The modern so called ‘R&B’ scene is noted for being vacuous and insubstantial, as is the Hip Hop scene. These assumptions are debatable but what isn’t debatable is that amidst all the here today gone tomorrow loudmouths one woman has definitely kept it real (to use the vernacular); Mary J Blige.
be without you live
Mary Jane Blige was born January 11, 1971 in The Bronx but grew up in Yonkers, NY and is not only a Grammy award winning singer but has managed to maintain a successful career in a male dominated environment. The powerful combination of her modern R&B rendition of the classic soul aesthetic; also mixed with an edgy rap sound has created a niche that many since have tried to imitate.
stay down
She has worked with everyone who is anyone in the music industry and has held her own each and every time. Her studio albums have all been hits from her 1992 debut, What’s the 411? to her latest album Stronger with each tear. Her live performances have become legendary as Mary is able to produce time after time a la Aretha and Chaka. But Mary has honed her own style and is rightly known as ‘The soul Hip Hop Queen’
mjb da vip
Initially Blige was street-tough and beautiful all at once, and the record company kept up her bad-girl image that she had gained early in her career; it was an earner. As she sorted her life out her style began to develop to encompass a sleeker aesthetic and she remains a hero and aspirational figure to young women growing up in the same kind of rough and ready environment Mary came from.
no more drama
What keeps Mary at the top of the tree is that she maintains a sense of truth in her vocal performances. Many will say that she is not like singers in the old days; which is true, she is exactly current and her voice is not a pale imitation of the plethora of queens of soul that have gone before. MJB really is the VIP.
real love 1992
