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What happens when two soul mavens sit down for a candid one-on-one? It becomes an artistic revolution that rocks the music world. When Jill Scott had some serious grown woman talk with Def Jam's vocal powerhouse Chrisette Michele it was a heavenly meeting of two kindred and soulful spirits. Scott caught up with Michele for ESSENCE.com to discuss going against the grain musically, what it means to be a voluptuous woman in the biz, and what promise Michele made to herself.

JILL SCOTT: It's such a pleasure to talk to you. I'm really sorry we haven't met.
CHRISETTE MICHELE: Yeah, me too I've seen you live a couple of times so we've sort of met in my head. (Laughs.)

SCOTT: In 2007, your first CD received incredible reviews. Your voice is gorgeous. Has it been all you hoped for becoming a recording artist?
MICHELE: Thank you. I tell people this story all the time because it's kind of funny. I got signed with an afro and a Bob Marley track jacket on. At that moment I said to LA Reid, "You're sure?" He was like, "Yeah, this is going to be great1" and I was like, "Okay! Let's go for the ride." So I'm not really sure what my expectations were as far as thinking what people think somebody's expectations might have been getting signed. It was more like, this is going to be fun, let's see what happens. And it's been a really, really fun, fun ride. Meeting all the wonderful, new people and people appreciating my new music has been really, fun and blessed ride.

SCOTT: Do you think you were prepared?
MICHELE: I think everything that happens in life we're prepared for in ways we really don't really know. But, I don't know if I was prepared for, what was ahead because I was so, so honest and myself with everything I did. I wrote everything that everybody heard, so it wasn't a kind of thing where I had a chance to say, "What are people going to think about this?" Because it was all from the bottom of my heart, it was all from me, so I just put myself out there. So, that was kind of like a scary journey, being so vulnerable, because I was so honest from the very beginning.