Mary J Blige - The Breakthrough
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Music CD Cover
Artist: Mary J BligeBrand: Baker & Taylor
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2005-12-20
Music Label: Geffen Records
Soundtracks:
- No One Will Do
- Enough Cryin
- About You
- Be Without You
- Gonna Breakthrough
- Good Woman Down
- Take Me as I Am
- Baggage
- Can't Hide from Luv
- MJB Da MVP
- Can't Get Enough
- Ain't Really Love
- I Found My Everything
- Father in You
- Alone
- One
Free Music Notes for The Breakthrough
Free Music Review: Mary J. Blige does is again with "The Breakthrough"
Hit: 5 Stars
I have been a Mary J. Blige fan since 1992 when she released "What's The 411". On "What's The 411" Mary J Blige caught my attention because she used hip hop samples mixed with r&b to create a sound that I wasn't use to. Tracks like "Love No Limit", "Real Love", "Reminisce", "Changes I've Been Through", basically the whole CD, remained in heavy rotation for awhile. However, when Mary J. Blige released "My Life" in 1994, I knew that I would be a Mary J Blige fan for life. This CD, 'til this day is my favorite CD of all time. At the most difficult time in her life, caught up with bad relationships, drugs and alcohol, Mary was still able to release one of the best r&b CDs I have ever heard. In certain songs, you could tell that Mary was crying for help and in others you could tell that she just wanted to give an honest perspective on various events that were going on in her life. Just as "What's The 411" could be, "My Life" could be played from beginning to end. There aren't many people who can release 2 CDs and have them be CDs that could be listened to in their entirety. "I Never Wanna Live Without You" is still one of my favorite slow jams of all time. In 1997, Mary J. Blige released "Share My World" and that CD would end up being a new beginning for Mary because she was no longer working with Sean "Puffy" Combs on her CDs. However, Mary still kept things going with tracks like "Everything", "Seven Days", "Love Is All We Need" w/Nas, "It's On" w/R Kelly and the title track. In 1999, Mary J Blige pulled a switch on us with "Mary". Mary J Blige turned in the hip hop and r&b sound and acted as if she wanted to be an adult contemporary r&b artist. She had a lot of ballads and midtempo tracks on this CD and some people were unable to relate to the Mary J Blige on this CD. However, once I heard "All That I Can Say" I knew that I wouldn't have a problem with this CD. "The Love I Never Had" is still one of my favorite Mary J Blige ballads and the duet with her former boyfriend K-Ci of Jodeci, "Not Lookin'", is still a classic in my opinion. In 2001, Mary returned with "No More Drama". She started the party with the Dr. Dre produced "Family Affair", she was ready for a vacation on the Neptunes' produced "Steal Away" and she definitely proved that she was ready to straighten her life out with the powerful "No More Drama", where Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis sampled the theme song to the soap opera, The Young & The Restless. I also can't forget the Missy Elliott produced "Never Been". After declaring that she didn't want anymore drama and even working with Puffy again on the "No More Drama (Remix)", Mary decided in 2003 to work with Puffy on another CD, "Love & Life". The CD was energized with the first single, "Love At First Sight" with Method Man and also featured other tracks that I enjoyed such as the Dr. Dre produced "Not Today" w/Eve, "Ooh" which sampled the same beat that ED OG & Da Bulldogs used back in the day on "I Got To Have It", "Willing & Waiting" and the powerful slow jam, "Special Part Of Me".
Some people may not have enjoyed "Love & Life" as much as I have, so in 2005/2006 Mary J Blige is back with "The Breakthrough". Some people also see "The Breakthrough" as a comeback CD for Mary J Blige. I can't see how that's possible because every CD that Mary releases can be classified atleast as a quality r&b CD. There is no "Emancipation Of Mimi" going on here. Mariah made quality CDs and then for some years with "Rainbow", Glitter" and "Charmbracelet" she regressed. Mary J Blige has never regressed.
The 1st single from "The Breakthrough" is "Be Without You". Mary J Blige shows people that she never lost her groove with a track like this. Bryan Michael Cox and Ron Fair provide Mary with a nice midtempo/slow track and Mary takes care of the rest. "No One Will Do" is my favorite midtempo track on this CD as this sounds as if this track is a tribute to her husband, Kendu. If you want to try to capture "The Breakthrough" in one track, I would say that the one track is the Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins' produced "Enough Cryin'". Just like "Soldier" by Destiny's Child was the unoffcial women's national anthem of 2005, "Enough Cryin'" is definitely an early candidate for the unofficial women's national anthem of 2006. Mary breaks it down as she declares that she is finally ready to get out of the situation that she is in with this particular man. After all the time of being dumb and in love, she is ready to stand up for herself as a woman and declare enough is enough with lines like "Don't wanna play house no more, so dumb to think you gon' marry me, I got to be out my mind, thinking that I need someone to carry me." Brandy might want to pull Rodney's name out of the Rolodex and work with him again after hearing this track. Although, I am not a Black Eye Peas fan, WillIAm outdoes himself on the feel good track "About You" featuring Mary, Will and Nina Simone. Will creates a nice track and even when he raps he stays out of Mary's way as she wants to talk about how this man has got her going. "Take Me As I Am" also ends up being one of my favorite tracks as this midtempo jam allows Mary to talk about the fact that people just need to let her be herself and accept her the way that she is in all ways and all aspects of her life. "Baggage" has Mary on another nice uptempo track as Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis are back to produce another track with Mary. Mary talks about why she acts certain ways in a relationship because of all the events that have happened in her past relationships. She also says that she doesn't mean to make the one that she is currently with to suffer because of that. Vidal & Dre produce "Can't Hide From Luv" which features Jay Z. The track would have been even better if Jay Z would have actually laid down a verse on the track, but Mary still makes this a nice feel good uptempo track. "MJB Da MVP" has Mary making her own song out of Game and 50 Cent's "Hate It Or Love It". Mary goes through different events in her career and although I wish that the actual remix of Hate It Or Love It with Mary and Game could have been on here, "MJB Da MVP" ends up being a nice substitute. "Can't Get Enough" sounds like an old achool uptempo song as Mary talks about how much she is enjoying her current situation with her man. "The Breakthrough" has a real positive vibe to it for the most part. It seems as if Mary J. Blige has let go of the majority of the demons in her past and that is definitely shown throughout this CD.
Anyone that knows Mary's CDs knows that she is going to have some tight ballads on it. "Ain't Really Love" has Bryan Michael Cox back on the production. Mary sings about a situation that finally has her fed up and explains how she loves him but not enough to compromise her own love of self by wasting time in a one sided relationship. "I Found My Everything" is produced by Raphael Saadiq and even has Raphael on some background vocals throughout the track. This song sounds as if it's something that would have appeared on Tony Toni Tone's last CD, "House Of Music". Mary has definitely added to her classic list of slow jams with this track. "Father In You" has Mary explaining the fact that since she didn't have a father figure in her life as a child, she expects that from her mate. This ends up being another one of Mary J. Blige's powerful slow jams. At the end of "The Breakthrough" Mary J. Blige holds her own with U2 on "One" as her CD ends on a good note. There is also a bonus track after "One" as well. So don't think that the CD is over after you hear "One".
Overall, Mary J Blige has another classic with "The Breakthrough". Alot of people are saying that this is Mary's best CD. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. However, I'll ask anyone who thinks that to listen to "My Life" one more time and that may change your mind. If you are a fan of Mary J. Blige and her CDs then you can't afford to miss out on "The Breakthrough". Just as I was telling another amazon reviewer, Tony, Mary J. Blige's "The Breakthrough", Anthony Hamilton's "Ain't Nobody Worryin'" and Jamie Foxx's "Unpredictable" are going to be holding me down for awhile as far as current r&b music is concerned.
P.S. Music listeners don't be confused by Brook who raps on two tracks on "The Breakthrough". She is actually Mary J.
James' Top 6
1) Enough Cryin'
2) No One Will Do
3) I Found My Everything w/Raphael Saadiq
4) Take Me As I Am
5) About You
6) Can't Hide From Luv
The Breakthrough Poster
Feature contributions from Dr. Dre, Pharrell Williams, Timberland and others.Nobody knows heartache like Mary J. knows heartache. But as she releases her seventh disc, perhaps more important is that nobody understands better how unquenchable our thirst to hear what it sounds like can be. The Breakthrough, contrary to run-up rumors, is no retrospective or greatest-hits package. Rather than reheat, Blige and producers Dr. Dre, Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis, and Will.i.am tasked themselves with stirring a river of hurt into some of the highest-caliber hip-hop/soul to hit the airwaves since she burned up the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack with "Not Gon' Cry." Cameos alone could sell this disc: Brook, Jay-Z, Raphael Saadiq, and Bono step up. But it's the trademark ragged-edged soul of its star that shines brightest throughout the 16 tracks. "A love that tears you down ain't really love," a laid-bare Blige reminds us on "Ain't Really Love," after dedicating "Good Woman Down" to "my troubled sisters." Somewhere in between, she leaves absolutely no room for doubt that she just can't be without her baby ("Be Without You"). It's an exhilarating, love-affirming moment on a CD jammed full of them (check out "Can't Get Enough," with its echoes of a pleading Curtis Mayfield). Blige, never far from the thoughts of the lovelorn, didn't need a breakthrough, but anybody with an ear for artful confession will be glad she's given us The Breakthrough anyway. --Tammy La Gorce
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