We have not stopped doting on the fact that Jhené Aiko and Big Sean are brilliant at making music. What’s more endearing, however, is their brilliance at making and remaking up. Their relationship is a machine that knows what spoilers to withhold even before the novel is written! Almost all things in empirical life do not qualify as “steady”; nevertheless, some romantic feelings subliminally make the cut! Love can face constrictions and still be a constant.

The story began in a studio, a predictable place, which in any case, proceeded to prefigure a hit-and-miss almanac. Jhené spun on to attribute credit for their happiness to a firm platonic foundation, in a 2017 Billboard interview. Oh there’s more- she called him “family”! A relationship with a man who was technically taken was painfully what held them back initially. Thing is, Jhené’s overripe breakup could not quite do the needful, as Naya, and then, Ariana, surfaced notably. When the opportunity came plain as a pikestaff, the two did not waste it. From there, things started to get serious, rad, racy, and what have you. Although we can’t prophesy, we can chronologize the so-far… and chronologize we shall…

Twenty88 is formally described as a hip hop duo and informally described as, well, Jhené Aiko and Big Sean. It’s beyond a career “faction”- it’s an appellation of their journey. In other words, it all dates back to Twenty88 (pun intended!). The duo’s album-namesake became publicly available in April 2016, to the excitement of every prospect- connoisseur or novice. As foreshadows would have it, the album centered on relationships, turning a music industry cliché into a serviceable tool.

Twenty88 was quite the season, actually. Early on would have been perfect timing, but complexly, a marriage- not a mere relationship- interfered with it. It didn’t stop the tour kiss though. Big Sean had minced his words in admitting his love for her, but the kiss told us way more. This was by no means 100%, as shippers were still in their control rooms, hankering for solid news.

Jhené’s divorce was the first separation from a third party that didn’t meet an obstruction. The match made in heaven evolved into a match made in NBA games, award shows, Coachella… in summary, earth! The two had started giving in to their feelings light years before the divorce was finalized. It was far from a small miracle when tattoo parlor bells started chiming. She tattooed his face on her arm, to the delight of fans, who thenceforth ceased to be stark shippers.

The tattoo move was a sonnet, ode; name it… but Jhené’s remark a month before, was a newborn genre! “He’s L-O-M-L”, she said in the interview. Enthrallingly, the initialism was bound to expose withheld details: a shortening complex is often a shoutout to your obsessions. This one obsession did encounter a setback though, as she had her tattoo remodeled into astrolatry?? People feared it foreran bad news, and in March 2019, the judicious fans turned out to be regrettably right.

Big and Jhené did not hesitate to come out with their feelings- even after a breakup! In an IG comment, Jhené touchingly proclaimed her love for Big Sean, using outrightly Titanic expressions. Big Sean reciprocated the display in an appreciative tweet, acknowledging her support toward “Single Again”. “I love you unconditionally”- those were his timely words- the breakup was the very “condition” that justified the adverb. Speaking of “Single Again”, the ex-lovers clearly used music as a coping mechanism- and as a carrier pigeon! Jhené cleared up Sean-based misconceptions about her song “Triggered”; meanwhile, "Single Again" was more of the proxy bond.

The “single” in “Single Again” was very philosophical, as Sean’s twitter thread had hinted at. It however did not hide the fact that their split was not on the grounds of a feelings-decline. This personal song doubled as a diplomatic song, given it got us out of the dark substantially. Not mentioning Jhené Aiko’s background vocals, the very sauce in the narrative, would be a serious omission. In the main, the two were superb at transmuting their feelings into positive energy. As far as the breakup postpartum was concerned, they handled it, killed it, and slayed in it!

"None of Your Concern” was the first signal that the post-split phase had started to get libidinous. The song afforded Big Sean the platform to reminisce about making “someone” climax nine times in one day. Fans had then become “shippers on resumption”. The points where you couldn’t totally discard the dating rumors were quite numerous. Lunch date, birthday date, amorous pictures… there was hardly any dating vocabulary you couldn’t use for their look-sees. It kept getting more piquant, as Valentine’s Day wriggled its way into that lexicon as well!

Back to the IG dashboard, Big Sean congrats-babyed her on the release of Chilombo. On her birthday, he reiterated this in a caption: “always proud but never surprised”. He went further to tap into her Titanic vibe: “I love you from da past life to the next”. Not even the pandemic could halve their distance! The same lockdown was very much in effect when Sean and Jhené jocosely alluded to a marriage proposal. Their eternal play date, of course, spilled over to 2022. Jhené marked Sean’s birthday with pictures from their relationship and a chevalier-conferring caption. The season was a merry-go-round, but as it would turn out, the longer route takes you there too!

By the second half of 2022, Big Sean couldn’t wait to be a dad, and he was, in fact, going to be one! IG sentiments seemed to tell it all, until Sean took his soon-to-be-expanded ménage to his hometown. The audience gave a hysterical roar after an LA performance, when the two revealed they were expecting a boy. All the more, the couple consolidated the global ambience with a Halloween tribute to Juno, a 2007 film. Strategically enough, the film was about a pregnant teenager- Jhené is a genius! - or whoever came up with the idea.

In November at last, Noah Hasani departed planet womb. Sean was thrilled to meet his first child (Jhené’s second). He relished his joy by posting a picture of Noah’s fingers wrapped around his in the most adorable way. What better compensation for the miscarriage he disclosed in “Deep Reverence”? Perhaps, we’re free to expect references to this great leap in the forthcoming Twenty88 sequel.

December last year, something caught our eyes yet again. Big Sean flashed a ring in the studio, in the course of marriage-suggestive lines. Curious fans, as usual, had a lot to deduce from this. Indeed, guesses can score some points, but only the actual couple can “know” well enough. It’s certain to all regardless, that they understand their bond on a higher level. Only two months ago, they were singing “I Know” to the newest Twenty88ian. Parenting takes a lot of falsetto, and fortunately, that’s right up their alley!

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