Her 1995 follow-up, My Life, again featured Combs' handiwork, and if it stepped back stylistically from its urban roots by featuring less of a rap sound, it made up for it with its subject matter. Uptown capitalized on the success by issuing What's the 411? Remix a year later.
Combs had a heavy hand in What's the 411?, as did producers Dave Hall, Mark Morales, and Mark Rooney, and the stylish touches that they added to Blige's unique vocal style created a stunning album that bridged the gap between R&B and hip-hop in a way that no singer had before. In 1991, however, Sean "Puffy" Combs took Blige under his wing and began working with her on What's the 411?, her debut album. Harrell was impressed with Blige's voice and signed her to sing backup for local acts like Father MC. The resulting tape was passed by Blige's stepfather to Uptown Records CEO Andre Harrell. When she was at a local mall in White Plains, New York, she recorded herself singing Anita Baker's "Caught Up in the Rapture" into a karaoke machine. Her rough life there produced more than a few scars, physical and otherwise, and Blige dropped out of high school during her junior year, instead spending time doing her friends' hair in her mother's apartment and hanging out. Blige's co-headlining performance at the Super Bowl LVI half-time show coincided with the release of her first album of the 2020s, Good Morning Gorgeous (2022).īorn in the Bronx, Blige spent the first few years of her life in Savannah, Georgia before moving with her mother and older sister to the Schlobam housing projects in Yonkers, New York. These included Kendrick Lamar's "Now or Never" and Disclosure's "F for You," just to name the Grammy-nominated recordings. As she continued to add to her rich catalog in the 2010s, a new generation of artists cited her as an influence and sought her out for collaborations. Blige instantly became a distinct force in R&B, and throughout a three-decade career has put the full power of her voice behind her music, exorcizing her demons and consequently softening her style, yet never ceding her rank as "the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul." Each one of the singer's proper studio albums has debuted within the Top Ten of the Billboard 200, highlighted by a streak of five multi-platinum titles lasting through No More Drama (2001), and Best R&B Album Grammy awards for The Breakthrough (2005) and Growing Pains (2007). Blige's debut album, What's the 411?, hit the streets in July 1992, critics and fans were floored by its powerful combination of modern soul and edgy hip-hop production that glanced off of the pain and grit of the singer's New York upbringing.
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