I am going to now do some valuable tribute to one woman who was influenced by Aretha Franklin. This woman has endured 20 years of pain, suffering, abuse, and great success.
I am speaking of Mary J. Blige. She is one artist I enjoy listening when I am a grateful for soul music. Yep Mary J. Blige is indeed the queen of Hip Hop Soul. Many female R&B artists who love hip hop ought to give huge respect to Mary J. Blige. This woman was the pioneer of combining soul music along with hip hop into one genre. We call it Hip Hop Soul.
She was born in 1971 from Bronx, New York. Sadly she like many African Americans endured a single parent. She pretty much grew up with a dad though she had her real dad as a child but her dad was a abusive figure. She grew up with some struggles. But during the 1990s, she would have some great ups and great downs. Great ups were that she made a great stand with her debut album What's the 411. It had high success. This helped Mary J. Blige reach some peak as a singer. My Life also made the case of the realness of Mary as she talks about her struggles. But the great downs was that she had a famous or rather infamous relationship with K-Ci Hailey (born as Cedric Hailey) who was a member of Jodeci (a chart topping R&B youth group) and is part of the duo K-Ci & Jojo with his brother Jojo Hailey (born as Joel Hailey). There Mary J. Blige was more known for her problems. But soon Mary had a major comeback.
In 2005, she released her classic album The Breakthrough with the great song "Be without you" which was a masterpiece out of Mary J. Blige. Since then, Mary has had some great success as a female artist.
The unique thing about Mary J. Blige is her singing is quite soulful and it is quite unique and it is strong. When I hear Mary J. Blige sing, her singing is quite strong and dramatic effects on the song. This song quite awesome.
Also Mary J. Blige was the best calibrator alongside with a rapper. A great example is her calibration with rapper Method Man. The song called "You're all I need to get by" shows the great soul singing of Mary J. Blige and dope rapping skills with Method Man.
After all the best years of this woman and hearing her voice, I can say Mary J. Blige is the queen of Hip Hop Soul.
you are SO right! much love to Mary J... I can still remember being in high school, sitting in the back seat of my friend's car, driving around town singing "i'm goin' down" -- ahh that brings back memories! be without you is one of my favorites!!! love is all we need is another. and JUST FINE puts me in a good mood! great post!
ReplyDeleteWell thanks for your comment. Don't worry Shari, I will soon do some more Mary J. Blige posts coming up soon. Mary J. Blige is one of the most important person in music history.
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