Teairra Mari: for Jay-Z's newest find, the sky's the limit

At just 17 years old, singer Teairra Mari already knows something that most women don't figure out until adulthood: "Boys don't know how to talk to a woman," she says. Mari's sexy, instructional ditty "Make Her Feel Good," off her forthcoming debut, arrives just in time then, since most of the boys in her hometown of Detroit are just wrapping up the school year and will soon be cruising the Belle Isle strip.

As newly minted Def Jam president Jay-Z's first big development project for the label, Mari, who describes her music as a "catchy, sleek, and feminine" mix of hip-hop and R&B, has already become the subject of much industry hoopla. The singer, however, is intent on launching her career from Detroit, home to gator shoes and Eminem. "I'm comfortable here," says Mad, who once worked as a waitress in a soul-food cafe on 8 Mile Road. "Everyone has their own swagger."

Malcolm Venable is a New York-based writer.

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