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Mary J. Blige My Life Release Date: 1994 11 29 Running Time: 65:26 Label: MCA Rating:

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

Tracks:

	Title	Composer	Time
1	Intro	Blige, Combs, Thompson	1:04
2	Mary Jane (All Night Long)	James, Blige, Combs, Thompson	4:41
3	You Bring Me Joy	Blige, Combs, Hailey, Thompson	4:14
4	Marvin Interlude	Blige, Combs, Thompson	:40
5	I'm the Only Woman	Blige, Combs, Thompson	4:32
6	K. Murray Interlude	Combs, Murray, Myrick, Thompson	:24
7	My Life	Blige, Combs, Thompson, DelValle	4:19
8	You Gotta Believe	Big Bub, Blige, Combs, Evans, Hailey, Thompson	5:02
9	I Never Wanna Live Without You	Big Bub, Blige, Combs, Evans, Thompson	6:20
10	I'm Going Down	Whitfield	3:44
11	My Life (Interlude)	Big Bub, Blige, Combs, Thompson	1:15
12	Be With You	Blige, Combs, Thompson	4:27
13	Mary's Joint	Blige, Combs, Thompson	5:02
14	Don't Go	Blige, Combs, Evans, Thompson	5:01
15	I Love You	Blige, Combs, Thompson	4:33
16	No One Else	DeGrate, Hailey	4:17
17	Be Happy	Blige, Combs, Olivier, DelValle	5:51

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