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album review
Perhaps the single finest moment in Sean "Puffy" Combs' musical career has been the production on this, Mary J. Blige's second proper album. The production is not exactly original, and there is evidence here of him borrowing wholesale from other songs. The melodic sources this time around, though, are so expertly incorporated into the music that they never seem to be intrusions, instead playing like inspired dialogues with soulsters from the past, connecting past legacies with a new one. This certainly isn't your parents' (or grandparents') soul. But it is some of the finest modern soul of the '90s, backing away to a certain extent from the hip-hop/soul consolidation that Blige introduced on her debut album. The hip-hop part of the combination takes a few steps into the background, allowing Blige's tortured soul to carry the album completely, and it does so with heartwrenching authority. My Life is, from beginning to end, a brilliant, wistful individual plea of desire. Blige took a huge leap in artistry by penning almost everything herself (the major exception being Norman Whitfield's "I'm Going Down") in collaboration with co-producers Combs and multi-instrumentalist Chucky Thompson, and everything seems to leap directly from her gut. Blige's strain is sleekly modern and urban, and the grit in it comes from being streetwise and thoroughly realistic about the travails of life. My Life, nevertheless, emanates from some deep, dark place where both sadness and happiness cohabitate and turn into one single, beautiful sorrow. ~ Stanton Swihart, All Music Guide
more albums by this artist
See all-
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- Growing Pains
- Released 2007
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- The Breakthrough
- Released 2005
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- Share My World
- Released 1997
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- Reflections: A Retrospective
- Released 2006
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listener reviews
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MJB's Masterpiece
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- By Djones205
- 2/19/2009 19:00:24
- There is a reason MY LIFE is listed on ROLLING STONE's 500 Best Albums Of All Time. (It's listed #279) I've had this ORIGINAL album since I was 15 (i'll be 29 in a couple months) surely an album that I cannot live without. MJB'z best album in her Discography. IF you don't have this album and like Mary J. you NEED to pick up a copy OR download it at the ZUNE Marketplace.
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Greatness
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- By camgame1521
- 10/5/2008 04:50:09
- This album is hands down the best mary album ever recorded...u can jus feel the pain in every note and understand wat she feels abt wat she went through.
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