Jill Scott, 'Beautifully Human'

As it turned out, the road to security went through the theater. In 1996, Scott became disillusioned with teaching and abandoned that track in her junior year for an apprenticeship at the Walnut Street Theatre.

"I got into theater based off the poetry," Scott says, "because as I performed, there was some acting involved but it didn't feel like it to me. It just felt like the truth was in my body, coming out of my mouth, but it often didn't make sense. I did a fellowship so I could get free acting lessons and, hopefully, a job."

Scott eventually graduated from hanging spotlights to being in one when she auditioned for the Canadian road show of the musical "Rent," earning a six-month contract and an audition for the long-running Broadway cast. But by then Scott was already plugged into the Roots-led network of Philadelphia poets, artists and musicians, ready to add a score to poems that had suddenly doubled their potential as lyrics.

Scott might have broken a little earlier had she been able to sing the hook on the Roots' "You Got Me," but their label opted for a slightly better-known singer, Erykah Badu. The author would reclaim it on tour with the Roots, and on their live album, "The Roots Come Alive."

Truth is, Scott wasn't fully committed to being a singer: When she'd first hooked up with producer-studio-owner Jazzy Jeff Townes, it was to cut a demo for "A Long Walk," a song she'd written about her first date with Lyzel Williams. Scott hoped another of Townes's acts might record it, but his response was immediate: "Okay, you're more than just a writer."

"I didn't really think about it," Scott recalls. "When I came down to A Touch of Jazz [Townes's studio], I just wanted a job. They weren't really jumping up and down to give me one as a writer or a vocalist, so I ended up staining and polyurethaning the lobby because I needed some money. I was broke and my girlfriend's wedding was coming up and I needed a dress! It was very simple."

Scott eventually signed on as the first artist with Hidden Beach, a label begun by former Motown exec Steve McKeever, but started the buzz by co-writing and singing "The Rain" on the "Willennium" album by Jazzy Jeff's old pal, Fresh Prince Will Smith, and also contributing lyrics and vocals to albums by Common and fellow Philadelphian Musiq.

"Who Is Jill Scott?" came out in summer 2000, followed a year later by the two-CD "Experience: Jill Scott 826+," one disc a live album recorded at DAR Constitution Hall, the other featuring some new songs, remixes and poetry. The live recordings showed just how much more confident Scott had become as a singer since her debut.

"Sometimes I see them as two different entities, poetry and what I do as a vocalist," Scott offers. "I'm just hoping that it will expand the horizons and the thoughts of people in general as to what poetry is, about how important storytelling is. Not to make myself sound any more important than the next man, I just enjoy what I do and I enjoy sharing it and I hope it has impact, but if it doesn't, then I'm living my life, I'm digging what I do."

The written element will come to the fore next spring when St. Martin's Press publishes "The Moments, the Minutes, the Hours: The Poetry of Jill Scott."

And though she didn't become a teacher, Scott's appreciation of the college experience is reflected in the recently launched Blues Babe Foundation, named for her grandmother. Based in Philadelphia and seeded by a $100,000 gift from Scott, the foundation will assist 16-to-21-year-old students of color from disadvantaged backgrounds with the financial and mentoring support necessary to ensure undergraduate success. Last spring, the foundation made a $60,000 donation to the graduating class of the Creative Arts High School in Camden, N.J., and for the next three years, students who maintains a 3.2 GPA will receive yearly stipends to be put toward their college education.

Scott's two albums have featured what might be called "Lyzel suites," including such favorites as "A Long Walk" and "He Loves Me (Lyzel in E Flat)." Scott and Williams have been in a long-term relationship that culminated in marriage. In the past, critics have praised Scott's songs for their explorations of the before-and-after possibilities of relationships, celebrations of unions and declarations of independence, and she intends to continue exploring what Al Green once described as "good times and bad, happy and sad."

"With every light, there has to be some darkness," Scott says. "Married life for me is not 100 percent bliss, but it is worth it in my opinion -- the ups, the downs, the highs, the lows, and the lows make the highs just that much higher. I appreciate all of that stuff. I did it, I get it, I want it. Not that I want to be sad, but I do understand how therapeutic having a good cry is sometimes.

"And as a woman I'm learning so much about what that [title] actually means. Once I hit 30 it was, wow, so this is what we're talking about. I realized, for myself anyway, that the feminist movement got all jacked up and it's not as it should be, particularly with women running around saying, 'I don't need a man, I can raise a child on my own' and things of that nature, which in my opinion are not true. It's just not. A girl child or a boy, they need that testosterone as well as the estrogen in order to truly grow, just like flowers need sun and rain. It's very simple and as I'm growing up, I'm learning that. You think, wow, who knew?"

Scott, who addresses the topic in the new song, "Fact Is (I Need You)," apparently also needs the cathartic interactions that define her concert performances.

"I have missed it, definitely, because it's a craving, a hunger. For a while I didn't write any songs because they just didn't come and I didn't force the issue. It's the same with performing. For a while, I was okay with just being Jill, [my mom's] daughter. Now there is a certain level of hunger, a craving, and I'm excited to get my fix."

JILL SCOTT -- Appearing Friday and Saturday at the 9:30 club. • To hear a free Sound Bite from Jill Scott, call Post-Haste at 301-313-2200 and press 8101. (Prince William residents, call 703-690-4110.)