Mary J. Blige is the queen of hip-hop soul.
The singer-turned-actress joined the music scene in the 1990s, and the industry hasn’t been the same since.
So what was Blige like before she was crowned the hip-hop queen of soul?
Where did she start out, and where does she hope to be in the future?
And how has she changed from her early days?
This is the stunning transformation of Mary J. Blige.
“Everything was about how you look.
Although you didn’thave, it was about how you looked,” she recalled in an interview withThe Guardian.
Then I became Mary J Blige, and it was really about that."
And that’s how it all began.
“And then I wanted to forget everything that just kept happening.”
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“They said, ‘You’ll never finish high school.’
And I wanted them to love me so much.”
She also struggled to find academic success, despite her best efforts.
But that was the beginning of her now-legendary musical journey.
Thus a queen was born.
“I was never as ambitious as he is,” she continued.
“He wanted it so much more.
And so because he would push, I would push.
I was a dreamer and wanted things, but I never was as ambitious as Puff.”
Still, the collaboration proved to be a success, as her debut album was born of those sessions.
And what a debut it was.
Selling 3 million copies, “What’s the 411?”
Still, there’s no doubt that the music she was making was phenomenal.
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Blige was also lifted out of a deep depression, and she found within herself a newfound strength.
And, for a while, all was well.
“I was like, ‘What the hell is going on?
Have I been abandoned?'”
“It’s not the things I did right that informed me,” she continued.
“It’s all the mistakes I made that are helping me to better my life.
Because that was a disaster.”
She added that she wasn’t sure if she “was going to make it.”
First came the realization that there’s often a reason for abusing those substances.
You’re doing it to cover upsomething."
“If I saw myself almost dying, or if I almost died, or almost O.D.
’d, why would I do that again?”
“He did not deserve that credit,” she added.
“People are watching,” she revealed in an interview withSelf.
“[So] how do I come out of this unburned, unscathed?”
Rather she took the high road and opted to cultivate peace.
“I had to forgive myself for being so stupid,” she continued.
“I had to forgive him for everything he did.”
That’s not to say that her relationship with Isaacs didn’t scar her, however.
“I’m not happy about a lot of things,” she confessed in an interview withVariety.
“I thought someone loved me, right?
The divorcewas finalizedin 2018, and Blige became free from a partnership that no longer served her.
“I’m Mary J. Blige.
I mean, like, this is what I do.
I wear wigs, I wear bob wigs.”
“People were saying how beautiful I was.
I didn’t know I was that beautiful for real.”
You are, Mary!
“She was very focused on what her job was and that was to kill people.”
Blige also appreciated that Cha-Cha was very much all about Cha-Cha and not interested in the frivolities of life.
“She was a business woman and she was all about her business,” she continued.
“Right now it’s about me and little Mary.
It’s like that’s my baby, my little girl,” she revealed in an interview withSelf.
“She needs my help … and I’m not going to ever let anybody hurt her again.”
But any mothering Blige is doing is, for now, focused on herself and the spirit within.
“She needs to live, she needs to play,” she continued.
“She doesn’t mind her life being used to help someone else.
But I have to take care of her.”
In fact, in the past few years, her acting career has become more impressive than ever.
In 2020, she starred in no less than four different projects.
In 2021, she played Dinah Washington in “Respect.”
And it seems that it has helped her grow as an artist, too.
“The acting is such a challenge and something new,” she toldWGN News.
It sounds like Blige has found a brand new passion in life.
However, as of 2022, she is in a much better place.
In 2021, the singer took part in an Amazon documentary called “My Life” about her experiences.
For her, opening up about her difficult past helped her to heal.
“There’s a time that I didn’t want to live.
I didn’t think anything of myself,” she toldBillboard.
She explained that part of her healing process was sharing her story with others.
The documentary made it clear that Blige is stronger than ever.
It will be her 15th studio album.
I earned the right to say I feel amazing.”
Apparently, this album is so spectacular because Blige has learned how to accept herself.
We can’t wait to hear what this new, strong version of Blige actually sounds like!
We could not be prouder of Blige sheisthe queen!
