There's Only One Mary J. (My Life - Mary J. Blige)

Member Name: XICripZ

Product:	My Life - Mary J. Blige
Date:	10/11/09 (42 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lots of big tunes

Disadvantages: Not as strong as her debut

"My Life" was released in 1994 and came as the second album from the R&B and Soul singer Mary J. Blige as she, along with support from the Bad Boy label (which has Puffy Daddy as its owner, and who is also seen to produce much of this release) come to bring another heavily Hip Hop-influenced record.

1. "Intro"

2. "Mary Jane"

After an interesting introduction, you see that she guides us right into what would become a classic R&B track form the artist as you find that in this one she performs a re-worked version of the Mary Jane Girls' "All Night Long". She goes hard with the material and makes it her own, whilst not going too far from the original). It is a tune that I simply can't see a single fault in and is bound to take you in immediately.

**Five Stars**

3. "You Bring Me Joy"

Sampling a Barry White track that would eventually be used on Robbie Williams' "Rock DJ", this is an upbeat jam from here and sees that she comes to bring a song that had her writing its lyrics with her then-partner's brother JoJo Hailey (of K-Ci & JoJo and Jodeci). It is a funky one and seems to keep things in a hype off the last one to keep you excited for what the main body of the release has to offer (other than this single and the one that came prior to it).

**Five Stars**

4. "Marvin" (Lude)

5. "I'm The Only Woman"

You get an interlude tha indicates a change in direction before this one gets into effect and you find that here the Hip Hop Soul material is adapted in order to give her the chance to do more conventional Soul (but of course with a little twist) and so here you find that you have her coming out with a tune that takes on the throwback style and so although it was delivered well, I can't say I particularly enjoy this style.

**Three Stars**

6. "K. Murray" (Lude)

7. "My Life"

After an interlude which has Keith Murray flowing on top of the "Who Shot Ya" instrumentals you see that she brings another single and in this case you find she does just as the title indicates as she sings about her life, including things concerning her relationship with K-Ci (who she was in an abusive relationship with at the time - though obviously doesn't go into this). It is a smooth cut and does the job nicely.

**Four Stars**

8. "You Gotta Believe"

As Herb Middleton gets on the beats with this one you find that things are smoothed out significantly as she escapes Puffy and Chucky Thompson's work and so she gets into more general contemporary R&B of the time with the one and delivers a Quiet Storm cut that displays her ability to come across as sincere as she sings an emotive cut. It is rather uneventful and so I thought it was nothing more than average, though will grow on you with time.

**Three Stars**

9. "I Never Wanna Live With You"

The same producer is behind this one too and so you get a similar sort of thing running through it where she has t have complete control about where she takes things in order to come out with an effective rack that allows her to show her vocal strength and just how well she is able to deliver the material that she brings. It is a pretty cold one, but as with the last one takes a while to get the most out of.

**Four Stars**

10. "I'm Goin' Down"

Here you find of a Rose Royce track. I felt that, as with the early re-worked cover on the record, she did well in order to ensure that it sounds like her own piece and does so whilst still holding on to what made the original such a big tune. The classy production, which takes a lot from the original, is a bit of an alternative one for the producers behind it, but I felt that they did all they could to come up with the good here.

**Four Stars**

11. "My Life (Lude)

12. "Be With You"

You see that with this one the material appears to turn back to its expected ways as you find that here you get lots of the typical grooves that have carried their way through from Mary J's debut album onto this one. You see that in the synth you get lots of influence from the West Coast G-Funk that seems to work into her 'Hip Hop Soul' without any effort whatsoever and overall comes to make for a soothing song form her.

**Four Stars**

13. "Mary's Joint"

In this one you see that the drum loop takes on a lot of influence from the Audio Two's "Top Billin'" in the same way that was seen on her breakthrough single "Real Love" and so it brings connotations of how she made it into the game and forces you to enjoy it as she brings another song where she makes the effort to do all she can in order to show how well she can construct songs and deliver them.

**Four Stars**

14. "Don't Go"

Using work from the New Jack Swingers Guy, you see that with this one you have Mary J coming out with a song that has her desperately looking to save the relationship she's in. I have to say that I didn't feel that her deliver was as believable as it had been at other points on the album, but you have to enjoy what she does here nonetheless as it is still just as impactful to the listener when you here her performance of the lyrics.

**Four Stars**

15. "I Love You"

Using a chilling piano loop that was original used on an Isaac Hayes song, you see that here she brings a tune that does what the last one hadn't and so you see that here she builds upon things that she lost it on earlier and shows development through this album as she perhaps does one that she is much more comfortable with singing about (and I felt that this came across in the overall results of this one).

**Five Stars**

16. "No One Else"

With this one you see that you get production from Jodeci's Mr. Dalvin, who brings forward expected material that takes things right into the Hip Hop style and so with a sample of Slick Rock's "Children's Story" you find that you get a smooth joint with a bit of a bounce to lift it a bit more. It doesn't really sound like the kind of thing that Jodeci were bringing around this time (partly due to the fact it was mostly DeVante Swing on the bats) but it still goes hard.

**Four Stars**

17. "Be Happy"

The album ends on a high as you see that here Puffy and Poke of the Trackmasters come together to make a banger of a jam that tops the album off in a perfect way by bringing another of the heavy singles from the album. It is one that is there for its feel-good factor as she sings about how she wishes that she didn't have to o through some of the things that she has faced and wants to strive for this simple state of mind (and is made much more impactful to the listener when you consider that she was suffering from depression at the time).

**Five Stars**

The album is a pretty strong one from Mary J and although I can't say that I enjoyed it as much as her debut (due to her trying to try out a few more conventional things this time around) it mean that it was a good one but was held back slightly at time due to these plainer segments that didn't show how original she was.

Summary: Mary J. Blige's second album