Jhené Aiko Efuru Chilombo (born March 16, 1988) is an American singer and songwriter, who embarked on her music career contributing vocals and appearing in several music videos for R&B group B2K. At the time, she was known as B2K member Lil’ Fizz’s “cousin”, though she is not actually related to him. It was used as a marketing tool, suggested by Sony and Epic Records to promote Aiko through group and cultivate her own following. In 2003, Aiko was set to release her debut album, My Name Is Jhené, through her labels Sony, The Ultimate Group and Epic; however, the album was never released, with Aiko eventually asking to be released from the label in order to continue her education.
