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Jaguar Wright, Jaguar Wright Denials Delusions Decisions

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Title: Denials Delusions and Decisions
Release date: 29 January, 2002
Record label: MCA
Single:
Official website: Jaguar Wright
Wikipedia: Jaguar Wright

Tracklisting

1. The What If's
2. Country Song
3. Stay
4. Love Need And Want You
5. Same Sh*t Different Day
6. Ain't Nobody Playin'
7. I Can't Wait
8. I Don't Know
9. 2 Too Many
10. Lineage
11. Self Love
12. Same Sh*t Different Day Pt. 2

Jaguar Wright - Denials Delusions and Decisions

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It's all about the live performance for Jaguar Wright, the newest artist from The Roots' Motive Records imprint. Part Ella, part Millie, and all uniquely soulful, her voice and her performance are both unforgettable. Picture this: she takes the stage, her shirt reads "Kick Azz" embroidered in gold. As she starts to scat, her voice reminds you of Ella Fitzgerald. In the front row, die-hard fans cluster to absorb the ruckus and joy that comes with every Jaguar performance.

In a few minutes Jaguar has almost cried over her cheating lover and now is pantomiming her revenge, her voice bellowing like the best of church singers as she rages on. "Singing is healing for me. It gives me a sense of myself, a feeling of order. My life makes sense when I sing," says Jag as she herself, explains the heart of her performances.

Jaguar grew up in a religiously devout household where her father sang in church, weddings, and other social functions, providing inspiration for her to cultivate her own musical talent. But she and her siblings were also left thirsting for a chance to listen to the sounds of artists like Minnie Ripperton and Marvin Gaye since they were not allowed to listen to the radio. "I used to love block parties because I could sit there and listen to Earth, Wind and Fire all day. Otherwise, most of the time I had to keep the radio off," says Jag who only got to listen to the radio when she and her siblings would sneak midnight listening sessions in their backyard or garage or on the rare occasions when their parents were not at home. " As soon as I'd see the front fender of [her parent's car], we would jam to the last eight bars of music and they'd come in there and we would be sitting down. We were good," she exclaims. Her father was so strict, he once threw a notebook of her rhymes into the fireplace, for it was through rapping that Jaguar found her first performance outlet. As a skillful and unique singer, Jaguar has come a long way from rapping and jumping rope with her first group, Philly Blunts, which performed together for 4 years. She credits her experience as a rapper for playing a strong role in her improvisational, unpredictable, and audience-centered performance. "Singing and rapping feed off each other. Singing allowed me to bring that rapping element back into play, in terms of lyrics," she says.

When Philly Blunts disbanded, Jaguar retreated to studios in New Jersey, New York, and Philadelphia to hone her singing talents. During that time she was singing hooks for local artists, covering songs, and working on her own material. She was set up with a performance at Black Lily, a female open mic founded by the Jazzyfatnastees and Motive Records. Black Lily provided an early performance arena for the likes of Jill Scott and India Arie, and at her debut, Jaguar stunned the crowd and became a permanent performer with the show. Soon after, she became a part of the Roots family collective and debuted her vocal virtuosity on The Roots' hits, "What You Want" from The Best Man soundtrack and "The Lesson Part III" from The Roots Come Alive. Her thrilling stage performance also won her a spot on the national Okayplayer Tour.

With the word getting around about this new "must-hear, must-see" singer, Jaguar's album is a highly anticipated release. Jaguar is confident her debut will live up to her electrifying live performance. With songs that speak from her family's trials to capricious love affairs, Jaguar likens herself to a modern day Etta James. Most of all, Jaguar wants her album to affect people
positively. "I hope it will change somebody's life or at least soothe or comfort somebody-which is why I wrote an album full of real songs about real situations," she says. "The whole album is about my life situations that I have lived and seen," says Jag who duets with Bilal in an erotic get-down about a forbidden love affair on the ultra mellow "I Can't Wait," and with the help of Black Thought, puts a jealous ex-friend in her place on "Ain't Nobody Playin'." But it is on the empowering song, "Self Love, Self Preservation," that the message from lessons lived and learned truly comes through in the delivery of the powerful lyrics: "Love yourself, believe in yourself, be true to yourself, be you for yourself. Do you;" which she sings like they are the most important words she will ever belt out. All of the songs on the album, aptly titled Denials, Delusions, and Decisions, speak to some issue or situation that has helped make Jaguar both the artist and woman that she is.

Denials, Delusions and Decisions boasts production from some of R&B's top producers and musicians, who provide the perfect musical mosaic for Jag's vocal prowess and adept storytelling. Jag's production team includes James Poyser (Erykah Badu's Mama's Gun) Scott Storch (Dr. Dre , Snoop Dogg, Christina Aguilera, and The Roots) and the musical visionary Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson of The Roots, who has worked with the likes of D'Angelo, Bobby Womack, and Femi Kuti.

"It was important to me to have an album that was completely me, which is why I wrote and co-arranged my whole album. Jaguar as an artist is the purest part of me. I want to uplift people the way music has for me. I want people to put on my music and be touched by it." She has no doubts about where the real credit for her talent is due. "I honestly believe that God gave me this voice and right now I'm just warming up." Already having been featured in Vibe, The Source, Essence and Newsweek as an artist to look out for, Jaguar is poised to ignite today's musical landscape.

REVIEW

JAGUAR WRIGHT
Denials...Delusions...And Decisions...

By Nici Voss

There is no denying the talent of Jaguar Wright. The newest artist from The Roots' Motive Records/MCA proves to be strong and soulful on her debut album.

"Denials...Delusions...And Decisions" (drops January 29th) plays as a lyrical storybook of Jag's life, from an illicit love affair in "I can't wait" to brazen out an ex-girlfriend in "Ain't Nobody Playing." Her first album is full of addictive melodies and lyrics that make audiences through up their hands as if to say, "We understand." Jag, as called by friends and fans, has been hailed as a combination of Millie Jackson, Mary J. Blige, Ella Fitzgerald, and even a little Marvin Gaye. She has toured with The Roots, Maxwell, Steve Harvey, and sang backup for Jay-Z on MTV's Unplugged, and her debut album features Bilal, The Roots' Black Thought, and ?uestlove.

Jaguar Wright doesn't holdout! Her lyrics are as strong as her voice is gifted. From track to track, her vocals range from soft and smooth to strong and stern, and the album's twelve songs prove she's a lot lady, a little gangsta, and all talent. A Philadelphia native, Jaguar Wright is rising from the same launching pad as Jill Scott and India.Arie. She started vocal and piano training at six years old, but her religiously devout parents sheltered her love affair for music. At one point Jag's father threw her lyrics in the fire; but with the upcoming release of her first album her family stands behind her and her music...so will her fans. Denials...Delusions...And Decisions is an album full of soul and emotion worth listening to over and over again.

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