Blige, Mary J.

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MARY J. BLIGE

Born: Bronx, New York, 11 January 1971

Genre: R&B, Hip-Hop

Best-selling album since 1990: Share My World (1997)

Hit songs since 1990: "You Remind Me," "Real Love," "Not Gon' Cry"

During the 1990s Mary J. Blige helped usher rhythm and blues music into the hip-hop era, becoming known as "The Queen of Hip-Hop Soul." Blige's longevity was due in part to producers who crafted complex, distinctive, and likable rhythms behind her vocals, but a more important key to her success was the personal artistic current that ran through her work. While her contemporaries such as Whitney Houston and Toni Braxton largely confined their work to love ballads, Blige used music to explore the travails of her life, bringing a new degree of honesty to rhythm and blues. As a result, she became an idol to young African-American women who identified with her toughness, pain, and perseverance. The opening line of "Where I've Been" (2001) sums up her appeal: "To all the youth in the world," she says, "the thing nobody understands; well, I understand." With each album Blige grew more assured, creating music that is all the more enjoyable for its depth of feeling.

Early Years

Although she spent her summers living with family in Savannah, Georgia, Blige was raised in the Schlobohm Gardens housing projects in Yonkers, New York. Growing up in a neighborhood full of drugs and crime, Blige fell in with a rough crowd and dropped out of high school during her junior year. In interviews she later alluded to the troubles that plagued her during these years. Discussing her childhood with Rolling Stone in 2001, she said, "In the ghetto, I didn't want to be nothing. I didn't want to be anything . . . when you're younger, you like the ignorance. You love the ignorance."

Despite her troubles, Blige was exposed to the positive influence of music through her father, a performer who lived in Michigan but visited her occasionally.

While still a teenager, Blige recorded herself at a local mall singing a karaoke version of "Rapture," a hit song by the pop-soul vocalist Anita Baker. The tape eventually found its way to Andre Harrell of Uptown Records, who enlisted Blige to sing backup vocals for the artists on his label. In 1991 Blige began working with producer Sean "Puffy" Combs, who spearheaded the production of her first album, What's the 411? (1992). The album, a success on the pop and rhythm and blues charts, was an important step in bringing hip-hop and rap into the mainstream. With its catchy riffs, sturdy beats, and melodic songs, What's the 411? helped define rhythm and blues in the 1990s, paving the way for later groups such as TLC and Destiny's Child. "Real Love," the album's most popular single, was an infectious dance number that juxtaposed Blige's girlish, somewhat unsteady vocals against a bouncy rhythm track. Distinguished by a pounding piano part, "Real Love" was instantly recognizable on the radio, where it received extensive play during the early years of the decade.

Rhythm and Blues Stardom

Blige's third album, Share My World (1997), marked a turning point in her career; it features a slicker, more polished sound than previous efforts and places an increased emphasis on her vocals. Designed for mainstream appeal, Share My World became Blige's most successful album to date, debuting at number one on the pop charts. The album's high point is "Not Gon' Cry," a ballad written by producer Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds that was also featured on the soundtrack to the 1995 film Waiting to Exhale. On "Not Gon' Cry" Blige uses the dark, bluesy contours of her voice to tell the story of a fallen relationship. Sounding less youthful and winsome than on previous recordings, she brings a chilling matter-of-factness to such lines as "Eleven years I've sacrificed, and you can leave me at the drop of a dime." The song demonstrates the specific, detailed way in which Blige probes her emotions, a skill that overcomes any vocal shortcomings. Comparing her to the 1960s "Queen of Soul," the Baltimore City Paper asserted in 1999, "[Blige's] raspy voice is weak and it often cracks. . . . Having said that, she's also her generation's Aretha Franklin. . . . You swear you know Blige, and you feel what she's singing."

A New Maturity

With Mary (1999), Blige took the mature style developed on Share My World and pushed it further, creating a sophisticated, assured album that showed how much she had developed as a singer and artist. On the album's cover, Blige is shown in profile, the scar under her eye prominently displayed. With the music Blige seems to be stating, "this is who I am," as she delves into a wide range of influences and styles. "All That I Can Say," produced by fellow hip-hop performer Lauryn Hill, features a complex melody and multiple key changes that Blige navigates with ease. On "Deep Inside," featuring pop singer Elton John on piano, Blige opens up about the difficulties of being a star. "The problem is," she sings, "for many years I've lived my life publicly / So it's hard for me to find a man I trust." One of the album's most potent songs is the dark, moody "Time." Backed with a funky rhythm track, Blige rails against narrow-mindedness: "People nowadays so shady / Now what is wrong with them / Something cast a spell up on their minds / And they always wanna condemn." Overall, Mary gives the impression of an artist secure and comfortable with her talents, intelligent enough to deliver music both danceable and thought-provoking.

Blige's maturity is fully evident on her 2001 album, No More Drama. On one level the album works as solid party music, but it also provides a framework for presenting Blige's emotional and spiritual orientation, taking listeners into the far reaches of her psyche. On "PMS," for example, she is both penetrating and funny: "My lower back is aching/ and my clothes don't fit." On the autobiographical "Where I've Been," one of her most uplifting songs, Blige relates how she has turned trauma into triumph: "At the age of seven years old / A strange thing happened to me. . . . And I've got the mark to show / And it became a thing of beauty." The album's biggest hit, "Family Affair," is a dance number that benefits from a tight, dense groove supplied by the producer, Dr. Dre. The playful lyrics, written by Blige and her own family members, coin new terms to emphasize unity: "Don't need no hateration, holleration." The title track, "No More Drama," which incorporates the theme song to the soap opera The Young and the Restless, reflects Blige's upbeat state of mind and new confidence: "It feels so good / When you let go / Of all the drama in your life / Now you're free from all the pain." Extending her positive message beyond her music, Blige became a spokesperson for AIDS awareness and the rights of battered women and children.

A major trendsetter in contemporary R&B, Mary J. Blige remained on top at the start of a new millennium by constantly updating her image, message, and style. Exploring her life's experiences with honesty and humor, she created music that challenges as it entertains.