Mary J. Blige: What's The 411? (2LP) [UPTOWN]

Why you'll love it

This reissue spreads the album over two LPs in a matte jacket with glossy embossed type. What's the 411? topped the US R&B albums chart, went triple platinum and earned Blige the title Queen of Hip Hop Soul.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Matte jacket with glossy embossed type

About the album

Before she was anybody's queen, Mary J. Blige was a teenager who sang Anita Baker's "Caught Up in the Rapture" into a recording booth at a local mall. That cassette found its way to Uptown Records boss Andre Harrell, who signed her as the label's youngest artist, and the title of her debut came from her old day job as a 411 directory operator.

Sean "Puffy" Combs was executive producer and handled most of the beats, with DeVante Swing, Tony Dofat, Dave Hall and Mark Rooney also at the controls. The idea was simple and new at the same time: hard hip hop drums under a voice that carried church and heartbreak in the same breath. "Real Love" became one of 1992's big crossover hits, "Reminisce" and "You Remind Me" ride melancholy loops, and "Leave a Message" opens the record with a pile of answering machine messages over a drum beat.

Entertainment Weekly called it one of the most accomplished fusions of soul values and hip hop yet, and three decades of R&B singers have been taking notes ever since. We'd suggest leaving her a message after side D, but nobody has owned an answering machine since about 2004.

Also at Kops: more Mary J. Blige on vinyl · browse Hip Hop / R&B

Tracklist

Listen

On Uptown / UMe, a reissue of the 1992 album.