The minute you tell me that Jill Scott has a new song my eyes widen and a few snippets of my favorite Jill songs speed through my brain. “Shame,” which features Eve — a femcee that we’ve been wanting to hear something new from for a while, premiered on stupiddope.com — one of my favorite sites. As I read into the background on the track, it was described as able to “bring rays of sunshine.” I couldn’t wait to hear it! It started to play and although the corny beat threw me off initially, I decided to give a chance. As the vocals started, I began to allow the disappointment to settle in. “What the hell is this?” I didn’t even let Eve get her verse out before I hit pause and proceeded to close the site saying to myself, “Rays of sunshine my ass…” Everything about “Shame” says “throw away track.”

After that, it seemed like everyone was now buzzing about this song and the behind the scenes footage for the video. We so often see little to no media attention on our best artists so I reluctantly watched the video premiere on essence.com. I was excited to see more of my Philly favorites like Black Thought from The Roots — who appears in a cypher, as well as other Hip-hop elements but that’s about it. The worst part is that I feel awful for hating this song. I love Jill Scott and I look forward to hearing more from her new album The Light of The Sun. I’m hoping “Shame” is not a fair representation of the full project.

watch Jill Scott – “Shame” ft Eve

Leave the whack odes to Hip-hop alone and stick to Soul. Thankfully, the official single for The Light of The Sun will be “So In Love” featuring Anthony Hamilton. Check out the track below. Keep tabs on Jill and her upcoming album at missjillscott.com and on Facebook at facebook.com/missjillscott.