The Story of Mary J Blige: The Queen of Hip-Hop Soul

Story of Mary J Blige: The Queen of Hip-Hop Soul

Mary Jane Blige was born on January 11, 1971. But things did not get off to a good start for Mary. Her mother was a nurse and father a Vietnam war veteran with PTSD. He would abuse her mother and even after she would leave him, he would come back and abuse her some more. To escape her father, Mary and her mother would move to Yonkers, NY in the Schlobohm Houses where she’ll experience more trauma. She was SA by a family friend, she saw women running for their man from abuse, it was a rough neighborhood. But it wasn’t all bad, she found her joy in the church as it offered a safe place to express her love and desire for the Lord and music. According to Mary, it was the place she could go without getting hurt. But as she grew into a teenager, she caved into her Yonkers environment. Years of sexual harassment broke her. She dropped out of high school and started to engage in drugs and sexual activity.

Mary needed an out. One day she went to the mall and recorded a demo of Anita Baker’s “Caught Up in the Rapture” using a karaoke machine. She didn’t think much of it. Until it landed in the hands of Jeff Redd, a recording artist for an upstart Uptown Records. Andre Harrell got his hands on the tape and signed Mary J Blige to the label. She got her start as a background singer for rapper Father MC. Then Andre teamed her up with the vice president of Uptown to shape her sound in Sean “Puffy Daddy Periwinkle” Combs, the man who’s. Thanks to Periwinkle, he decided to make Mary’s image true to herself. Instead of the glitz and glam like Whitney and Mariah, she wore baseball jerseys with a backwards hat. They’ll brand it as the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul.

In 1992, Mary J Blige released her debut single “You Remind Me”. The song went to #1 on the R&B charts. Shortly after she released her debut album What’s the 411. Her next single was “Real Love”. The video featured her image that her and Periwinkle created, with her and her dancers wearing baseball jerseys and baseball caps. Real Love also reached #1 on the R&B charts, but it crossed over the pop charts reaching #7 on the Hot 100. The song was later remixed and featured an upcoming rapper in Brooklyn named the Notorious BIG. Real Love would be placed on Rolling Stones “500 Best Songs of All Time”. What’s the 411 was successful going 3x Platinum. During this time, Mary started to date Jodeci’s lead singer K-Ci. They did a song on her 411 album “I Don't Want to Do Anything” produced by DeVante Swing. The relationship was toxic. At times they were physical and when the weren’t they were abusing drugs and alcohol. The relationship as a whole led her into depression.

She reunited with Puff to record her second album. Since Mary was depressed, Puff advised her to channel her pain into her writing. The pain would result in My Life released in November 1994. Some of the singles included “Be Happy”, “I’m Goin Down” & “Mary Jane (All Night Long)”. The album was another critical and commercial success going 3x Platinum and Rolling Stones Top 500 albums & Apple placed it on their Top 100 albums. This would be the last album Puff would be involved in as he started his own label called Bad Boy Entertainment. On the label, he featured a variant of Mary J named Faith Evans who was branded as the first lady of Bad Boy. 1995 as the album was taking off, Mary’s love life with K-Ci had fallen apart. To establish some stability in their relationship, K-Ci proposed to Mary. But on a UK show, Mary flashed the engagement ring but the host would humiliate her by showing what K-Ci said about the relationship. Things weren’t all bad, Mary J would team up with Wu-Tang clan member Method Man on the song "I'll Be There for You/You're All I Need to Get By", the song reached #1 on the Rap & R&B charts and #3 on the Hot 100. The song would give both Method Man & Mary J Blige their first Grammys for Best Rap Performance by Duo/Group.

In 1996, Mary J appeared on the soundtrack Waiting to Exhale on the song Not Gon Cry. The song reached #1 on R&B charts and #2 on the Hot 100. The song would later appear on her third album but before that was released, her label Uptown was being dissolved and most of their artists merged with MCA (their parent company at the time). Since she and Puff severed ties, she had to work with new producers which included Babyface, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis & Darkchild to name a few. In April 1997 Share My World was released. Some of the songs included I Can Love You ft. Lil Kim & Everything as the album once again reached 3x Platinum. During this time her father came back into her life. He wasn’t around since he left when she was a child. Instead of asking for forgiveness, he asked for a handout. Also, during this time, she had relationships with Case and Nas but both never flourished into much. Depressed, she numbed herself into drugs (cocaine in particular).

Things would only get worse in 1999 when she released her fourth self-titled album Mary. Mary was still a critical and commercial success but Mary reached her lowest point. She became face to face with her demons and according to her, became face to face with death. Mary needed an out and she got an out with Martin Kendu Issacs. They talk about her problems and he listened. It was he that got Mary to sober up, since put the drugs and alcohol down. And in time too because in January 2001, she made her an appearance at Super Bowl XXXV alongside headliners NSYNC & Aerosmith, and co-headliners Britney Spears & Nelly. That same year she made her acting debut on the independent film Prison Songs opposite Q-Tip.

As her life was in repair, she worked on her fifth album. She took the time to reconcile with those she wrong-done included Puff and her parents. It would be here where she came out and told her mother about her SA incident as a child. Fear of overreacting, she never told who did it out of fear of repercussions but Mary also forgave the family member who did that to her. Feeling that she was free, she released her fifth album No More Drama. The album was headlined by the single “Family Affair” produced by Dr. Dre. The song hit #1 on the R&B charts but the song became her first #1 hit on the Hot 100. That followed with the title track which was produced by Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis as they used the Nadia’s Theme from the Young and the Restless. That song reached the top 20 on the Hot 100. It also featured the song Rainy Dayz ft. Ja Rule and it also reached the top 20 as the album went double platinum. On the album, it also featured a song called He Think I Don’t Know and that gave Mary her first Grammy win as a lead artist for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.

In 2003, Mary J teamed up with Puff for the first time since My Life she released her sixth album Love & Life. Although another critical success but not a commercial one. Several factors include her label MCA being absorbed to Geffen, not to mention Mary and Combs had creative differences on the album. What was successful was her love life. In December 2003, she married Kendu Issacs.

In December 2005, Mary J released her seventh album The Breakthrough. The leadoff single was “Be Without You” and that song reached #1 on the R&B charts and #3 on the Hot 100. The next single she released was “Enough Cryin’” and in that song Mary introduced us to Brooke Lynn (her alter ego). Origins of that was Jay-Z wrote a rap verse to include in the song. Instead of Jay-Z, she wanted a female lyricist to record it so she recruited Foxy Brown. But Darkchild hated her delivery in the song so he decided that Mary herself record the rap since she is the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul. The song reached #2 on the R&B charts. The Breakthrough would put Mary back in the triple platinum range. Mary saw her first nominations in the General Fields as “Be Without You” was nominated for Song of the Year and Record of the Year. She lost both but won three Grammys for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, Best R&B Song (both for Be Without You) and The Breakthrough won Best R&B Album.

In 2007, Mary released her eighth album Growing Pains. The song that stood out from this project was Just Fine, going #3 on the Hot 100. Growing Pains went platinum and Mary J saw two more Grammy wins. Early in her career when she signed with Uptown, Andre Harrell made a prediction saying that she’ll be performing for kings and queens. In 2009, that came true (sort of). That year, she performed at the Inauguration for newly elected president Barack Obama. She’ll perform for them again later that year on Christmas is Washington. She also dropped her ninth album Stronger with Each Tear that same year.

Throughout the 2010s she still continued with her music releasing albums My Life II... The Journey Continues (Act 1) in 2011, The London Sessions in 2013, & Strength of a Woman in 2017. But this decade she started to take more acting roles. In 2013, she starred in the film Black Nativity. 2015 she partook in the Wiz Live playing the role of Evillene. Finally in 2017 played the role of Florence Jackson in the Academy nominated film Mudbound. Mary herself saw a nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role. In 2018, she received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Then in 2019, Rihanna presented her with the Lifetime Achievement Awards at the BET Awards. In 2020, she was casted in the 50 Cent show Power Book II: Ghost, which was a spinoff from Power, playing the role of Monet Tejada. In 2021, she released a documentary called My Life. That documentary featured the final interviews of her former boss Andre Harrell before his unexpected death in 2020. Her personal life did reach a setback in 2018 when she divorced her husband, Kendu Issacs.

2022 would be the year Mary J would receive her flowers. Early that year she performed at Super Bowl LVI alongside Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar & 50 Cent. She won an Emmy Award for that halftime show. Days before she released her 14^th album Good Morning Gorgeous. Thanks to the Super Bowl, the title song became her first charting single in a decade peaking at 81 on the Hot 100. Mary saw 5 nominations at the 2023 Grammys which included Record of the Year & Album of the Year. In 2022, she received the Billboard Icon Award. In 2024, Mary released her most recent album Gratitude on her Mary Jane imprint. Gratitude was rumored to be her final album. But that year she received her biggest accolade yet. Mary J Blige was inducted in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame presented by Dr. Dre & Method Man.

In conclusion, Mary is the pioneer of Hip Hop Soul and. She used her pain to get some of her biggest hits. Wasn’t for her you wouldn’t see performers like Alicia Keys, SZA, Summer Walker, even Taylor Swift credit her as influence. That concludes the Story of Mary J Blige: The Queen of Hip-Hop Soul.