While all the time that I was loving you
You were busy loving yourself
I would stop breathing if you told me to
Now you’re busy loving someone else
Eleven years out of my life
Besides the kids I have nothing to show
Wasted my years a fool of a wife
I shoulda have left your ass a long time ago
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This is vintage Mary J Blige! Mary has just released her 9th studio album, Stronger with Each Tear, and now she receives the coveted Artist of the Week! What a great start to “010” it already is for her! I have loved MJB since releasing her first album in 1991. What’s the 411? was the first ever CD I bought, and I played that thing over and over again!
Mary was labeled “The Queen of Hip-Hop/Soul” by producer Puff Daddy. She has lived up to that label, and then some! What other R&B artist get street cred in the Hip-Hop/R&B/Pop/Top 40/Rock world? No one! She has worked with U2, Elton John, Sting, Aretha Franklin, DMX, Method Man, 50 Cent, Lauren Hill, Wycelf Jean, Chaka Khan and many more. Now that’s diversity!
But what makes MJB so great? Is it her soul? No! Is it her club jams? No! Is it her passion? No! If it isn’t any of those things, then what is it? It is her vulnerability! MJB has a voice that no one else has, but that isn’t what sets her apart; it’s the vulnerability in her music. Her ability to translate what is on paper and make you relate. She is not afraid of laying it out on the line and telling you about her life! She is also a trend setter!
Her sophomore album, My Life, has one of her most successful songs, “My Life.” In this track she tells you about her struggle. No one else was doing songs like that in 1994! Since then, there have been plenty of copy cats using the same formula in their songs. In 1999, Mary released what I feel is her greatest album, Mary. In that album she expanded on the “My Life” theme with an even more personal song entitled, “Deep Inside.” Don’t Judge Me or Think I’m Bitter/For the Evil God’s Allowed Me To See/Deep Inside I’m Just Mary. Wow! That’s powerful!
Mary has released several albums since, keeping the same formula of drama everywhere! That is until she released her 2001 album pledging No More Drama! In December, Mary released her latest album, Stronger with Every Tear. The album starts off with a very dark, NY-vibe Hip-Hop sound. Her track “Tonight” is Tha Shiznit! The album is filled with great tracks that I’m sure you’ll hear at the clubs!
Throughout her career, Mary has had many ups and downs! She has had a very public domestic abuse case with K-Ci Haily of Jodeci, been slammed for her heavy sampling of music and recently hitting her husband in public (allegedly). Whatever it is, Mary’s music career has been untouchable. She is probably the most recognizable face in R&B! In a time when R&B singers come and go, she is definitely staying on top! Her music means a lot to me. The only way to describe it is like this: Her vocals pour from her mouth onto my skin. Her words seep deep into my soul and trigger an emotion so powerful, that the only word to describe it is pain!
Top 5 Songs
2. Your Child
3. Seven Days
4. Not Gon’ Cry
5. My Life
Useful Links
Rolling Stone Page
Jimmy Kimmel Interview
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