History Class....Mary J. Blige's "My Life"...

The love for Mary J Blige May start at 2005's "Be Without You" for most of you, but over a hot cup of tea and iTunes, I came to realize more Mary Than I realized was on my play list. In the game for almost 22 years now Mary has continued to revamp R&B/Hip Hop music 20x's over which certifies that the name given "The Queen Of Hip Hop Soul" Is well deserved.

"What's the 411" from the "what's the 411 album"


Signing to Uptown records in 1989 Mary Began her career singing background for many of Uptown's artists just to get her feet wet. But when given the chance Mrs. Blige blew it out the water with her 1992 hit "Whats The 411" and "You Remind Me", the album's first single, peaked at number one on the R&B singles chart that summer. The second single, "Real Love", was released in the fall. It too topped the R&B singles chart, and became Blige's first top ten Hot 100 single, peaking at number seven. Both singles were certified gold for their sales volume.

But with backing by Sean P.Diddy Combs....On a cold Day in November the album that would ultimately be one of her deepest most heartfelt albums "My Life" was served up on a platter to show who Mrs. Blige was deep inside.

"Be Happy" "My Life"



With beats that a rapper could easily flow on, the surprise was that Mary had very soulful vocals that made the beat just as prominent"Be Happy", the album's single, peaked at number 29 and number six on the Hot 100 and R&B singles chart, respectively. Other My Life singles include "You Bring Me Joy" and "I Love You". "Mary Jane (All Night Long)" and "My Life" received heavy radio play, despite never being officially released as singles apart from the UK, where "Mary Jane (All Night Long)" became Blige's second top 20 hit from the album there. My Life was eventually certified triple platinum. That summer she dueted with rapper Method Man on his song, "I'll Be There for You/You're All I Need to Get By" (which sampled Marvin Gaye's "You're All I Need to Get By", and for which she won a Grammy award.) Later in the year, she recorded the Babyface-penned and produced "Not Gon' Cry", for the soundtrack to motion picture Waiting to Exhale. The platinum-selling single rose to number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs in early 1996, and became her biggest commercial hit at the time.

Method Man Ft Mary J. Blige


Mary is most definitely the Blueprint for most R&B/Hip Hop female artists that arrive now. But what this album shows is that real life experiences make artists have a foundation to grow on and not something that is just handed to them.From the outing of that album Blige has sold over 50 million albums and 15 million singles. So the question remains: Is It better to actually ask an artist what they feel as opposed to just being told to sing? Feeling is the basis of all music people.... you gotta Feel Mary...

More songs From The "My Life Album: "All Night Long"