The newly crowned "Princess Of the Roc," Teairra Marí, wasn't even born when Eric B. and Rakim unleashed "My Melody," the hip-hop classic who's sample is featured in her debut single, "Make Her Feel Good." The 17-year-old Detroit native recalls, "When I heard that track, I was like, 'This is the one, because it's simple but also huge.'"

Teairra Mari's young career began at age 12 when she started recording rough demos in her cousin's basement. Despite scoring a local radio hit with one of those early songs, four years passed before Teairra's demo landed on the desk of Island Def Jam Group Chairman, Antonio 'LA' Reid, who signed the then 16-year-old singer on the spot.   Def Jam recruited the hit-making songwriter, Sean Garrett ("Lose My Breath," "Goodies," "Yeah!") to help translate Teairra's thoughts and emotions into lyrics. "When Sean started writing the lyrics for 'Make Her Feel Good,' it was because of stories I was telling him about my guy friends," explains Teairra, "I was like, 'I'm sick of this guy; he won't call me.' I was sitting right there when Sean was writing the song, and I was just basically telling him about how I deal with guys.

Not only is the song me, it's other girls too. Other girls can relate because I know that's how they feel. Teairra's musical influences and inspirations include Aretha Franklin (her grandmother sang back-up for the Queen of Soul), Prince, Sade, Patti LaBelle and Minnie Ripperton.

In addition to representing a young woman's point of view on life, Teairra Marí is excited about representing for her hometown, Detroit. "There's no other city in America like Detroit. It's just fly, and I love it. Our swagger, the way we dress--everything is so different and laid back, which is how I am.'"     

GMc