

In 2016, Jhene Aiko and Big Sean made their relationship public after the singer's a very public split from her ex-husband Dot da Genius. Only a week after finalizing her divorce, Jhene posted an image of her latest tattoo featuring her new boo and prompted an immediate response from the internet world. Rumors of the couple's relationship began swirling two years earlier after a photo was posted of the two at a basketball game. Jhene explained that she met the Finally Famous rapper around the time of her brother's death in 2012, but their relationship had not always been romantic.
According to Jhene, they were just friends at the time, but nevertheless, Big Sean shot his shot. She explained to BBC Radio 1Xtra:
"He wanted to take me out on a date. I had a boyfriend, but I still went…just as a friend. I had never been courtside to a game and he's cool. I told my boyfriend 'I'm gonna go to this game.' He wanted to take me out on a date. I had a boyfriend, but I still went…just as a friend. I had never been courtside to a game and he's cool. I told my boyfriend 'I'm gonna go to this game.'"
Later, when Jhene was single and ready to mingle, Big Sean was dating Naya Rivera and the singer assumed she had missed her opportunity. It wasn't until breaking off his engagement with Naya that the two finally got their timing right and finally got the opportunity to give their relationship a shot.
Despite cheating rumors, divorce drama, and maintaining chaotic careers, the couple was seemingly very deeply in love; that is, until earlier this year when it was rumored that the two decided to end their relationship after three years. Jhene finally confirmed the alleged breakup in great detail in her latest freestyle, "Triggered", which had Black Twitter in shambles.
The couple previously alluded to their split via social media but have been tight-lipped about whether or not the rumors were true. Last month, after the death of rap superstar and entrepreneur, Nipsey Hussle, Jhene wrote this on Big Sean's Instagram page:
"You are so special. To me. To the world. While we're both still on this planet I just want to say I love you beyond measure. Even tho I get big mad and u trigger the f*ck out of me. U make me feel. And I appreciate that. Because I thought I was dead inside. My ego has no say when it comes to you. And my heart has been broken a thousand times just to expand. It always finds room for you. I love you from this life to the next and all the other lives we've known each other before. Imma always talk my shit. But Imma always have ur back."
Despite their breakup, both Jhene and Big Sean have remained amicable; but some might say that perception changed after dropping her latest single. According to Jhene, the song, which apparently some fans interpreted as a diss, was a way for her to grieve her relationship in a healthy way. She wrote on Twitter:
"Triggered is NOT a diss song. it is a moment of talking shit out of frustration and passion. It was a moment of exaggerated expression when I was feeling lost and weak. no one is to be blamed or bashed for how I was feeling in that moment. I am in control of my feelings."
In the song, Jhene opens up about the healing process (or lack thereof) that takes place after ending a relationship you thought would last forever. She explained that it was important for her to put her feelings on paper before she could really move forward.
"'Triggered' was a moment. a moment that for me has passed. it is new to you because ur just now hearing it, but for me... it's something I moved on from the moment I expressed it."
When someone says the word "grieve" you may automatically think of a candlelight vigil and funeral, but the truth is, we all grieve different things in different ways. When we were little, saying goodbye to an old relationship meant mustering up the courage to flush your goldfish down the toilet, but as adults and that goldfish is now the man you thought you'd spend your life with, the process becomes much more difficult. The 29-year-old singer revealed that the key to her healing was investing the negative emotions she might have felt at the time into art.
"This is how I paint. this is me yelling and throwing paint at a canvas... then going out into the world feeling less tension, more open... more loving. going to bed feeling less stressed, more optimistic."
Jhene also explained that creating art is one of the most reliable forms of self-care. It's true that energy can't be created or destroyed, but you have full autonomy over your emotions and how they feed your vibe. Having true emotional intelligence is a superpower and knowing how to shift your mood regardless of how you feel can prevent you from making some regrettable decisions. Jhene explained that writing the song was a way for her to walk in her own truth as well as break some old bad habits.
"One night I was so deep in my feelings, I was afraid of what I might do. I didn't want to revert to the same bad habits that have set me back time and time again. I realized that instead of running away from my emotions…I needed to sit with them, express myself and say whatever came to mind. It was healing to say the least…and now I feel a bit more free."
So take it from Jhene, the next time you're on your Waiting To Exhale sh*t ready to bring the noise with some matches, gasoline, and a cigarette, try writing a dope freestyle instead.
Check out Jhene's full video for "Triggered" below!
Jhené Aiko - Triggered (freestyle)www.youtube.com
Featured image by Tinseltown / Shutterstock.com
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Taylor "Pretty" Honore is a spiritually centered and equally provocative rapper from Baton Rouge, Louisiana with a love for people and storytelling. You can probably find me planting herbs in your local community garden, blasting "Back That Thang Up" from my mini speaker. Let's get to know each other: @prettyhonore.
Eva Marcille On Starring In 'Jason’s Lyric Live' & Being An Audacious Black Woman
Eva Marcille has taken her talents to the stage. The model-turned-actress is starring in her first play, Jason’s Lyric Live alongside Allen Payne, K. Michelle, Treach, and others.
The play, produced by Je’Caryous Johnson, is an adaptation of the film, which starred Allen Payne as Jason and Jada Pinkett Smith as Lyric. Allen reprised his role as Jason for the play and Eva plays Lyric.
While speaking to xoNecole, Eva shares that she’s a lot like the beloved 1994 character in many ways. “Lyric is so me. She's the odd flower. A flower nonetheless, but definitely not a peony,” she tells us.
“She's not the average flower you see presented, and so she reminds me of myself. I'm a sunflower, beautiful, but different. And what I loved about her character then, and even more so now, is that she was very sure of herself.
"Sure of what she wanted in life and okay to sacrifice her moments right now, to get what she knew she deserved later. And that is me. I'm not an instant gratification kind of a person. I am a long game. I'm not a sprinter, I'm a marathon.
America first fell in love with Eva when she graced our screens on cycle 3 of America’s Next Top Model in 2004, which she emerged as the winner. Since then, she's ventured into different avenues, from acting on various TV series like House of Payne to starring on Real Housewives of Atlanta.
Je-Caryous Johnson Entertainment
Eva praises her castmates and the play’s producer, Je’Caryous for her positive experience. “You know what? Je’Caryous fuels my audacity car daily, ‘cause I consider myself an extremely audacious woman, and I believe in what I know, even if no one else knows it, because God gave it to me. So I know what I know. That is who Je’Caryous is.”
But the mom of three isn’t the only one in the family who enjoys acting. Eva reveals her daughter Marley has also caught the acting bug.
“It is the most adorable thing you can ever see. She’s got a part in her school play. She's in her chorus, and she loves it,” she says. “I don't know if she loves it, because it's like, mommy does it, so maybe I should do it, but there is something about her.”
Overall, Eva hopes that her contribution to the role and the play as a whole serves as motivation for others to reach for the stars.
“I want them to walk out with hope. I want them to re-vision their dreams. Whatever they were. Whatever they are. To re-see them and then have that thing inside of them say, ‘You know what? I'm going to do that. Whatever dream you put on the back burner, go pick it up.
"Whatever dream you've accomplished, make a new dream, but continue to reach for the stars. Continue to reach for what is beyond what people say we can do, especially as [a] Black collective but especially as Black women. When it comes to us and who we are and what we accept and what we're worth, it's not about having seen it before. It's about knowing that I deserve it.”
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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Tracee Ellis Ross Is Still Living A 'Robust' Life Despite Sometimes Grieving Not Being Partnered
Tracee Ellis Ross sat down with former first lady Michelle Obama and her brother Craig Robinson for their IMO podcast to have a candid discussion about dating, marriage, and family. At 52, the beloved actress is single, but is still open to finding her person. However, she realizes that she has to navigate dating differently, describing herself as a "unicorn."
“I’m a very unique sort of unicorn of a woman, so it's gonna take a unique person,” she explained. "And in the meantime, I've really learned how to live my life and enjoy it and not sit around waiting."
Calling herself a "choiceful woman," she has had to push against culture norms and found that many of her experiences with men around her age were challenging due to the toxic masculinity they had been raised in. Many of their views about relationships conflicts with how she lives her life, so she tends to date younger.
“It's not just that I'm older. I’m also very embodied. I am a full, very whole person who knows myself, who is in charge of my life and who lives a very full, just robust life," she said.
Regardless if they're younger or older, Tracee has made it clear that she isn't settling and won't be in a relationship for the sake of having a partner. Even when loneliness creeps.
“As much as grief does surface for me around not having children and not having a partner, I still wouldn’t want the wrong partner. At all, I’m not interested in that. You have to make my life better, it can’t just be ‘I’m in a relationship just to be in a relationship,” she said.
Fans have watched pieces of Tracee's life played out on social media and TV. Just one look at her Instagram, you see that the black-ish star lives her life to fullest and it's filled with fashion, family, and all-round fabulousness.
"Even though the grief does emerge, and that comes, and I hold that, I think of what I’ve done. I think I woke up every morning trying to do my best. I didn’t wake up one morning and be like I’m gonna mess this day up. So I must be where I’m supposed to be.”
She added, “And sometimes I think of all of the things I’ve done—the courage that I’ve had to have, what I had to learn to how to navigate as a single person with no one to hide behind. It's built a really beautiful experience around me and I have incredible friends."
The Black Mirror actress has spoken about dating before and has always stated that she doesn't allow singleness stop her from living her best life.
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