What's the 411? - Blige, Mary J. (CD 1992)

She was crowned "The Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" before the term "hip-hop soul" was even invented. A shy 21-year old by the name of Mary J. Blige, straight out of the projects of Yonkers, NY, seemed like an unlikely candidate for superstardom in an era when refined divas like Whitney, Anita and Mariah were the rage. Of course, fifteen years later, Mary is one of the most revered R&B singers of her generation, and it could be said that at least two of the aforementioned three "refined divas" more recent material has followed in Mary's footsteps.

Not that what "411" accomplished in 1992-93 hadn't been done before. What they called "hip-hop soul" (R&B melodies over gritty, hip-hop derived breaks and samples) had been operating for half a decade under the guise of "new jack swing". Ask Keith Sweat, Bobby Brown, Al B. Sure! or any of the other artists who had already successfully melded sweet singing with street attitude. Mary was certainly the first female artist to successfully combine the genres, and her debut album still stands as a testament to quality singing, fantastic production and quality songwriting.

Mary had been discovered via a tape she made in a mall, singing Anita Baker's "Caught Up in the Rapture". That tape somehow made it into the hands of Andre Harrell, who was the president of Uptown Records-home to Guy, Heavy D & The Boyz, and Jodeci. Along with Harrell, Blige's career was shaped by another Uptown executive, Sean "Puffy" Combs. Paired with producers ranging from Jodeci's DeVante Swing to Tony Dofat, and with songs penned by the late Kenny Greene (of the group Intro), "411" is a great soul album no matter the subgenre.

From the beginning, Mary J. had range. While her voice has certainly improved over the course of her career, she was no slouch back in the beginning. She proved that straightaway with a faithful cover of Rufus' "Sweet Thing". Anyone who covers Chaka has to have steel balls, and while this version is little more than karaoke, Mary's voice matches up well to the song. Even more impressive is the cool "Love No Limit". This dusky midtempo jam finds Mary experimenting more with a deeper, jazz-flavored technique. It's (still) my favorite song on the album, and the scatting at the song's end was immediate proof that she had the chops.

While her work would grow more autobiographical as the years passed, several songs on here hint at the storm that was approaching. "Changes I've Been Going Through" isn't much of a song-actually the only particularly memorable thing about it is the use of a classic breakbeat, but it shows that Mary was working out issues even at the outset of her career. More telling is the duet with her then-boyfriend K-Ci Hailey (of Jodeci), "I Don't Want To Do Anything Else". The backing track is fairly typical for a new-jack ballad circa 1991, but the vocal performances from both are stirring-it's like hearing an updated version of the torrid Rick James/Teena Marie ballad "Fire & Desire". Mary's voice positively aches with emotion, and I'm sure it helped that Mary & K-Ci were at the time a real live romantic pair. Although K-Ci has allegedly tried to downplay their half-decade long attachment as no big deal, this emotional ballad says otherwise.

While there are no real lyrical standouts on "411", the team of songwriters did a good job giving Mary lyrics that were feminine but still hard. They were also not girly the way that other young female singers' songs were. "Reminisce" and "You Remind Me" sounded lived-in and mature, the perfect complement for Mary's womanly voice. Sonically, the album held weight too. "Real Love", to this day probably MJB's best known song, has a persistent piano melody that's the perfect match for the sharp drum-machine kicks, sampled from Audio Two's rap classic "Top Billin'".

Although she wouldn't resume kicking rap lyrics for another decade and change, the album's title track proved that Mary had a little bit of rhyme skill, too. She goes toe-to-toe with sly rapper Grand Puba, flirting tough and talking sh*t over a dark, funky groove.

"411" has only two demerits against it. One is the annoying intro, which features "answering-machine messages" left by everyone from a pre-solo Busta Rhymes to Puff himself. It just seemed sort of unnecessary, and didn't help matters when the same formula was repeated to open four subsequent MJB albums. The only actual song on this album that's skipworthy is the snoozefest "Slow Down", a faceless ballad that's basically slow jam R&B-by-numbers.

No one could have possibly predicted Mary J's future based on this album, although I'm a bit surprised by how well it holds up after a decade and a half of listening. The beats are still vibrant and fresh, and I guess I'd listened a little bit too much to critics (professional and not) who said that Mary couldn't carry a tune in a paper bag at the outset of her career. The vocals, while not as impressive as on later albums, are quite solid.

Three million folks already own this, so I'm probably preaching to the choir, but if you somehow missed Mary J's debut, it's certainly a worthwhile pickup. She's gone on to become an R&B legend, and this is where it all started.


"What's The 411?" by Mary J. Blige
Released 1992 on Uptown/MCA Records
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars