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Blend the old-school R&B sound with a quirky hybrid of hip-hop and pop and you get Little Jackie, the creation of genre-defying singer-songwriter Imani Coppola and programmer Adam Pallin.
With a nod to the soulful Motown rhythms of the past and a sneer to many of the social and cultural issues that consume the public today, Coppola has crafted an album of musical sugar and spice, filled with sweet, saccharine-tinged melodies and spicy, bold commentaries. Coppola had an early brush with fame when a demo she cut with Digable Planets producer Michael Mangini during her freshman year at the State University of New York landed her a record deal with Columbia Records.
In 1997 the 19-year-old music composition major's debut record "Chubacabra" earned radio and MTV buzz with the cheeky, Neneh-Cherry-reminiscent lead single "Legend of a Cowgirl" and her dynamic NYC persona was introduced to mainstream America. Little Jackie is Imani's return to center stage.
The Long Island native, who was raised in a musical household by a black mother and white father who were both always playing and performing music, named the project after a mischievous little boy named Jackie who set her family's backyard on fire and fittingly after the Lisa Lisa Cult Jam song "Little Jackie Wants to Be a Star." Coppola met Pallin, a Boston native who grew up listening to hip-hop and the golden oldies' his parents cranked during car rides, through Mangini.
Pallin, who's worked on projects for Tom Jones and "American Idol" finalist Elliot Yamin, programmed and co-wrote the Little Jackie tracks with Mangini (who also produced the tracks), while Coppola wrote the melodies and lyrics, and produced the vocals. With her music, Coppola has created a space where she's free to be herself.
Fitting in has always been a struggle.
"I have a unique take to look at both races," she says.
"The only thing I can really speak for in this life is as a woman."