Lost in the shadow of the neo-soul movement of late, do you know that this young lady might be the one that started it all. Before Erykah, Jill Scott and all the others popping up lately,  Joi had given us a taste of her neo-ism back in the early 90s with tracks like 'Sunshine and the rain ', 'Freedom ' and 'Ghetto Superstar '  but was never accepted in the mainstream medium.

Not one to be phased by this, this 'sexy lady' trooped on and now Joi is a name that you have been hearing a lot of as of late. She was named as the replacement for Dawn Robinson in the group Lucy Pearl (spearheaded by former Tony, Toni, Tone member Raphael Saadiq) last year and now she's just released her 1st single called 'Missing you ' from the forthcoming album 'Star Kitty's Revenge' (on Universal).

Hailing from Nashville Joi (the daughter of the late football great Joe Gilliam) has the baggage of a seasoned veteran behind her with 3 albums already under her belt. This set (her first for Universal) taps into her emotional travels through her experiences in life and pours all of it into one amazing new album.

The lead off single 'Missing you ' is not quite at all what I expected (I was thinking along the lines that it's another typical R&B track much in the same vain as the others occupying the charts nowadays), no actually this one steps away from the norm and dare I say challenges others to follow suit (it's that good). It's thriving bass line leads way to a simple yet plain hook married by the baritone of her soothing sexy voice belting out the lyrics. 

Dallas Austin serves as producer who along with Joi also also penned the song giving merit and texture to the track but yet again it's Joi who's the star here she shines and brings joy to the world once again. Due date on the album is March 19th don't sleep on this one - trust me you'll want it in your collection

Listen to "Missing you" (Courtesy of universalrecords.com)

TD.