Sail Out

Sail Out is the debut extended play (EP) by American recording artist Jhené Aiko, released on November 12, 2013, through Def Jam Recordings. It will be Aiko's first release under the label after leaving her contract with Sony Music Entertainment in 2003. After leaving Sony Records, Aiko released her first mixtape Sailing Soul(s) (2011), independently; the mixtape featured appearances from well-known artists and was met with generally positive reviews. In 2012, Aiko met with American record producer and vice president of A&R at Def Jam, No I.D., who signed Aiko to his Artium Records imprint, through Def Jam.

The writing, recording and producing of the EP began shortly after Aiko was signed to Def Jam in 2012. Most of the album was written by Aiko herself and features production from No I.D. and Fisticuffs, the latter of whom is responsible for producing the majority of Aiko's debut mixtape Sailing Soul(s) (2011). The album features guest appearances from several rappers, such as Kendrick Lamar, Ab-Soul, Childish Gambino and Vince Staples.

Aiko released the track "3:16 AM", for digital download on the iTunes Store on September 4, 2012. The song was released as the first single from Sail Out". Bed Peace" featuring Childish Gambino was released as the album's lead single on September 17, 2013. The single's artwork And music video was inspired by John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Bed-Ins for Peace protest against the Vietnam War. On January 14, 2014, "The Worst" was serviced to rhythmic contemporary radio in the United States as the album's third single, and peaked at #43 in April, 2014 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Background
In 2003, Aiko released a video for her debut single "NO L.O.V.E", when she was 15 years old. Aiko was set to release her debut album, then-titled My Name Is Jhené, however the album was never released due to tension at the record label Epic, which ultimately led to Aiko asking to be released from the label. She then began to focus on school and continue her education. Following the birth of her daughter, Aiko began to make her return to music in 2008 and began meeting with labels. In 2011, she released her debut mixtape Sailing Soul(s), which was received well by critics and was certified gold by mixtape-sharing website Datpiff, for downloads of 100,000.

In 2012, Aiko met with No I.D., record producer and vice president of A&R at Def Jam, who ended up signing Aiko to his Artium Records imprint through Def Jam. Aiko spoke on how the meeting came to happen with No I.D. saying "A mutual friend began working with No I.D. He called and said No I.D. wanted to have a meeting with me. He told me he was with Def Jam. The interview was unlike any meeting I had before. He made me feel comfortable. He’s very humble."

Aiko revealed that she has signed to Def Jam via her official Twitter account, the tweet consisted of an image of Jhene Aiko and No I.D. holding a contract. During an interview Aiko spoke on signing to a label saying “It’s a little different now when the label’s involved, everybody has to be on the same page and the same time line.”

Commercial performance
The EP debuted at number eight on the Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 34,000 copies in the United States. As of August 2, 2014, the EP has sold 270,000 copies in the United States.

Aiko released the track "3:16AM", for digital download on the iTunes Store on September 4, 2012. The song was released as the first single from Sail Out. "Bed Peace" featuring Childish Gambino was released as the album's lead single] on September 17, 2013. On January 14, 2014, "The Worst" was serviced to rhythmic contemporary radio in the United States as the album's third single. On May 2, 2014 "The Worst" rose from three to one on the airplay Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop, in doing so she became the first female artist to top the chart as a lead with a debut single since Jazmine Sullivan reached the same feat with "Need U Bad" in 2008. The Worst also rose forty seven to forty three on the Hot 100. The song peaked on the US Billboard Hot 100 at forty-three, becoming Aiko's first solo release to chart in the region, the song also peaked at number eleven on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.

Music Credits

 * Ab-Soul - Featured Artist
 * Jhene Aiko - Primary Artist
 * Derek "MixedByAli" Ali - Engineer
 * Ron Avant - Keyboards
 * Leesa D. Brunson - A&R
 * Jim Caruana - Engineer, Mixing
 * Childish Gambino - Featured Artist
 * Jhené Chilombo - Art Direction, Composer, Creative Director
 * Tyrone Davis - A&R
 * Doc Allison - Cello
 * Kendrick Lamar Duckworth - Composer
 * Donald Glover - Composer
 * Maximilian Jaeger - Mixing Assistant
 * Jaycen Joshua - Mixing
 * Ryan Kaul - Mixing Assistant
 * Ketrina 'Taz' Askew - Executive Producer
 * Rob Kinelski - Mixing
 * Dave Kutch - Mastering
 * Kendrick Lamar - Featured Artist


 * Chris Le - Cover Design
 * Tai Linzie - Art Producer
 * Michael "Mic West" Lloreda - Keyboards
 * Sam Martin - Mixing Assistant
 * Eric Neuser - Package Production
 * No I.D. - A&R, Executive Producer, Producer
 * Christian Plata - Engineer
 * Noah Preston - A&R
 * Akinah Rahmaan - Marketing
 * Mac Robinson - Composer
 * Donnie Scantz - Engineer
 * Vince Staples - Composer, Featured Artist
 * Herbert Stevens - Composer
 * Michael Thomas - Engineer, Mixing
 * Keith Tucker - A&R
 * Brian Warfield - Composer
 * Dawud West - Package Design
 * Milli Moto - Photography