Sunday Diva/Three From The Hip: Millie Jackson

Sunday Diva/Three From The Hip

Millie Jackson

In my own personal big gay church there is a wing dedicated to those who are one of a kind divas; individuals who have remained just that - an individual, no matter their circumstances. Maybe they never set the entire world on fire... but they did start one. And it burned long and bright, blazing a trail unlike any other...

One such blistering soul?

Millie Jackson

The first female rapper. Often called the "mother of hip-hop,"

Born the daughter of a sharecropper, her singing career was the result of a dare and a $5 bet. She and a group of friends were attending a talent competition and Millie began badmouthing one of the singers. One of her friends wanted to know if Millie thought she could do any better... and she did!

She opened up her mouth and won that damn contest.

Next thing she knew, she was singing for her supper. And when people in those supper clubs and lounges would start talking to each other, turning their attention away from her performance? She wanted to be part of that conversation. She started talking to them in order to keep their focus on her. It became her 'thing'. It became the key to what made Millie Jackson click. 

Yes, Millie doesn’t just sing, child... she tells you a story.

And what a story. She brought her truth. And that of the women she grew up with. And the women watching the clothes go 'round at the laundromat. And the women who knew their man was up to no good. She shared it all... explicitly.

When she sang? The comparisons came quick. Why she sounds just like Gladys Knight. So to differentiate? She started rapping. Then, when Gladys started to add spoken word to her songs, Millie took it one step further; she started cussing and cursing - using words she knew Gladys, who she loved, wouldn't dare.

Through the years, she found her groove, though it would move through many genres - R&B, Pop, Soul, Country, Hip Hop, and Rock 'n Roll. 

It's the latter that started her rather-one-sided beef with Miss Tina Turner. Millie wanted her to know that she, too, sang Rock 'n Roll. She even wrote a number about Ike and Tina's relationship. Maybe that's why, much later down the road, Tina scooped Millie on a potential single. Millie was all set to release it, but... Tina got there first! That's okay... when Elton John came looking for a duet partner for Act Of War, Tina said no, but Millie said yes.

Through it all - 28 albums in all - she wrote most of her own stuff and was self-managed. That's right. Self-managed. Oh, pity the fool who would try to tell this Ms. Jackson what to do. 

In 2001, she retired from recording. Since then, she's had a radio show. And a musical based on her concept album about younger men running with older woman - which toured for four years. And the lady still hits the stage when the spirit moves her.

No, there's no slowing this diva down. Not while there are stories to tell...

The gospel according to her?

Well, here are three from the hip, dropping from her lips.

The topic? Infidelity

"I guess the reason I sing about certain thing is because I’m outspoken. There are some things that have to be said and it seems like I’m the only woman saying them right now. In fact, a lot of times people don’t compare me with other female singers but with my male counterparts! I guess I ought to regard that as a compliment!"

 

"Infidelity? Oh, boy. You just went down my whole album. In fact, my whole repertoire. Do you decide whether or not you want to talk about a certain part of an infidelity? Is it a man? Is it a woman? Is it both of them? Or do you want to go and start talking about what infidelity calls to life, or how it ruins a relationship, and not pertaining to anybody in particular. But, see, just like that you can write 25 songs on infidelity."

"We knew we were onto something (after If Loving You Is Wrong.) Then somebody in the studio asked ‘what now?’ And I said, ‘we finish the story. We’ve heard from the girlfriend, but what about the wife?"

"These were conversations that women had with each other at the laundromat. You didn’t hear them on records. You especially didn’t hear them on the radio."

"Men did not want my records in their house. They wouldn’t come to see me live. Because I spoke truth to women, I got a reputation for being rough on men."

"Well, if you listen to Caught Up... see, first of all, it's like a story. One side of the entire album is about the girl going with the married man. But the second side of the album, I thought the wife should have her say. So it's from the side of the wife and what she thinks about being cheated on. Her confrontation with the girlfriend. You know, 'All you're gettin' is my leftovers, digging out of love I done picked over. You oughta leave my man alone, find one of your own.'"

"When I write a story like that, I like to balance it out so people on both sides can see what's going on. That's why I did the wife and the girlfriend. And when I do my live performances, the women were always my biggest fans, but now I do both. I talk about the women, and then I go and I talk about the men, which the women expect me to do, but then I'll talk about the men and the women, so it can be balanced out that way. Try to keep it on an even keel."

Hurts So Good - Millie Jackson

Slow Tongue - Millie Jackson

Young Man, Older Woman - Millie Jackson and Reynaldo Rey

And one last parting shot...

"If you listen to Millie Jackson on the radio, you ain’t gonna hear nothing but Back in Love By Monday, Hurts So Good, and If Loving You is Wrong. Like I haven’t made any more songs, I’ve got thirtysomething albums, only got three songs to be played!"

"I didn’t sell record to bougies. It was the poor people who bought my music. The women who bought Diana Ross did not buy Millie Jackson. The people in the projects understood me. I was down and dirty. I told you like it was."