A lot of unnecessary discourse was trending around the web about the hairdo musical stylist Jill Scott is rockin’ for the October issue of Essence Magazine.  Or, so I thought.  There may actually be more to the story.  I just happened to be in a certain store today.  When I saw the Essence cover, I must admit that how Jill’s hair was coiffed never even crossed my mind.  I hardly noticed her hair at all.  Frankly, I assumed it was pulled back in a pony.  This is the cover you may see on the web:

Which "Black is Beautiful"? This one?

This is the cover you may see at the store:

Or this one?

Having worked at a magazine, I know that sometimes you can get a bad batch of magazines with the wrong tint.  However (always the conspiracy theorist), I’m starting to see clearly now that the darker Essence cover above may not be on display by accident.  As I said, at first glance, I did not notice Jill Scott’s hair at all.  All I noticed was the dusky skin.  Was that part of the plan?  That, I don’t know. 

The dark cover may, in fact, lend credence to initial reports that Essence was splitting hairs with the singer over whether to photograph her with the T.W.A., i.e., a.k.a. the teeny weeny afro.  Jill Scott is currently, of course, refuting via Twitter that Essence wanted her to disown the ‘fro.

Too bad I was unaware that the hairy controversy was underway while I was waiting in the checkout line.  I most certainly would have flipped through several of the magazines to see if they all looked as black as the one above.

The irony of it all is that I made the mistake of asking the cashier if she thought, as I did, that the photo, because of the off color, was a bad one.  “Jill Scott has beautiful skin,” I said, trying to celebrate her skin, “but you can’t tell from this cover.” 

Now whose ‘do I did notice was the raggedy-big-wig-wearing girl who made my blood pressure shoot up 50 points when she responded:

“I don’t like her.”

To which, I snapped, “You don’t have to like someone to know whether they look attractive.”  Surprise, surprise, the little wigged witch bowed her head in shame and—after an awkward moment of silence—was extra polite to me after that.

So anyway, all I want to know is does your copy look like the one Essence is floating around the Internet?  Or does it look like the “sinister” twin darkening the stores just in time (like O.J. Simpson) for the “Black is Beautiful” issue?