people since hip-hop has been so popular over the last few years that people want to hear someone sing and they want more melody.

And do you have any favorites?

I do like Big Sean’s album.  I love Frank Ocean.  Kendrick Lamar.