Forced into a sabbatical from the music industry shortly after her debut album Denials, Delusions and Decisions two years ago, Jaguar Wright is ready to make a comeback; the question is are we ready for the music of Jaguar Wright? What exactly is the music of Jaguar Wright? What ever you think it is don’t ever call her Neo-Soul “It’s the worst title ever and that was a bullshit label to begin with. It’s like they said okay here’s some new nigga music let’s find a way to make it marketable. Its just soul music influenced by hip-hop,” says Jaguar Wright.

After her rocky relationship with MCA, dealing with their overhaul and recently signing with Artemis Records she says she can only hope it will be a fruitful relationship. It is, after all, the music industry where you never know just what to expect. “I didn’t take a break because I wanted too," says Wright. “I’m glad [it happened] because there was a lot of things that I needed to do in my personal life. The Lord works in mysterious ways. Sometimes he pushes you into situations that you don’t quite understand but are very necessary.”

One of the things that she simply does not understand is how MCA could run business the way they did. “They tanked my project for no real reason at all, they put no real financial support into it, Jay Boberg (former MCA Records President) was a complete idiot. He didn’t know how to run a company - especially anything having to do with black music and everybody else was trying to keep their jobs. They were a company that was $140M in the hole. After the Shaggy record, which was 100M records sold, that should have evened up the books plus the Mary J Blige stuff, but they overspent and miscalculated so much money that no matter how great they did they were still behind. So you take that and then you add that with a little bit of jealousy - with 'oh no you’re not going to put more into this new girl or I’m walking out the door'…and I’m not even going to bother to say who said that…. But then I got the Coke commercial and then it was Jay Z unplugged and once again it was 'who the hell is this little young girl trying to show me up' – but I’m not going to say who said that …it was a lot,” says Wright.

Even though her manager (who also managed The Roots) had severe problems with the president of the company, Jaguar still remained a budding new artist full of enthusiasm, and full of energy, having blowout performances everywhere she went. So how does that explain the fact that MCA only put $1.6M total budget into her record that sold 250,000 copies? While elsewhere they had put $2.5M into "this little white girl” who only sold 30 records at the end of the first week. 30 records! “The numbers for my album at the end of the 1st week sold 20,000.” Her explanation for all this: “There was definitely a whole lotta shit going on and nobody wanted to talk about it, nobody still wants to talk about it. She emphatically states her debut album is something that she will be proud of for the rest of her life. “It is something that I will be able to look back, when I am 50 years old and say 'Hey that was a hell of a start,'” says Wright.

This break has given her the time to focus on her family which includes her two sons, 11 and 2, and the opportunity to bury the hatchet with her mother-in-law. As she makes crab cakes and mango daiquiris for her husband, who works close enough to come home for lunch, there is no doubt that family is first and foremost in her life. “What else do you have? I look at these people in my line of work whom for everything is music business, music business, music business, 24 hours a day, their husbands are in it, their children are in it, their friends are all in it. It’s like 24 hrs a day it’s make believe. Where is the reality? You wanna know why Whitney Houston ended up the way she ended up? Because she didn’t have nobody telling her ‘bitch are you crazy? Have ya lost your fucking mind? STOP SMOKING CRACK because I can see through your ass! Put the damn pipe down. If she had any real friends, motherfuckers would be over there taking that shit from her. She has to have that reality. You need those people to bring you back to earth - without them you’re lost,” says Wright.

She admits to having all kinds off kooky crazy thoughts from time to time and without her family she would be “just like Mariah Carey running around talking ‘bout the whole world is out to get me….with my titties falling out my shirt.” Jaguar, a true artist and a true lover of music, has no problem with sex appeal and dressing provocatively but as she puts it “a whore is a whore and a singer and an artist should be a singer and an artist. If you’re gonna be a ho then be a ho. Don’t just be perpetrating the fraud. I know they say sex sells but you know what….talent sells too.”

Jaguar Wright is inspired by and studied all the great artists of the previous generation – Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder and Minnie Riperton. While pregnant she listened to classical music for her baby and played Coltrane and Miles Davis while in the delivery room. “My son entered this world on Blue and Green which is #3 on My Kinda Blue. To this day when he hears it, it humbles him.” Also huge on oldies she makes her children listen to jazz.

So how does Jaguar Wright feel about the top artists on the R&B charts right now? “I was very happy for Usher, that he was so successful because I know he was a little nervous about Mr. Justin Timberlake. I’m glad it was successful but it wasn’t the songs that sold the album, it wasn’t the talent that sold the album, it was the rumor about him having a baby…it was ‘if you wanna know what’s going on in my life buy the record and I’m breaking up with Chilli’ - that sold the record. It wasn’t about the music. Nobody was talking about ‘I gotta get "Confessions" because he killed that song…did you hear the way he ripped? Oh my God…did you hear the end of the song? Nobody was talking about any of that,” she says.

On Alicia Keyes – “I applaud her, I applaud her success. I think it’s wonderful. Any black woman, whether she’s half black, all black, mulatto whatever….any black woman who can succeed in this business kudos, kudos. But let’s be clear on what we are. Lets be clear on the gifts and let’s be clear on the blessings - and the luck. Let’s not make this out to be more than what it is. To accept accolades of musical genius when you’re clearly not, come on. For somebody to come to me and tell me you are the best vocalist in the world and for me to stand up on that soapbox with them and say ‘ya damn right’ it would be a lie. Because I am not the best vocalist on the face of this earth and there’s only one person that I know who I would even begin to give that credit to and that’s my very good friend Bilal.” She credits him to being the best vocalist of our generation. “That boy is ridiculous with the things that he can do with his voice. I wouldn’t even allow myself to be given that accolade. I would say thank you, I appreciate it but give it to that boy because that boy can blow.”

Not a huge fan of music on the radio today, she listens to Bay Area artist Ledisi, and her friends Bilal and Jill Scott. ”I can listen to the radio but It’s not worth it. I don’t want to be influenced by that shit - I don’t want to write a song that was inspired by Ludacris’ "Make Love to Me." It’s a great song for the club but people don’t make records for life they make records for the moment. Who’s going to come back and do a Nelly cover 20 years from now as a standard? Who’s going to remake any Destiny’s Child record? Who? We are not making music for a lifetime.”

Most of the records Jaguar Wright listens to were made before 1979. “You can tell the degeneration of the world by the state of music. There is less instrumentation, there is less heart, and there is less feelings and thought into the lyrics and the arrangement. We are one step away from savage. In a hot second it’s just gonna be a pick and snare with a loud speaker and everybody fucking. Seriously, we are one step away from sex line dancing…uhhhh put your leg up….uhhhh do ya want it? Uhhh put it in…..uhhh …can ya feel it? uhhh We’re practically there. It’s pathetic and I don’t have time to clutter my brain, I’m way too intelligent to listen to that stuff. Before [MCA] folded they gave me another deal, and promised to do everything that they didn’t do but they asked me to do a more radio friendly album…. to not be so ME. So I said 'you know what, I can’t do the little skinny butt naked chick thing - I’m not one of them chicks but what I will do,' I told them, 'I will find a way to give you what you want without loosing ME. I will compromise. As long as y'all know on the 3rd record its gonna be ME,” says Wright.

With rumors of her next album being more commercial she says “I wouldn’t call it commercial because I’m not really a commercial person. It's more commercial relatable. Because It’s a little easier, it’s not as brash. But now that I’m not on that label I’m gonna take the good songs from it and take ME and throw ME all through it. No matter what I release it will always be a theme. I’m a storyteller, that’s what I do,” says Wright.

Previously called And Your Point Is? under MCA, when reworked under Artemis it will be simply titled It’s Me Again. “Because it is me again, it’s me all over again starting from ground zero…I might as well be back to 2002.” With her album dropping 1st quarter 2005 this extremely talented, confident and intelligent young lady will have no problem re-entering the game. “I always knew I was somebody. And nothing can keep me from what I want.” Preach!

- [ SC ] -