FEATURE:
Show It Some Real Love
Mary J. Blige’s What’s the 411? at Thirty
__________
LOOKING ahead to 28th July…
and Mary J. Blige’s stunning album, What’s the 411?, turns thirty. A remarkable and hugely impressive debut, Blige began working on the album with producer Sean ‘Puff Daddy’ Combs after signing a record deal. Other producers came on board and, together, this important and masterful album was created. Upon its release in 1992, What’s the 411? Was met with positive reviews and acclaim. Even though some were a little hesitant to proclaim its excellence, retrospection has framed What’s the 411? as an album that helped change music. Blige’s combination of Soul and Hip-Hop saw her crowned as the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul. This is an album that deserves so much praise. The range and diversity of producers actually works to the album’s credit. There is a variety of sounds at work, yet Blige pulls them all together and is seamless throughout. Successful singles such as Real Love and Sweet Thing helped to make What’s the 411? a chart success. Reaching number six in the U.S., it has gone on to become a three-times platinum album. An amazing album that is among the best of the 1990s, it is such an expressive, huge and confident debut from an artist who has gone onto become a legend and enormously influential voice. I will end the feature with a positive review for What’s the 411? First, Albuism revisited this epic 1992 debut album in a feature from 2017:
“Rapidly gaining everyone’s attention heading into the summer of 1992 was a then 21-year-old Mary J. Blige. Signed to Uptown Records, which was quickly becoming Generation X’s Motown, her debut single “You Remind Me” immediately captured the attention of fans and critics alike, amassing enough TV and radio support to generate sizable buzz for her forthcoming freshman album. Blige’s debut LP What’s the 411? was overseen by the label’s ambitious A&R executive Sean Combs, who had recently overseen Jodeci’s big breakthrough.
Exceeding all expectations and driving her fledgling career even higher into the ascendant, Blige hit a home run with the album’s second single “Real Love.” Co-written and produced by the Fat Boys’ Prince Markie Dee, the sped-up baseline of Audio Two’s “Top Billin” provided the perfect head-nodding cadence for Blige’s soulful exploration of her Mr. Right.
As her success skyrocketed on the strength of her first two singles, every inner city girl under 25 began the process of turning into Mary J., with the “do it yourself kit” that included nose piercing, hair dye, baseball jersey, and snap-back Starter hat. Generation X had now found their voice, one profoundly influenced by the attitudes and styles of hip-hop culture. Indeed, as with the tradition of Aretha Franklin in the early ‘70s and Chaka Khan later in the decade, Blige began to grow into the archetype of her generation.
It was amidst this groundswell of support and expansion of her fan base that Mary released her third offering “Reminisce.” The song followed what seemed to be Combs’ formula for the Yonkers, NY songstress, by revolving around another ‘80s hip-hop sample, this time from Audio Two’s close associate and femcee rhyme titan MC Lyte’s “Stop, Look, and Listen.”
As arguably the first songstress to fully embody hip-hop culture, which coincidently was born just a few miles south of her own stomping grounds, sampling and recreating the soul music she was raised on during her adolescence was another major part of her repertoire. Blige’s savory rendition of “Sweet Thing” helped provide depth to her groundbreaking album, and appeared to be a sincere homage to the Queen of Funk, Chaka Khan, who released the original version 17 years earlier as a member of the legendary band Rufus. Released a month after “Sweet Thing” in May 1993, What’s the 411?’s final single was the emotional love ballad “Love No Limit,” which reinforced Blige’s versatility and ability to deliver in the more traditional R&B format”.
I know that there will be a lot of people discovering Mary J. Blige’s What’s the 411? on its thirtieth anniversary later this month. To me, it is one of those debut albums that not only introduced an iconic artist; it also ranks alongside the very best debuts. This is what AllMusic said in their review for the unforgettable and truly remarkable What’s the 411?:
“With this cutting-edge debut, Mary J. Blige became the reigning queen of her own hybrid category: hip-hop soul. The eloquence and evocativeness that comes through in her voice, could be neither borrowed nor fabricated, making What's the 411? one of the decade's most explosive, coming-out displays of pure singing prowess. "Real Love" and the gospel-thrusted "Sweet Thing" (the primary reason for all her Chaka Kahn comparisons) are and will remain timeless slices of soul even after their trendiness has worn off, and "You Remind Me" and the duet with Jodeci's K-Ci ("I Don't Want to Do Anything") are nearly as affecting in their own right. It's nevertheless unclear how much of the hip-hop swagger in her soul was a genuine expression of Blige's own vision or that of her admittedly fine collaborators (Svengali Sean "Puffy" Combs, R&B producers Dave Hall and DeVante Swing, rap beatsmith Tony Dofat, rapper Grand Puba). Certainly the singer comes across as street-savvy and tough -- "real," in the lingo of the day -- and even tries her hand at rhyming on the title track, but never again would her records lean this heavily on the sonic tricks of the rap trade.
In retrospect, it is easier to place the album into the context of her career and, as such, to pinpoint the occasions when it runs wide of the rails. For instance, the synthesizer-heavy backdrops ("Reminisce," "Love No Limit") are sometimes flatter or more plastic than either the songs or Blige's passionate performances deserve, while the answering-machine skits, much-copied in the wake of What's the 411?, haven't worn well as either stand-alone tracks or conceptual segues. In fact, those who prefer their soul more stirring, heart-on-sleeve, or close to the bone would likely find her fluid, powerfully vulnerable next recording (My Life) or one of the consistently strong subsequent efforts that followed it more to their liking. For broad appeal and historical importance, though, What's the 411? is an inarguably paramount and trailblazing achievement”.
On 28th July, fans of Mary J. Blige will celebrate her debut album. Her most-recent album, Good Morning Gorgeous, was released earlier this year to critical acclaim. I know that Blige will continue to amaze the world with her music. It will be interesting how she remembers her debut album on its thirtieth anniversary. What’s the 411? is simply magnificent and timeless. It is an album…
WITHOUT flaws or equals.