The cost was the weight of expectation that followed a debut that sold over a million copies and earned multiple Grammy nominations. A Long Walk and Gettin' In the Way became anthems for women who were tired of being told what love should look like by an industry that did not understand their experiences. Scott wrote about desire, frustration, self-respect, and the mundane details of being a Black woman in America with a clarity that made the political feel deeply personal rather than abstract. Her voice is not polished in the conventional sense -- it cracks, it bends, it takes its time arriving at the note, and that rawness became her trademark in an era of overproduction.

Cross My Mind is the one. That song slows down to a crawl and stays there, trusting the listener to meet her where she is instead of rushing toward a chorus. She released Beautifully Human in 2004, The Real Thing in 2007, and Woman in 2015, each album refusing to repeat the last and finding new territory to explore. She won a Grammy for Best Urban/Alternative Performance, acted in films and television, and proved that a poet who sings does not have to choose between intelligence and accessibility in her work.

The words were always the point of her music, and the arrangements were the vehicle that carried them where they needed to go.