I still remember when Mary J. Blige got here into my life. I was 13 years old and the video for “Real Love” ended up on whatever video show I had on VHS. The opening beat put me in a trance and its hip-hop soul enchanted me. Hip-hop soul is my genre and my love for it’s why SWV will at all times reign as my second favorite singing group of all time, after Jodeci.

But let’s get back to Maria. I lived in Germany at the time and I keep in mind that I couldn’t get enough of it throughout highschool. “What is 411?” album. I let the tape swing until the tape broke. When My Life was released in 1994, Mary was the hottest smoker. “Be Happy,” the lead single from “My Life,” remains to be one of my favorite records of all time, and still my favorite Mary J. Blige record, although “Everything” from the 1997 album “Share My World” might be a close second. I bought Share My World on its release date, April 22, 1997, and it’s common for me to still hear myself banging on this album even today.

Actually, excuse me for a moment while I go listen to “Everything” with my full attention, because I’m so glad with this song that I don’t desire to get distracted while listening to it – I’ll be right back.

Back.

Damn, I love Mary J. Blige. I watched most of her movies, and despite the fact that I thought her character in Power Book II: Ghost was the worst mother in the history of the matriarchy, I might be sad when her character dies or the series ends, whichever comes first (although I bet on him catching the bullet). Mary J. Blige’s experience fills me with joy.

And that is why what I’m about to say goes to sound absurd: I have not actually listened to any Mary J. Blige album in its entirety since “Share My World.” I didn’t even realize he had 14 (!!!!) studio albums.

Entertainment

To be clear, this will not be a deliberate avoidance of Mary’s later albums. I actually know all the hits (obviously) and was wondering who, what, when, where and why “dancing” with the best of them. I know the hits. I just do not know what albums they belong to. I actually think the problem is that somewhere between moving away from physical CDs (“Share My World” was the last Mary CD I actually bought) and streaming, I stopped buying albums altogether, so over time I moved on from the album model to letting singles lead my way. I wasn’t forced to exit and buy the albums themselves (no shade), and meaning I do not know of any deeper cuts. Unless Mary had a single that was playing in clubs or on the radio, I probably missed it. I never assumed that Mary didn’t release music in any respect, I just assumed that her TV and film profession had taken over, because it does with many artists.

I still saw her perform a few times over the years and there have been a few songs I didn’t know, but when she records hits, I normally know all the songs. That’s why I was so surprised when I saw what number of albums Mary released in total. I was stunned. I even felt a little guilty that I wasn’t the loyal fan I thought I was. I even went back and tried listening to some of the albums, but there’s something about that have of listening to albums in real time; Mary is one of the most relatable artists of all time, so her albums feel like distinct moments in time. I have memories of these albums that I will carry with me until my last days. Since there are not any memories associated along with her albums after the release of “Share My World”, only singles, the albums didn’t impress me as much as I expected. It was years before I even realized it the famous Mary J. Blige Burger King commercial the song by which she sang about chicken was based on her song “Don’t Mind”. It’s wild. It rhymes. I’ll stop now.

I stand here as a die-hard Mary J. Blige fan and acolyte of her first three albums, that are some of the best albums of all time, and there are almost a dozen other albums I can barely name. This is definitely a paradox. Or perhaps I’m just an enigma. Anyway, my bad, Mary.

I know for a indisputable fact that Mary’s beginnings were so amazing that they turned me into a lifelong fan and whether or not I ever fall in love along with her other albums doesn’t matter because in my life Mary J. Blige is all the things and all the things is her.