"I want people who hear my record to feel the way I feel," says singer-songwriter Jerzee Monet of Love & War, her debut album. "We can all relate to being in love, or out of love, or just plain hurt."
Jerzee has indeed faced all of the above and more. Hers is a tale of soul-searching and hard work rewarded by the realization of dreams and the appearance of superstars: DMX and Eve grace Love & War (due July 2, 2002, on DreamWorks Records).
The third of four children, Jerzee grew up shuttling between her divorced parents. "I never really had what you'd call a happy family," she confides. "My mother and father split up when I was five. My dad moved to Trenton, N.J., and my mom resides in Bordentown, N.J. For some kids this would have been hard to deal with, but I made the best of both worlds: I received the best education in Bordentown, and I learned the best street knowledge in Trenton. Put those together and what do you get? Infinity. I grew up around all races and learned that color doesn't make you - it's what's inside that makes you the person you are."
Jerzee began to discover her vocal powers in the sixth grade, when her music teacher told her he could hear her loud and clear over every group in the choir, from the altos to the first sopranos. He finally told her to stand apart from the chorus and be her own musical category.
After finishing high school, she settled in Trenton and became a hair stylist. "Then one day it hit me," she says. "I started to think, 'What do I want out of life? How do I become what I want to be?'" She didn't really know, but she was certain of one thing: "I knew I could sing by the time I was 12. My cousin was on the phone singing to her boyfriend one day and I chimed in. She stopped when she heard me and told me I could really sing. Right then, I started thinking about what I could do with my talent."
Feeling a general restlessness in Trenton, Jerzee determined, "You can't grow if you stay in the same place all your life." So she moved to Virginia and began working at a hair salon there. Nonetheless, her musical ambitions continued to evolve: "I still wasn't sure how," she says, "but I knew I was going to be a star. I always knew my life was heading in a direction from which there would be no turning back, and I was never afraid to open the door to opportunity."
She was never afraid to express her feelings either. "I always loved to write because it's a way of freely expressing your thoughts," she relates. "No matter what anyone else thinks, your thoughts are your own and no one can take that away from you. They are an expression of you and if nothing else, you have to be yourself. Most people want to see the real you. If you show it to them, they will respect you."
Having relocated to Virginia Beach, Jerzee took a job as a chef at Big Daddy's Northern Style Cuisine, a local restaurant. Then, in 1999, during the Ruff Ryders/Cash Money tour, the entire Ruff Ryders roster of artists and executives stumbled into Jerzee's workplace for dinner.
DMX, the Ryders' marquee artist, asked Jerzee what she was cooking. She remarks: "I don't get star-struck about nothin' and nobody. I knew who he was, but I wasn't tripping. I said, 'Baby, I'm making some Alaskan flounder - you want some?'"
DMX ordered and stood by observing Jerzee as she fixed his plate. Her straightforward demeanor impressed him and he introduced himself. "And I said to him, 'Well, hello there, DMX. I'm Jerzee,'" she recalls. "And he sat right there while I fed the whole crowd and we had a nice talk."
Of course, Jerzee was not about to pass up the opportunity of a lifetime. As the Ruff Ryders were leaving, she ducked out of the restaurant and cornered DMX. "I said, 'I know you hear this all the time, but are you looking for any new artists?' And he said, 'I am always looking for new artists.' So he told me to come by and sing for him."
By the end of the evening, Jerzee had sung for anyone and everyone who'd listen, not wanting to leave anything to chance. She walked away with dozens of phone numbers, including that of Ruff Ryders associate Boondo Calamundo.
Boondo took Jerzee under his wing, urging her to begin recording. She took him up on his offer, moving back to New Jersey and picking up not one, but three jobs to support her creative work (at UPS, The Gap and CVS, where she was a pharmaceutical technician). "I was trying to get a deal, but I couldn't just sit around and wait," she explains. "I've always been a hard worker, and I'm used to having my own. It was very important to stay self-sufficient until everything came through."
Everything came through in the form of a recording contract with DreamWorks Records. Jerzee quickly began fleshing out her debut album, applying her brash performance style to a vivid palette of emotional hues.
The first radio track off Love & War is a remix of "Most High," an exuberant composition featuring DMX. Jerzee's voice sweeps above the subtle guitar riffs and maracas. Darting around the rapper's trademark growls, she lets loose on a litany of sins, from school shootings to parents who curse at their children. Another standout, "Yeah," bears the presence of Eve.
Up-and-coming producer Tyrice Jones, a native of Dayton, Ohio, oversaw the lion's share of Love & War, with additional production courtesy of Jerry Stokes (DMX, Eve, The L.O.X.), Dre Day and Nakia Shine (Rap Hustlaz), and Blaze Billions (Dave Hollister, Ice-T, Vanessa Williams). Buoyed by the expertise of these craftsmen, the album brims with style as well as passion, a clear measure of Jerzee's deep commitment to self-expression.
"I'm truly thankful that my dream has finally come true," she says. "It's due to the Most High and all the people who had faith in me." But it's also due to Jerzee's insistence on looking inward. "I think I've achieved this because I didn't just believe in myself," she concludes. "I really knew myself."
