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April 4, 2011

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Mary J. Blige is going back to the beginning with My Life II: The Journey Continues, the sequel to her 1994 sophomore release.

Due September 20, the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul’s 10th studio album has already produced the first single “Someone to Love Me (Naked)” featuring Diddy and Lil Wayne, and is set to include production from Kanye West, Swizz Beatz, Danja, Stargate, and The Underdogs.

The album , recorded in Los Angeles and New York City, sees MJB looking toward the future while acknowledging the past. “From me to you, My Life II… Our journey together continues in this life,” explained Mary. “It’s a gift to be able to relate and identify with my fans at all times. This album is a reflection of the times and lives of people all around me.”

My Life II will serve as the follow-up to its predecessor, which was certified multi-platinum and spawned the singles “I’m Goin’ Down,” “Be Happy,” and “You Bring Me Joy.”

Why couldn't it just be Chucky Thompson to help her continue Mary's evolution? CHUCKY was the one who made the original My Life sizzle...

Yep. I haven't enjoyed a full album from Mary in ages. Chucky's producing chops complement her vocal stylings perfectly.

Hope Swiss Beats and all these hip hop betmakers are not having anything to do with it

She's so depressing.

"Part two"?

I thought all the albums from Love & Life to Stronger with each tear were all extension parts of My Life I love MJB, but she's officially running outta ideas.

Harlepolis said:

"Part two"?

I thought all the albums from Love & Life to Stronger with each tear were all extension parts of My Life I love MJB, but she's officially running outta ideas.

If Puff shits is making appearance's on your project u have already RUN out of ideas.

Graycap23 said:

Harlepolis said:

"Part two"?

I thought all the albums from Love & Life to Stronger with each tear were all extension parts of My Life I love MJB, but she's officially running outta ideas.

If Puff shits is making appearance's on your project u have already RUN out of ideas.

Well, he produced her 1st two albums and they were good. I know what you're trying to say though.

I just hope it's not sad or crying again..... likes some her work but from what I remember she's always sad...... I couldn't believe my ears when she sang the song "I 'm fine " !!!! I was so happy !!!!

DirtyChris said:

as much as I love Mary J. Blige and as much as she has influenced my style I will be forced to cut the umbilical cord if she does this

It's kinda sad. The same woman who inspired a lot of followers is becoming a follower and she's excusing it with "positivity". She can be positive with the same shit she had when "411", "My Life" and "Share My World" came out (and "Mary"). She trippin'.

[Edited 4/4/11 15:53pm]

This is what I think about Blige's post-Mary output...

Even though No More Drama, The Breakthrough and Growing Pains were solid releases, the cracks are getting wider and deeper for Blige's newer stuff. Hell, I can say that I haven't really been knocked out fully about an album from Mary since 99's Mary, which proved to be her most accomplished LP in my opinion. My Life II...Get the F*** outta here. Wasn't Love & Life supposed to be the failed "sequel" to My Life? Hell every album after My Life had a depressing and sad quality to it (failed relationships, women empowerment, telling your ex-boyfriend off, etc.)

[Edited 4/4/11 16:03pm]

silverchild said:

This is what I think about Blige's post-Mary output...

Even though No More Drama, The Breakthrough and Growing Pains were solid releases, the cracks are getting wider and deeper for Blige's newer stuff. Hell, I can say that I haven't really been knocked out fully about an album from Mary since 99's Mary, which proved to be her most accomplished LP in my opinion. My Life II...Get the F*** outta here. Wasn't Love & Life supposed to be the failed "sequel" to My Life?

Yep.

Rodney lost his way after Invincible but this was one of his best productions - least I believe he produced it if I read the credits right. You can tell Mary was inspiring here.

Timmy84 said:

Rodney lost his way after Invincible but this was one of his best productions - least I believe he produced it if I read the credits right. You can tell Mary was inspiring here.

I was singing this song the other day. I lot of people say that Mary lost her way after My Life, but I beg to differ. This song proves that she could be inspiring. I actually listen to Share My World and Mary more for some reason.

[Edited 4/4/11 16:12pm]

silverchild said:

Timmy84 said:

Rodney lost his way after Invincible but this was one of his best productions - least I believe he produced it if I read the credits right. You can tell Mary was inspiring here.

I was singing this song the other day. I lot of people say that Mary lost her way after My Life, but I beg to differ. This song proves that she could be inspiring. I actually listen to Share My World and Mary more for some reason.

[Edited 4/4/11 16:12pm]

Yeah she hit strength after strength with those two albums. The fallout began with the way No More Drama was managed... I didn't see it initially because I was on the Mary J. train at the time but the cracks definitely were showing around there. It fell apart completely by Stronger.

Timmy84 said:

silverchild said:

I was singing this song the other day. I lot of people say that Mary lost her way after My Life, but I beg to differ. This song proves that she could be inspiring. I actually listen to Share My World and Mary more for some reason.

[Edited 4/4/11 16:12pm]

Yeah she hit strength after strength with those two albums. The fallout began with the way No More Drama was managed... I didn't see it initially because I was on the Mary J. train at the time but the cracks definitely were showing around there. It fell apart completely by Stronger.

Agreed! No More Drama just didn't have the continuity that the other four did. They were trying to resurrect this What's The 411? image, but bring it to a new millenium basis. It didn't gel completely with me. The Breakthrough and Growing Pains showed that she still had some magic, but I didn't even think about buying Growing Pains, as it was rehashed and messy. This new album is probably gonna follow that same trend.

[Edited 4/4/11 16:30pm]

Going the R.Kelly route I see.

Timmy84 said:

Rodney lost his way after Invincible but this was one of his best productions - least I believe he produced it if I read the credits right. You can tell Mary was inspiring here.

Share My World is darn near flawless. That's the Mary I sorely miss.

Share My World is her most consistent album. My cousin and I would play it all the time, she had it and I bought it later cause I was always there anyways listening to it. I used to have My Life too at some point. Mary has some creative jams on it as well.

Share My World is definitely one of her more underrated releases. I actually prefer it more than What's the 411? and to a lesser extent, My Life. Sure it isn't filled with head-busting hits and album cuts as its predecessor had, but there are so many remarkable gems on it that makes you almost forget the legendary cuts from WT411? and My Life.

"Seven Days" is just...

I like it way better than the first 2 albums. The My Life tracks were great, but I ended up giving it away cause at the time Share My World overshadowed it and I just went, fuck it

alphastreet said:

I like it way better than the first 2 albums. The My Life tracks were great, but I ended up giving it away cause at the time Share My World overshadowed it and I just went, fuck it

Yeah I agree, alot of the songs overshadow the songs from My Life instantly, even though there are more blockbusters on that album. "Missing You" is classic Mary!

[Edited 4/4/11 17:11pm]

i love me some mary! but i agree, this is a bad idea top do this 'my life II'... i actually did like 'the breakthrough', a lot... but i think overall, 'mary' is her best work. i would say THIS is my favourite mary song of all times though, even if it's not on my favourite album:

While I can't blame her for wanting to revisit her very best album, it sounds like they don't really understand what made My Life work. Something tells me they aren't going to capture the old-school/new-school vibe of the original.

Graycap23 said:

Harlepolis said:

"Part two"?

I thought all the albums from Love & Life to Stronger with each tear were all extension parts of My Life I love MJB, but she's officially running outta ideas.

If Puff shits is making appearance's on your project u have already RUN out of ideas.

The last MJB album I spent my hard earn money buying was "Mary" and we know how long ago that was released. She wasn't really a favorite artist of mine to begin with, so I've sort of forgotten she's released multiple albums the past 10 years. Just calling this new album "My Life: Part II" alone spells disaster. I clearly know I won't be picking this one up either.

I agree with alot of what is being said in here

though, in stan mode, I have to mention

all of her albums have SOMETHING on them that I like

I hadn't really liked a full album since No More Drama (2001)

Love & Life was good, but not good enough to say it was Mary J. Blige

and to answer whoever questioned about L&L being the supposed "sequel" to My Life

it's very true, they have tried this already!!!

Growing Pains was the last MJB record I bought

but SWeT... only REALLY liked 2 songs on the whole thing

"The One" (which took some time for me to warm up to)

and "Tonight" (I thought this coulda been a really good radio release for Mary)

at this point though, I have no problems walking away

Mary you gave us a decade of strong material

and I will always refer back to those albums

but you're not moving me anymore

[Edited 4/5/11 9:29am]

DirtyChris said:

I agree with alot of what is being said in here

though, in stan mode, I have to mention

all of her albums have SOMETHING on them that I like

I hadn't really liked a full album since No More Drama (2001)

Love & Life was good, but not good enough to say it was Mary J. Blige

and to answer whoever questioned about L&L being the supposed "sequel" to My Life

it's very true, they have tried this already!!!

Growing Pains was the last MJB record I bought

but SWeT... only REALLY liked 2 songs on the whole thing

"The One" (which took some time for me to warm up to)

and "Tonight" (I thought this coulda been a really good radio release for Mary)

at this point though, I have no problems walking away

Mary you gave us a decade of strong material

and I will always refer back to those albums

but you're not moving me anymore

[Edited 4/5/11 9:29am]

I'll say this in Lady Jane's defense though, most of the superior things she did post-NMD were "left out" of all those albums.

Like "Skycap" for example, why in the deep pits of hell did they leave that song out? I def agree with you, I think she & Mariah are guilty of the same "I'm gonna fill this with garbage but will put a lil' something to remind you that I haven't lost it yet" scenario. Mariah's "It's A Wrap" and MJB's "Talk To Me" are big examples of that.

Granted, I'm still gonna keep my ears open but I'll pay more attention to the leaked songs that won't make it to the official tracklist, because chances are they're gonna be better.

Harlepolis said:

DirtyChris said:

I agree with alot of what is being said in here

though, in stan mode, I have to mention

all of her albums have SOMETHING on them that I like

I hadn't really liked a full album since No More Drama (2001)

Love & Life was good, but not good enough to say it was Mary J. Blige

and to answer whoever questioned about L&L being the supposed "sequel" to My Life

it's very true, they have tried this already!!!

Growing Pains was the last MJB record I bought

but SWeT... only REALLY liked 2 songs on the whole thing

"The One" (which took some time for me to warm up to)

and "Tonight" (I thought this coulda been a really good radio release for Mary)

at this point though, I have no problems walking away

Mary you gave us a decade of strong material

and I will always refer back to those albums

but you're not moving me anymore

[Edited 4/5/11 9:29am]

I'll say this in Lady Jane's defense though, most of the superior things she did post-NMD were "left out" of all those albums.

Like "Skycap" for example, why in the deep pits of hell did they leave that song out? I def agree with you, I think she & Mariah are guilty of the same "I'm gonna fill this with garbage but will put a lil' something to remind you that I haven't lost it yet" scenario. Mariah's "It's A Wrap" and MJB's "Talk To Me" are big examples of that.

Granted, I'm still gonna keep my ears open but I'll pay more attention to the leaked songs that won't make it to the official tracklist, because chances are they're gonna be better.

But WHY do they like to do that? I don't get the humor of it. It's like do they wanna torture fans into buying what they think is crap just so they can brag about the album? You saw how long it took for Mary to forget about "Stronger" because no one was real interested in it. Same with "Love & Life". It just seems like musically Mary is at a rough crossroads period and she doesn't know what she wants to do musically so she's throwing a lot of darts just to see what sticks.