Our girl Jill Scott is living her summer like its golden. In the midst of slaying stages around the country on tour with her fifth studio album Woman, she quietly wed her man Mike Dobson in June.
And (thankfully) she is not keeping her love to herself. At her sold out show at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark she opened up on how her husband holds her down – starting with the clothes on her back. “Shout out to my man for ironing my clothes today. He’s my partner and holds me down,” Scott said with a grin after crooning “The Way.”
Jilly from Philly got real about the reality that almost half of American homes now have a female breadwinner. “Maybe the system is designed that Black women and women make more money than men these days,” she shared. “There’s balance in that. Maybe a man doesn’t make a lot of money. Maybe he can iron a shirt. Maybe he can mow the lawn. Maybe he can get the kids up in the morning and make sure they have their homework together and you have a warm breakfast before work. Maybe when you get home you get broken off properly.” And then she set the stage on fire singing “Can’t Wait.”
Jill Scott’s 20 Best Moments
Loving on our own terms also means not letting others dictate what’s possible, which Scott learned at an early age. “Around 19 I went to a health clinic and was told I would not have kids and that I should have a hysterectomy,” she shared. “Around that same age my mom went to a free clinic and they told her too to get a hysterectomy. So now, all these years later I got married, and you know I did not take that lightly. And he blessed my life with five more children. So I have six kids. I love them so much.” Her love for her expanded family was so big she had to discover a new word for it: Jahraymecofasola. The song closes her latest album.
After doing a sketch where her wild cookie tries to get some before the new guy is properly vetted to freestyling with her box braids, this mom and wife is clear she is still a woman first. And she gave the formula to her glow as she turned the crowd into a choir chanting: “I’m gonna love myself just a little bit more, than the day before.”
Noted.
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Charreah K. Jackson is the Lifestyle & Relationships Editor for ESSENCE and the creator of Bossbride.com.
