Even as sheвЂ™s gone Hollywood (earning an Academy Award nomination for 2017вЂ™s Mudbound), Mary J. Mary (1999) saw her move toward a more classic sound, though 2001вЂ™s smash вЂњFamily AffairвЂќ swung back toward hip-hop that fertile tension has remained in her music since. BligeвЂ™s life was never separate from her art, and fans have followed her through addiction, marriage, divorce, and therapy, connecting with songs like вЂњNot GonвЂ™ CryвЂќ and вЂњNo More DramaвЂќ out of deep identification: Here was an artist who sang womenвЂ™s realities as they were almost never presented in popular music-and who always came out stronger. She and Sean Combs crafted her 1992 debut, WhatвЂ™s the 411?, which spawned the ubiquitous and beloved jam вЂњReal LoveвЂќ and helped set the template for R&BвЂ™s marriage to hip-hop. Blige performs in the music video Be Without You from the album The Breakthrough recorded for Geffen Records. The queen of hip-hop soul had the New Orleans crowd in a frenzy like a Reggie Bush. Her voice is elastic, scrappy, and versatile, with more than a hint of world-weary grit, and when a chance recording of Anita BakerвЂ™s вЂњCaught Up in the RaptureвЂќ came before Uptown Records execs in 1988, the label immediately snapped her up as its youngest (and first female) signee. Blige walked away with the performance of the weekend, showing a definitive command of the audience. Born Mary Jane Blige in the Bronx in 1971, Blige was raised mainly in Yonkers, NY, where she grew up listening to the greats: Aretha, Chaka, and Gladys Knight.

Dubbed the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul in the вЂ™90s, Blige came off as tough and streetwise (unlike many of her contemporaries), and she could go toe to toe with rappers, including JAY Z, Method Man, and more recently Kendrick Lamar. Blige is that rare singer who can channel your pain-and then drag you onto the dance floor to sweat it away.

Mary j blige be without you mtv.com