| Author |
Message |
    
Harlemboy
Newbie Poster
Username: Harlemboy
Post Number: 4
Registered: 11-2008
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, August 24, 2009 - 11:53 am: | 
|
When you meet her in person, Mary J. Blige is nothing like the soul sister of perpetual suffering that was once her trademark identity. “I’ve actually heard some fans say they liked me more when I was miserable,” Mary says. “If they want to feel my pain, then I suggest they go back and listen to My Life. I’m not going back to that place, so they can hate all they want.”
Since first dropping onto the post-new-jack swing landscape of urban music in 1992, Mary J. has had her share of haters. “In her life, Mary has been through the storm,” says singer Anthony Hamilton. “She’s been criticized, bruised and lashed, but that didn’t stop her from emerging like a diamond. For years she has been called ‘the queen of hip-hop soul,’ but Mary J. Blige is really the premier soul voice of our community.”
As a true blue Mary fan, I first saw her on stage of the Manhattan’s former Paramount Theater the same year her 1992 debut What’s the 411? was released. Opening for thuggish rude boys and label-mates Jodeci, Mary took time to blossom but the audience supported Mary’s every nervous step. Even then, one sensed that Mary was fiercely determined to strive and survive in the musical jungle, no matter how hard some industry know-it-alls tried to put her down.
“Looking back to the negative things some critics wrote, I’m glad it happened, because it made me the person I am now. I’m not a selfish singer anymore, but one that is trying to give back. Be it on stage or in the studio, I’m trying to put my own life in the songs so other people might figure out who they are. All the singers I have ever loved gave so much in their material, and I know how much they have given me. That’s what I’m trying to give.”
FOR THE REST OF THIS STORY, GO TO...
http://soulsummer.com/feature-stories |
Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 8153
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, August 26, 2009 - 11:57 am: |
|
Boy that no talent broad is lucky she ran into Puff Daddy P Diddy is all I got to say. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 13991
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, August 26, 2009 - 06:09 pm: |
|
She is certainly somebody who parlayed her personal angst into a career of singing loud and slightly off key about the vissistudes of her life. Lucky for her, her fans are not discriminating. |
Schakspir
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Schakspir
Post Number: 1276
Registered: 12-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, August 28, 2009 - 09:13 am: |
|
Mary J. Blige "sings" like an old asthmatic hag with a turd stuck in her throat. I grew up listening to better singers. Even Donna Summer, who I can't stand, could sing very well. And Amy Winehouse could kick Mary J. Blige's fat misshapen ass all over the stage if the two got together. |
Carey
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Carey
Post Number: 2171
Registered: 05-2004
Rating: 
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, August 28, 2009 - 12:29 pm: |
|
Come on Y'all, Mary J. blige has huge talent. You show me a dude that has a collection that includes Donna Summers and Amy Winehouse and I'll show you a homosexual. Now I don't have a thing against gays ...am just saying, those broads only appeal to a select group.
Mary J. Blige has heart and soul in her music. Donna Summers has a nasal tone in hers.
Amy Winehouse has cocaine in her nose and thats exactly how she sounds, like a white chick on crack. Yeah, she should have stopped saying no-no-no to rehab and start saying "yes I can" ...."yes I will". |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 14001
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: 
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, August 28, 2009 - 02:14 pm: |
|
Oh puleeze, Carey. Mary J. just got clean and sober, herself. Everybody is entitled to their own taste in music. If we don't appreciate Mary's caterwalling, so what? Who cares whether you agree with us or not.
"Huge talent"? How about big mouth? (No wonder you like her.)
"Soul"? She sold her soul for all that ghetto bling. |
Carey
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Carey
Post Number: 2172
Registered: 05-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, August 28, 2009 - 02:36 pm: |
|
Come on Cynique,Caterwalling? I forgot, you grew up listening to Perry Como and Lawrence Welk. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 14002
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, August 28, 2009 - 03:07 pm: |
|
Two musicians who are the anti-thesis of caterwalling, - which is a word best defined as squalling like a skinned cat. Or, in other words, sounding like Mary J. |
Schakspir
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Schakspir
Post Number: 1277
Registered: 12-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, August 29, 2009 - 09:32 am: |
|
And yet Amy Winehouse sounds infinitely better than wheezy old Mary J. |
Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 8158
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, August 29, 2009 - 11:22 am: |
|
And yet Amy Winehouse sounds infinitely better than wheezy old Mary J.
(Sad but horribly true)
Mary's caterwalling
Mary J. Blige "sings" like an old asthmatic hag with a turd stuck in her throat
into a career of singing loud and slightly off key
(When I first heard her I could not believe my ears how bad this broad was. She is a triumph of packaging and form over content.
P Diddy sure knew what he was doing, get a young hag with no talent and a whole bunch of hangups (if she is so self conscious about her "big lips" and "big nose" as I heard her say one time, why the hell did she decide to be an entertainer.
Carey, could you see why somebody on such a tightrope might not want to anesthisize herself?) |
Carey
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Carey
Post Number: 2175
Registered: 05-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, August 29, 2009 - 02:51 pm: |
|
Well Chris, I don't know what tightrope you are referencing but it's never wise for anyone to anesthisize themselves. Why do you drink them 40's :-).
Schakspir, I think we are stuck on semantics. Some people belive Opera singers sound good.
Mary j blige's music is just more pleasant to my hear than that of burnt out skinny winnie Amy.
It could also be the visual package. I just need more dip in the "hip" of my female singers.
Amy's music just doesn't inspire me to think or grab my woman. It could be that I am missing the heart felt soul in Ms. Winehouse's music.
I'll take wheezy over sleezy. |
Yvettep
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Yvettep
Post Number: 3620
Registered: 01-2005
Rating:
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, August 29, 2009 - 04:41 pm: |
|
I'm with Carey on the Mary vs Amy battle. Mary J. Blige was never my cup of tea--I think mainly it is a generational thing, since I do tend to compare her to the female vocalists I grew up with (Gladys, Natalie, Ella, etc.) But I have not been able to get into Winehouse at all, even though many folks whose taste I respect swear by her.
To my ears, there just is something forced about Winehouse's singing and style that makes the experience of listening to her music unpleasant to me.
Blige, on the other hand, seems definitely to be singing from a place of true emotion and first hand feeling. What she lacks in nuance (and I definitely think her singing lacks nuance) I think she makes up for in authenticity. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 14008
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, August 29, 2009 - 11:08 pm: |
|
Has Amy ever been cognizant enough to to be artificial? I think she is what she is. A drunken junkie who opens her mouth and lets a song tumble out.
I don't dislike Mary J. I just envy how her mediocrity made her millionaire. A hip hop Oprah. |
