How did we meet?īLIGE: I swear I can never actually remember, but I know this much. īLIGE: We all had our first real car on that one. NAS: Man, that album reminds me of when I got my first car. Chucky Thompson’s in it, right?īLIGE: Yeah, Chucky was a major part of the My Life album. That shit had my eyes watering.īLIGE: Aw, thank you, Nas. Below, the pair reminisce about their days touring together, the infamous Club MJB, and their very first meeting. Last week, Nas and Blige cleared some time in their crowded calendars for a Zoom call to catch up on one another’s lives. This August, Nas released King’s Disease II, an album boasting features from the likes of Eminem, Lauryn Hill, and Hit-Boy, and Blige returned to the screen in Power Book II: Ghost and Respect. Since that fateful interaction, the two hip-hop R&B powerhouses have collaborated on a slew of chart-toppers like “Love Is All We Need,” “Reach Out,” and recently, 2019’s “Thriving.” The same year, Nas and MJB hit the road as co-headliners on their Royalty Tour, an experience which brought them still closer as collaborators and companions. The pair have even confessed to playing each other’s music line for line, before they ever met in person. Both budding stars in the ’90s, they caught each other’s attention with explosive debut albums- Illmatic and What’s the 411?, respectively. Blige were fans before they were friends.

For broad appeal and historical importance, though, What's the 411? is an inarguably paramount and trailblazing achievement.Nas and Mary J. 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 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 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. 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. 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). '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. 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. Blige became the reigning queen of her own hybrid category: hip-hop soul.

Mary j blige reminisce