Mary J. Blige My Life

Ranked # 17 in Rolling Stone's "Women in Rock: The 50 Essential Albums" - "...Opaque, seductive..."
Included in Rolling Stone's "Essential Recordings of the 90's."
Ranked #72 in Spin Magazine's "90 Greatest Albums of the '90s."
"...more serious than her crossover 1992 debut....[Mary J. Blige] continues soaring to soulful heights over streetwise beats..." - Rating: B
Included in Vibe's 100 Essential Albums of the 20th Century
"As the album's intro makes plain, even Blige's own camp worried whether she could 'do it again,' and to be honest, she doesn't--she does it better....She...knows how to work a groove..."
7 (out of 10) - "...In rap, the beats sometimes seem irrelevant compared to the chat: here they reign supreme. Blige is telling her audience she grew up the same way they did, listened to the same things, was influenced by the same situations. That's what makes her so beloved..."
Pitchfork (Website) - "'Mary Jane (All Night Long)' finds her and the source material in harmony: by brightening Rick James' original synth-flute line, Thompson and Combs give Blige the chance for some old school scatting over the outro."