The truth is, despite the moniker, "Still Ghetto," the young artist's music has matured a great deal in the last year. Although Jaheim successfully blended his throaty style with a straight from the streets vibe with tracks like "Could It Be," his natural singing ability refuses to box him in, despite his own efforts to stay true to urban story telling.
If you've been paying attention, you'll recognize that underneath Jaheim's ghetto bravado lies a talented artist whose voice would flow as well with a jazz quartet as over a Hip-Hop track. Last summer, jazz lovers were treated to "Ride," a bomb combination of Jaheim's gritty lyrical style and Boney James' sensuous sax riffs. The collabo was listeners' first taste of the artist without a Hip-Hop chaser. "When I first heard it [the original Ride track] it sounded programmed," Jaheim explains. "But we knocked it out in 15 minutes and I've grown to love that record like it's my own. Still, I was surprised how much people loved it."
"Still Ghetto" reinforces what "Ride" started, Jaheim's natural talent for adapting his sensuous voice to a variety of styles. "Put That Woman First," has a wonderful, old-school 1960's sound reminiscent of The Drifters. No coincidence there, his grandfather was once a member. "Beauty and Thug," featuring Mary J. Blige goes even further stylistically, featuring a big-band sound that could have been ripped right from the 1920's Harlem Renaissance.
While the lyrical content never strays too far from the ghetto theme, most of the tracks are decidedly un-ghetto like. Outside of the wildly popular single, "Fabulous," the sophomore effort consists primarily of love songs and other mid-tempo anthems of love and dedication including the very touching, "Everywhere I am," a tribute to the artist's mother.
Clearly Jaheim's talent exceeds the restrictive boundaries of R&B/Hip-Hop blends, but he recognizes the importance of weighing his artistic capability against consumer choice and tries to balance the two. "I tried to give it more R&B because everyone was saying I was a rapper," he says candidly. "I wanted to set it straight because I'm a power singer, but I don't like to show off so I won't kick a CD like that, if you catch me live you'll see some different things."
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