Los Angeles-bred R&B singer, Jhené Aiko, recently inked a deal with No I.D.’s Artium Records, a label partnership with Def Jam Recordings. Inspired by Tupac and a host of others that made California the place to be, this 24-year-old mom and former T.U.G. princess has been in the studio working on her debut album. In 2011, Jhené released her first official mixtape, entitled Sailing Soul(s), a mixtape she reveals was her shot at the image-driven entertainment industry. AllHipHop.com had a chance to chat with Jhené, and she dishes on her time with the Chris Stokes’ era, B2K, and her latest deal with No I.D.: AllHipHop.com: I need to know how to pronounce your last name. I have no idea. Jhené Aiko: It’s actually my middle name, and it’s Aiko. [I-e-ko]. AllHipHop.com: Awesome. I’ve been trying to pronounce it for like four years now. Jhené Aiko: [laughs] I know! Everybody! They say Echo! I understand what they’re trying to say. AllHipHop.com:Word is on the block that you signed with Def Jam. What’s happening? Jhené Aiko: I signed with No I.D.’s label, Artium, which is a label under Def Jam. I’ve been recording just as much as possible. I write the majority of my music, so I really just like to take my time with the whole process. Just because anything forced just wouldn’t be right. I’m pretty deep into recording. I just need to get the right batch of songs together. AllHipHop.com: How did you two link up? Jhené Aiko: I have a friend that I’ve known for some time, and he’s worked at different labels for a while, interning and everything. Whoever he was working with, he would kind of put me in their ear. He started working with No I.D. His name is Noah Preston, and he just called me and my manager saying, “No I.D. wants to sit down with you and have a meeting.” We kind’ve thought it was about production; we didn’t really know that it was for the whole deal situation. At the time, I was kind of skeptical about doing any deal with any label, but because he’s a creative person, he’s a producer, so he doesn’t have the same attitude as a label executive. He’s really about being creative, and about the art of it. It just felt really good, and it still does. It feels more like a partnership than “This is my boss!” type of thing. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wd9G6-4Sd2Q&w=640&h=480] AllHipHop.com: Why’d you feel hesitant at first? Jhené Aiko: I was signed when I was 12, 13 to Sony/Epic, and it was just not a good experience for me, because I was so young, too. They could tell me how to dress; they were telling me what songs to sing and what image to have, and all that. It wasn’t a pleasurable experience. I just wanted to make sure that this time they know that I know who I am. I’m not a child anymore, so I’m going to have input in all aspects of my career. Really, they have to follow my lead, because I’m not one of those people that’s okay with just doing what people tell me to do, and just go on with whatever they think is right. AllHipHop.com: And I did want to talk about that, too – your younger years, when you first got into the game, Chris Stokes, and that whole era of when people started to first find out about who Jhene was. How did you first link up with Chris Stokes and that whole camp? Jhené Aiko: I’m the youngest of five. My older sisters did a lot of dancing since they were like five. They’ve always been into entertainment. My oldest sister was actually in their first video, in the “Da Munchies” video. AllHipHop.com: Munchies? Oh, Immature! Jhené Aiko: Yeah, she was in Immature’s first video, which was “Da Munchies”. AllHipHop.com: That’s taking it back! Jhené Aiko: Yeah! So, since then Chris approached my mom about working with my sisters, in a group, and they started working in different groups that he had. They were actually signed to MCA when they were real young, in a group called ‘Girl’. My family was around him, I was probably five or six when I first met him. I was always around him, and I was just sing just because my older sisters were singing. I just did the same thing. Whatever they were doing, I would just copy them. One day, he heard me sing and was like, “Okay, well, when you’re old enough, let’s work with you!” I was into school and all that, and I was just like, “Yeah, whatever.” And when he did the deal with B2K, it was like a piggy back deal, like “Okay, well he signed them, I’ll also throw in her!” It was kind of like a thing that I didn’t really have to work for. They didn’t really showcase me or anything. It was that kind of deal. They didn’t really care. It was a good experience. I’m definitely glad that I didn’t pop, because it was totally not me. I wasn’t even an artist yet. I was just a 13-year-old. AllHipHop.com: What did you learn from that situation? Jhené Aiko: I learned what I won’t do in a situation, as far as with the label being able to just control your life. AllHipHop.com: You don’t like that aspect? Jhené Aiko: Not at all. I have an authority problem. Every individual is like you’re own boss, I feel like. Especially with being creative and being an artist, it’s like how can you really call yourself an artist if you are just following directions and being told what to sing and how to dress and really not being you. I was on the “Scream Tour 3”. I hosted it, opened and all of that. That was a really good experience to just get over stage fright and get used to being in front of a lot of people. […]