Mary J. Blige | My Life (1994)

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Widely regarded as Mary's best album. She wrote this while she was going through an abusive relationship with K-Ci from Jodeci, battling clinical depression, and heavily addicted to drugs and alcohol. The album has been hugely influential on contemporary R&B. Some artists have made their careers out of attempting to emulate Mary at this point of her career. My Life has made TIME, Rolling Stone, and Blender Best Albums of All Time lists.

8 weeks at #1 on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop albums chart
3x Platinum (hasn't been certified in 20 years though and has sold over 4 million now)

Mary recorded an updated version of the title track in 2005 and performed the entire album live in concert back in 2011.

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I would rank this as my 3rd favorite Mary album (after Share My World and What's the 411) but I think it is her best body of work and her most important release to date. She completely changed R&B with this record imo and like Jazzy said, careers were birthed after My Life.

It's really inspiring that she was able to not only create something so incredible from such a dark place but able to overcome her demons and go on to become a living legend.

[Rican@]

@jazzy, this post got me up here listening to the album now. Too late to be in my damn feelings right now, but this Mary ugh. She made a masterpiece plus more.

[#LisaRinna]

This album solidified what What's the 411? started. A quintessential R&B record.

[B-Boy]

My Life has so many great tracks. Her singles "Be Happy", "I'm Goin Down", and "You Bring Me Joy" are nostalgia-inducing. Ugh. My favorite album tracks are "Don't Go", "Be With You", "I Love You", and "No One Else".

[God]

Definitely her best album. Highlights include, but are not limited to: "Mary Jane", "I'm the Only Woman", "I'm Goin' Down" and "Be Crispy".

[Live Your Life]

Absolutely perfect album.

[MikeCheck12]

My favorite Mary album.

[Caviar]

Second favorite MJB album. "My Life", "Mary's Joint", "I Never Wanna Live Without You", "and "I Love You" are my favs.

[firefly]

I was never a fan of this album. So overrated and boring. What's The 411? is her best album, followed by No More Drama.

[Live Your Life]

An indisputable classic. I love every single song on this album.

AllMusic gave the album 4/5 stars:

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.

[Ling-Ling]

There isn't a bad song on it and I agree with the previous posters, so influential (not only for R&B, but hip-hop too). This album pretty much defined everything Bad Boy touched in the second half of the 90's.

That being said, every song on here isn't amazing, there's definitely some just okay tracks. Clearly a turning point in her career and one of her defining albums, but I prefer What's The 411? and Mary (her true masterpiece IMO) to this.

[Zinc.]

Her absolute best effort.

[🇯🇲 lucy88 🇯🇲]

Definitely my top 3 along with No More Drama and What's The 411! I love her moody albums the best. My fave tracks are Don't Go, Be With You, I'm The Only Woman, and I Never Wanna Live Without You.

[Deleted]

Happy 25th Anniversary!

[🇯🇲 lucy88 🇯🇲]

Yes! Happy 25th anniversary! Such a great, iconic record!

[bjordan]

I play “Be With You” occasionally when I do play “My Life”. Faith Evans sung background on a couple of songs on the album.

[Deleted]

Chucky Thompson, who produced every song on this album with the exception of "No One Else," passed away today.

There's also a recently released documentary on Amazon Prime about the making of the album and this period of Mary's career.

[back2blk]

Definitely not my favorite album of hers, but her most cohesively produced. Well done, Chucky. RIP.

[ogletree8701]

This album is a favorite. It was my childhood staple. This is her best work. Puffy and Chucky produced this magnificent album. I will play this album forever.