Though Chrisette Michele began her career in the soul realm, most people were first introduced to her distinctive voice through the hooks of hip-hop giants Jay-Z ('Lost Ones') and Nas (she was all over the album 'Hip Hop Is Dead.')

Before her much anticipated debut dropped on Def Jam this June, the ambitious 24-year-old had been singing, writing and composing and touring with neo-soul royalty like India.Arie and Kem. This self-proclaimed church girl goes Off-Topic with us on home cooking, church stories and what it means to be a Sagittarius.

Why did you go with two first names as your handle?

That's my name. Chrissette Michelle Payne is my full name, so I wanted to be who I am and that was my way of doing so.

Right, you didn't want to use your last name.

No, one day it will change so...

What, your last name? Do you plan to be married?

I'm sure. I hope so! One day.

Well, speaking of...now, what would your deacon father say if you brought Muslim home as your fiancé?

If it made me happy, and if that was what made me happy I'm sure he'd go along with it.

What's the weirdest thing that ever happened to you in church?

A funny church story? I'm trying to think...aye yay yay. I don't know. No.

Well, what's the most profound experience in church?

Receiving the Holy Spirit, definitely the most profound.

Awww, come on. There has to be something.

I'm trying to think ... I mean you always see people get knocked out and the dress goes, you know, past their stockings.

You got to throw the little blanket over...

Yeah, throw the little blanket over them, something like that. Yeah

What type of church were you raised in?

Pentecostal church. Non-denominational. So there wasn't like any specific denomination, whereas, there's a set bunch of rules that everybody has to follow. Or as in maybe Church of God in Christ-C.O.G.I.C.-or Jesus Christ Our Lord churches or something like that, there might be a set list. We just go by what's in the word and try to move it past there.

Even when you're traveling, do you go to different churches?

Yeah, yeah. I mean I do go to French churches as I travel and especially when I was in Alabama-"the Bible belt" is what they call it and there's just so many people to visit-so, yea. Definitely, definitely. And I still have time, I mean, you know. At least once a week I get some time.

How do you reconcile being in the music industry and also, I guess, being, you know, grounded in Christianity?

Christians sing.

So, now, Nas did an album called I AM...

Mm-hmm.

...and y'all have this kind of weird, little Queensbridge connection. Why did you go for the name of an album that has already been out?

Yeah, this is horrible, that I didn't even recognize it until I did some research. I wrote every song on the album, and people were sending me different album titles, because out of all things I couldn't come up with-at first I said, "Why don't we just name it Chrisette Michelle? That's who I am." Then somebody came back at me," Why don't you name it I am? Because that's who you are." So we went through this whole back and forth thing: Me, L.A. Reid ...And at the end of the day, we just decided on I am, it made sense. My whole thing is about defining yourself and being yourself, to your best ability, so, one thing I got to do was call it I am and I think that made sense for my motive.

Did you visit Queensbridge when you were growing up?

My grandmother still lives there, so I see her all the time.

Okay, rep Queens and Long Island!

I rep Long Island! I visit Queens.

Do you think women should cook for their mates?

I think everybody should cook for everybody! Absolutely. I think food is very important in everybody's life and I think you can win somebody's heart over some food. Yes ma'am, I do.

But can you cook?

Absolutely.

What's your best dish?

My best dish is baked macaroni and cheese.

That's a good one, and what's your favorite food to eat?

Pizzaaaa. Ray's Pizza.

Now, you know that all of the astrological signs have a term. I'm a Virgo and mine is "I analyze". Aries is "I am". Are you an Aries?

I'm a Sagittarius.

OK, that's a fire sign. Do you follow astrology at all?

I do understand a lot of it, and I think that a lot of the stuff that people identify me, as far as me being a Sagittarius are often true. My whole philosophy behind Sagittarius' are-and it's a fun topic, I mean, I'm not very smart in it, or well versed in it, but I think that the reasons we're such go-getters and such big-headed people and we're so excited about taking on big projects is because we were born at the end of the year and at the end of the year, there's a whole bunch of energy to do great new things in January, so, I guess we were surrounded by that in the womb, and came out on top of things.

That's right, my mom's a Sag. Um, what does the devil look like?

I have no idea, probably my ex-boyfriend.